Addressing Epistemic Injustice: The Role of Participatory Action Research in Facilitating a Sustainable Future for Indigenous Communities

Abstract (English)

The legacy of colonialism in knowledge production, the coloniality of knowledge, has been such that in research related to Indigenous communities, the knowledge of the ‘expert’ based on dispassionate, scientific objectivity has been given precedence over the time-honoured place-based knowledge of the community. In the case of Majuli river island in Assam, India, the government has largely adopted a techno-managerial approach to address flooding, often overlooking the importance of integrating the Traditional Ecological Knowledge of Indigenous communities. This has led to problems such as environmental degradation, loss of traditional livelihoods and further marginalization and erasure of Indigenous heritages - their ways of knowing, seeing and being. One of the ways of addressing this epistemic injustice can be adopting a decolonial and democratic approach to research that empowers the community / asserts the community’s right to be equal stakeholders in the process of cocreating knowledge and futures. This paper, therefore, examines the suitability and challenges of conducting participatory action research in understanding how the intangible cultural heritage of the Mising in Majuli can be preserved and harnessed to contribute towards a sustainable future for the community.