Speaking with No Voice: Indigenous Conservation among kaa shagóon (physical), kaa tundataní (mental), toowú (emotional), and At yakgwahéiyagu (spirit)

Abstract

This thesis investigates Indigenous Conservation through the lens of an Indigenous academic, conservationist, and person tied to place in southern Yukon, Canada. I center my work within several methodologies, outlined below, to draw out teachings written for different audiences, and different parts of a person. Seasons (Fall / Winter / Spring / Summer) and aspects (Physical / Mental / Emotional / Spiritual) are prevalent throughout this thesis, being part of my worldview, and a way of making sense of the world. I draw primarily from Inland Tlingit teachings, but also teachings from Indigenous academics more broadly. Using those teachings, in Chapter 1, I investigate research frameworks; in Chapter 2, I explore how conservation science may perpetuate colonial worldviews from a theoretical perspective; in Chapter 3, I bring the worldviews of Carcross Tagish First Nation into Land and Water planning; in Chapter 4, I investigate my own experiences in Indigenous-led conservation, and in Chapter 5, I summarize some of the key conclusions from this work. The thesis objective was: • To investigate how Indigenous Knowledge Systems of place-based Indigenous-led conservation flourish and interact with dominant ways of being in conservation science, practice, and related work. The chapter objectives were: • Chapter 1: To present a research framework that arises from, before, and during my thesis work. • Chapter 2: To work against the worldview violence in conservation science. • Chapter 3: To create land and water planning theory grounded solely in Carcross Tagish First Nation knowledge. • Chapter 4: To explore Indigenous-led conservation through my own journey. I have generally kept to a four-chapter format to try and bring out different aspects of how we make meaning, using a physical / mental / emotional / spiritual framework. In the physical, I weave together how this research methodology organically developed from the process of action-oriented frameworks grounded in Indigenous Knowledge Systems. In the mental, I weave together academic theoretical writing related to Indigenous Knowledge in a Canadian context and consider the benefits to conservation science, noting the challenges, risks, and emerging trends therein. In the emotional, I build Land and Water planning frameworks, aiming to base the ontological or worldview foundations in part of the Carcross Tagish First Nation worldview. In the spiritual, I compose a fictional conversation with my Tlingit grandmother that centers my experiences in Indigenous-led conservation. I have included a concluding chapter so some of the main takeaways are more accessible. The key learnings and benefits for the communities I collaborated within in the Yukon were, as I perceive them: • Building Land and Water planning frameworks that arise from Carcross Tagish First Nation’s Indigenous Knowledge System through community-based work and publication processes. • Uplifting Indigenous Knowledge Systems from action-oriented frameworks through work applied at treaty tables, communicated across the Yukon, used in socio-economic assessments, and brought into youth educational spaces. • Bridging decolonial and anticolonial theory into the practice of conservation science. The key academic contributions and findings related to the literature on Indigenous Conservation include: • Building up place-based Knowledge Systems in areas related to the discipline of conservation science. • Applying theories from disciplines outside of conservation science to the discipline of conservation science. • Implementing action-oriented learning in areas Inland Tlingit people have interacted with, which are then communicated more widely in academic settings. The limitations of the thesis work may include: • The place-based nature of the work. Some scholars may not find some of the outcomes of this thesis generalizable enough. However, I assert that this is also a strength, as it provides a tangible example of a decolonial approach that speaks directly from a place rather than at a place. • Some sections are inaccessible without extensive education, focusing on issues through an academic lens, which I see as limitation in community accessibility. Overall, I have endeavored to expand thinking around the practice, implementation, and advocacy that centers around conservation science in relation to Indigenous Knowledge Systems. Major themes that arose are other than human personhood rights and Indigenous Resurgence. The thesis structure, delivery, development, and thinking is a reaction to multiple gaps in the practice, action, theory, and advocacy seen in conservation science from my perspective as an Indigenous academic, conservationist, and person tied to a specific place and time.