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Indigenous Geographies and the Study of Indigenous Knowledges

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Indigenous Geographies in the Yucatan

Part of the book series: SpringerBriefs in Geography ((BRIEFSGEOGRAPHY))

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Abstract

This chapter outlines the theoretical framework of my research project. First, I give a concise overview of geographical research on Indigenous land-based knowledges and practices and how this field relates to this research. Next, I provide an overview of the Indigenous knowledges’ (IKs) academic field and the ways in which these bodies of knowledge demonstrate (and celebrate) the value and potential of Indigenous ways of knowing and doing to rebalance human societies’ relationships with the other-than-human sphere. I also consider how this body of knowledge has allowed me to approach my own research project from an “Indigenous” epistemological standpoint. Finally, I highlight some theoretical contribution(s) of my research to the fields of Indigenous geographies and IK scholarship, namely, my “responsibility-based thinking” approach to understanding and representing the Maya environmental ethos of “being part of the land” (described in Chap. 6).

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Maya land-use practices and relationships with the land are in correspondence with the cycles and seasons of the land in Yucatan (e.g. the milpa cycle, apicultural flowering seasons, and the seasonal order of spiritual ceremonies that I observed in Xuilub and describe in Chap. 5).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, ON, Canada

    Miguel Sioui

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  1. Miguel Sioui
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Sioui, M. (2020). Indigenous Geographies and the Study of Indigenous Knowledges. In: Indigenous Geographies in the Yucatan. SpringerBriefs in Geography. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-60399-1_3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-60399-1_3

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-60398-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-60399-1

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