Decolonising Ecological Knowledge

Decolonising Ecological Knowledge (DEK) is a service that supports the decolonisation of ecological knowledge, through a framework for critical analysis of knowledge across different layers, to help question existing biases, positionality, the status quo, and your perception of acceptable knowledge itself. The project views decolonising knowledge as a collective effort from both, the land of the colonized and of the colonizer. (Note – The project acknowledges that this effort is not equal but equitable, given the difference in contexts, privilege, and power balance). For the latter, the service offers a framework for the contextual analysis across layers of culture, language, geography, history and positionality, to be able critically question systemic and personal biases, opening up a broader and deeper understanding of the subject. The frame is introduced through a role-playing game, to students pursuing their undergrad and postgrad degrees with an interest in culture, ecology, and communities, further underlining other ways of knowing as an effective pedagogical tool. For the former, the tool is designed to promote visualisation of embedded traditional ecological knowledge by the student of the Bali Island in Sundarbans where their culture embodies the ethos ecological harmony and conservation. The students will find “treasures” of knowledge in a story from their own lands and use them to create their own version of the story through a narration, skit, artwork or more, thus taking pluriversal agency over the evolution of their embedded traditional ecological knowledge. In addition to this, the project also acts as a meta-service, where the considerations, processes and methods within the project can guide a decolonised approach to actions and thinking within this field of study.