Grace L Carson

Grace is Yavapai & Chiricahua Apache, a Skadden Fellow at Tribal Law and Policy Inst. She is an abolitionist and Tribal Sovereignty advocate.

Lands

Turtle Island

Indigenous Epistemologies of Justice: Conflict as a Place for Healing

Grace L. Carson

Epistemology, or the nature of knowledge and how we come to know what we know, provides the philosophical foundations through which we as gain perspectives of the world. Western epistemologies differ from that of Indigenous peoples. They come from highly regarded founding philosophers in their culture, such as Aristotle, Plato, and Socrates. Indigenous epistemology is not derived from a person, but rather grounded in a way of knowing that interconnects thought and speech, experience, and land (Cajete, 2014). They didn’t stop being maintained when their lands and communities were colonized, but continue to be practiced today.

More than that, Indigenous epistemologies continue to be imagined and created—they are very much living and ever-changing.

While Native tribes and communities often draw upon traditional knowledge and practices, Native people have adapted to the injuries of colonization by creating new ways of living and knowing.

We can see the differences between Western and Indigenous knowledge clearly when we examine epistemologies of justice within each culture. Western epistemologies of justice are rooted in punishment and shame, as we can see with the U.S. and Canadian criminal legal systems, which utilize retributive systems and practices. Counter to retribution justice utilized in Western countries and embedded in Western culture, Indigenous communities located in what is now known as the United States and Canada have epistemologies of justice that are rooted in restoration and healing. Retributive practices are focused on the punishment of a person who has caused harm as a way to rectify and deter the behavior, while restorative justice is focused on repairing the harm that was done—restoring the person who was harmed, the person who committed the harm, and the community in which the harm took place.

These Indigenous restorative justice values are inseparable from the restorative healing practices that are lived by Native people every day in connection with oneself, one’s community and relatives, and nature according to tribal traditions, knowledge, and ways of living. When we look to Indigenous epistemologies of justice, we see that conflict—a place in which harm is often caused—is not a space that calls for punishment and shame, but rather, a place in which healing can take place.

The way in which Native people practice restorative justice in the United States and Canada is called Peacemaking. Peacemaking is a traditional way of resolving conflict in many Native tribes, that continues to be changed and tailored to each tribe and their needs today. It is an Indigenous conflict resolution process which works to address the core issues of conflict to restore balance within one’s self, between peers, and among community. Peacemaking recognizes that conflict is layered and often derives from underlying problems which can cause disruption on a communal level (Akwesasne Community, 1999). The process shifts the idea of justice from getting even to getting well, recognizing that healthy relationships lead to prevention of future harm (Pranis et al., 2003, p. 10).

Peacemaking derives from and acts out Indigenous epistemologies of justice, which understands that conflict is an opportunity for healing to take place, rather than an event that should be addressed with punishment and shame.

When harm is caused—which is an inevitable event in any community—it is an opportunity for a community to mend and to grow. We can learn a lot from Indigenous epistemologies of justice. We can learn that conflict and harm can be an opportunity to create healing in our communities, and that this healing can better improve and maintain the community that we want to live in. We can learn that punishment and shame are antithetical to healing and wellness. We can begin to work towards a world in which abolition of incarceration and policing is possible, and healing is prioritized.