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Many feminist scholars have challenged West-centric epistemologies and offered concepts such as multiple modernities and decoloniality as appropriate frames for understanding and challenging knowledge hierarchies. Much of these challenges have come from the two-thirds world, though some emanated from scholars located in the one-third world. This chapter presents two related discussions. First, the challenge of moving beyond binaries such as the Global North and South, or one- and two-thirds worlds, even though every region, nation-state, and locale is marked by many discussions, debates, and challenges between the privileged and marginalized within the realms, currently and historically. Second, our scholarly ability to consider a broader knowledge production process, especially evident through the productions through virtual spaces. I examine efforts to include indigenous knowledge by feminists, and reflect on the continuing challenges of dismantling knowledge hierarchies.

This qualitative case study provides a detailed description of the ways a Kindergarten/Grade 1 teacher in a Gulf Islands school, located on Canada’s west coast, integrated place-based education in her practice with young learners. The teacher’s integration of place-based knowledge over a school year, and her incorporation of traditional knowledge linked to local Coast Salish ways of knowing, was in response to the British Columbia Ministry of Education’s mandate to include local Indigenous ways of knowing in all classrooms. This study also reveals the ways an Indigenous educator affiliated with the school district and local community members provided the teacher and students with deeper understandings of Salt Spring Island from a historical, place-based, and Indigenous knowledge perspective. Specifically, the Indigenous educator and community members shared their knowledge on the vegetation on the island and shared information about the animals that lived on or near the island. Throughout the study, the teacher drew on a “critical pedagogy of place,” which focuses on the ecological aspects of place and the tenets of critical pedagogy. This study documented the ways the teacher included local Indigenous knowledge in her practice in culturally relevant and appropriate ways – primarily through outdoor learning experiences. The children also shared their perspectives on these learning experiences. In this study, the place-based learning opportunities provided to the children enabled them to acquire rich insight on the history and ecology of their community and island.

Language emanates from the individual who articulates from a coding system, whether oral or written, a construct of relational and communicative devices that determines who they are and what they would like to be. The concept of Being or ‘to be’, foregrounds a diverse range of definitions and extrapolations into the attributes of individuals, individuality, communities, and societies. The aim of the chapter is to unravel issues in the theorising of the concept of Being and its relationship to Indigenous Knowledge Systems for research students, through a teaching framework. A further aim is to explore the correlation of Being and Indigenous Knowledge Systems with the changing face of research relationships in a contemporary global setting. I shall, firstly, draw on relevant conceptualisations of what is Being under a Western framework. I, then, problematise this concept through Indigenous Knowledge Systems with a review of the literature on the issues surrounding its use. In the third part of this chapter, I focus on the changing face of research relationships by exploring the alignment of Being with the principles of Indigenous Knowledge Systems and their connectivity within a global framework. In this way, I foreground a significance of differentials and a re-imaging of thought and perception in the way research into Indigenous and Aboriginal societies is positioned.

In recent times, extant literature increasingly underscores the importance of indigenous innovations. This chapter provides an empirical illustration that a collaboration between indigenous knowledge systems and mainstream knowledge systems will not only help overcome the shortcomings in both systems, but also result in more cost-effective and environmentally friendly solutions. The chapter also advocates for public policies that facilitate the development and dissemination of such innovations. Using a case study from the Nigerian context, a framework is provided in this chapter, to illustrate how scientific knowledge can be applied to indigenous innovations to result in the next generation of sustainable, cost-effective and environmentally friendly solutions.

In this chapter, I suggest that institutional guidelines and principles for conducting ethical research within Indigenous and cross-cultural contexts (see for example, the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies Guidelines for Ethical Research in Indigenous Studies, 2012) may not, in themselves be enough to promote the ethical practices nor lead to innovative outcomes if the fundamental premises of Western research in Indigenous contexts remain the same. Alternatively, valuing and applying Indigenous conceptions of Being, relationality and knowing when engaging with Indigenous participants and also, within actual procedures of research may lead to greater ethical know-how and a deeper understanding of how Indigenous modes of knowledge production can extend the frontiers of knowledge to solve real world problems. Such possibilities are predicated on recognising the limitations of our own epistemologies and ontologies and addressing the question of how we might refigure the role and positioning of ‘outsider’ researchers in ways that imbed, more self-reflexive and culturally appropriate modes of engagement and the application of Indigenous notions of Being, knowing and doing into research procedures to enhance the impact and benefits of research both within and beyond Indigenous communities.

