JEP » Issues » Un/Doing Epistemic Violence » Exploring Self-in-Relation: UnDoing Epistemic and Ontological Violence in the Context of Indigenous Peace

Exploring Self-in-Relation: UnDoing Epistemic and Ontological Violence in the Context of Indigenous Peace

https://doi.org/10.20446/JEP-2414-3197-39-1-100
Volume XXXIX • Issue 1/2 • 2023
Pages 100-121
Keywords: Indigenous peaces, Indigenous research paradigms, Peace Studies, epistemic and ontological violence, Dakota and Lakota

Abstract

Indigenous scholars have criticised the hegemony of Western epistemologies and ontologies as constituting profound aspects of the colonial process, marginalising and erasing Indigenous knowledge. Based on my research experiences in the field of Peace Studies with Indigenous communities in North America, I discuss the transformative claims of Indigenous relational research paradigms that require far-reaching changes in the positioning and role of the researcher. Informed by an approach of self-in-relation, I reflect on the potential and limitations of reducing epistemic and ontological violence in Peace Studies from the perspective of a European researcher.

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