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Righting Names: The Importance of Native American Philosophies of Naming for Environmental Justice

Righting Names: The Importance of Native American Philosophies of Naming for Environmental Justice Righting Names The Importance of Native American Philosophies of Naming for Environmental Justice Rebekah Sinclair ABSTRACT: Controlling the names of places, environments, and species is one way in which settler colonial ontologies delimit the intelligibility of ecological relations, Indig- enous peoples, and environmental injustices. To counter this, this article amplifi es the voices of Native American scholars and foregrounds a philosophical account of Indige- nous naming. First, I explore some central characteristics of Indigenous ontology, epis- temic virtue, and ethical responsibility, setting the stage for how Native nami ng draws these elements together into a complete, robust philosophy. Th en I point toward leading but contingent principles of Native naming, foregrounding how Native names emerge from and create communities by situating (rather than individuating) the beings that they name within kinship structures, including human and nonhuman agents. Finally, I outline why and how Indigenous names and the knowledges they contain are crucial for both resisting settler violence and achieving environmental justice, not only for Native Americans, but for their entire animate communities. KEYWORDS: environmental justice, epistemology, ethics, Indigenous philosophy, ontology A name is a site of power. Th is is true in part because of the concrete power—oft en http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Environment and Society Berghahn Books

Righting Names: The Importance of Native American Philosophies of Naming for Environmental Justice

Sinclair, Rebekah
Environment and Society , Volume 9 (1) – Sep 1, 2018
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Publisher
Berghahn Books
Copyright
© 2020 Berghahn Books
ISSN
2150-6779
eISSN
2150-6787
DOI
10.3167/ares.2018.090107
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

Righting Names The Importance of Native American Philosophies of Naming for Environmental Justice Rebekah Sinclair ABSTRACT: Controlling the names of places, environments, and species is one way in which settler colonial ontologies delimit the intelligibility of ecological relations, Indig- enous peoples, and environmental injustices. To counter this, this article amplifi es the voices of Native American scholars and foregrounds a philosophical account of Indige- nous naming. First, I explore some central characteristics of Indigenous ontology, epis- temic virtue, and ethical responsibility, setting the stage for how Native nami ng draws these elements together into a complete, robust philosophy. Th en I point toward leading but contingent principles of Native naming, foregrounding how Native names emerge from and create communities by situating (rather than individuating) the beings that they name within kinship structures, including human and nonhuman agents. Finally, I outline why and how Indigenous names and the knowledges they contain are crucial for both resisting settler violence and achieving environmental justice, not only for Native Americans, but for their entire animate communities. KEYWORDS: environmental justice, epistemology, ethics, Indigenous philosophy, ontology A name is a site of power. Th is is true in part because of the concrete power—oft en

Journal

Environment and Society – Berghahn Books

Published: Sep 1, 2018

Keywords: environmental justice;epistemology;ethics;Indigenous philosophy;ontology

References