This chapter outlines the successful community engagement process used by the authors for the Kinship Online project in the context of Indigenous methodological, epistemological, and ethical considerations. It juxtaposes Indigenous and western ways of teaching and research, exploring in greater detail the differences between them. The following chapter builds on and extends Riley, Howard-Wagner, Mooney & Kutay (2013, in press) to delve deeply into the importance of embedding Aboriginal cultural knowledge in curriculum at the university level.

The chapter gives an account of an Office for Learning and Teaching (OLTC) grant to develop Indigenous Online Cultural Teaching and Sharing Resources (the Kinship Online Project). The project is built on an existing face-to-face interactive presentation based on Australian Aboriginal Kinship systems created by Lynette Riley, which is being re-developed as an online cultural education workshop.

A key consideration of the researchers has been Aboriginal community engagement in relation to the design and development of the project. The chapter delves deeply into the importance of embedding Aboriginal cultural knowledge into curriculum at the university level. In doing so, the chapter sets out an Aboriginal community engagement model compared with a western research model which the authors hope will be useful to other researchers who wish to engage in research with Aboriginal people and/or communities.

Africa's history of trade, production and financial services that propelled the continent's economic systems existed long before an era of colonisation commonly recognised as beginning in the nineteenth century. By the time the decolonisation of a majority of African countries was achieved in the mid-twentieth century, the African economic identity had been, to a great extent, relegated by Westernised methods and orientations. Today, Indigenous practices are once again resurfacing in Africa's ongoing search for sustainable development, with increasing calls to resuscitate and incorporate these age-long business orientations. This introductory chapter provides readers with a synopsis of all the themes of this second of a two-volume edited book with a focus on the philosophies and practices of Indigenous businesses, which, if successfully explored and scaled up, would make significant contributions to Africa's economic infrastructure.

Africa is a vast, immensely diverse continent with hundreds of local languages, traditions, values, and cultures that shape the lives of its people. The vast resources available on the continent present numerous opportunities for economic development and prosperity. The preceding chapters in this volume have explored many of these resources, highlighting the importance of indigenous knowledge in driving sustainable business structures across Africa. This chapter concludes with practical recommendations for implementing and sustaining indigenous knowledge on the continent and building a more equitable and sustainable future for Africa. We anticipate that these observations and recommendations will aid African researchers, government and non-governmental organisations, educators, business actors and leaders, legislators, and the general public in thinking globally but acting locally to advance indigenous knowledge in Africa.

Australian Universities have struggled to achieve higher education outcomes for Indigenous students. Rates of retention, attrition and withdrawal characterize the Indigenous higher education participation profile. An emerging Indigenous leadership within the academy provides universities with access to Indigenous standpoints. This chapter promotes the necessity of Indigenous standpoints if universities are to achieve transformation in Indigenous higher education outcomes.

The opportunities available to Indigenous Australians to enjoy a quality of life commensurate to non-Indigenous Australians are hampered by disproportionate rates of poor health, education and employment. A higher education qualification positions Indigenous people to access sustainable employment. Improving rates of Indigenous retention, decreasing attrition and increasing the number of graduates can transform current Indigenous experiences of disadvantage. Accessing Indigenous standpoints is integral to universities achieving these results.

While the concept of Indigenous standpoints has been proposed by other Indigenous scholars, these discussions have not contextualized the operations of this standpoint specifically within the milieu of university administration, management and governance. The intrinsic value of Indigenous standpoints has not gained traction within university executive management and is not readily understood in strategic planning or academic corporate cultures.

The situating of pimatisiwin as a framework for spatial justice and self-determination aids educators in strengthening their understandings of Indigenous knowledges to support an authentic inclusion of Indigenous students with disabilities. Through the sharing of Canada’s colonial history, and by critically examining the principles of care within special education, the author exposes its relationship with ableism, normalcy, eugenics, and white privilege to show how Indigenous peoples continue to be marginalized in the twenty-first century. This justice work asks educators to shift their perspectives of inclusion and wellness through the insertion of an Indigenous lens, one to help them see and hear the faces and voices of disabled Aboriginal children and their kinships. The chapter discusses the social model of disability, the psychology of Gentle Teaching, Indigenous ethics, and principles of natural laws through the voices of Nehiyawak and other knowledge keepers, in order to suggest an agenda for educators to come to an understanding of an emancipatory and gentle education. Spatial justice and Indigenous epistemologies merge as synergistic, inclusive, and holistic entities, to support Aboriginal children and youth as both they and those who teach learn to celebrate disabled ontologies. The chapter concludes by presenting how Gentle Teaching and Indigenous ways of knowing should be honored in this quest of creating an equitable, caring, and inclusive society for all disabled Indigenous children and youth.