Beyond the sham of the emancipatory Enlightenment: Rethinking the relationship of Indigenous epistemologies, knowledges, and geography through decolonizing paths

Abstract

This article contributes to the current debate on decolonizing geography. It explores rethinking the relationship of Indigenous epistemologies, knowledges, and geography from Indigenous perspectives. After deconstructing the Enlightenment as an illusory way towards emancipation and critically exploring the heritage of geography regarding Indigenous peoples, this paper examines the Indigenous epistemologies that are considered counter-discourses that challenge western ‘regimes of truth’. It approaches Indigenous knowledges through decolonizing paths to capture the originality and strength of Indigenous epistemologies more fully, and re-centre Indigenous conceptual frameworks as offering new possibilities to write the ‘difference differently’ in human geography.