How far should the indigenisation of university teaching and research go?

People need to remember that learning goes both ways - the statement that “the presence of Indigenous perspectives across all disciplines can enable non-Indigenous students to be challenged, to question their assumptions and to experience deeper learning through rich conversations” contains the dangerous assumption that those students who happen to be 'indigenous' have nothing to learn or to be challenged by. Both traditions have plenty to offer. A community living in harmony with a patch of land will have a greater affinity with it and bring insights that outsiders do not have... but that knowledge needs to be integrated with other approaches to be of value. Things that may seem to be "old wives' tales" can be tested to see if they are genuine insights or just legends without basis in fact. That's not being disrespectful, it's being honest.

Interesting article and much appreciated. One topic I'd add is the historic (and contemporary) racism in the natural sciences, for example: eugenics. It was the scientific method that was employed to justify the dehumanization of Indigenous people (such as measuring skull size). For those who would like to express criticisms of the broader incorporation of Indigenous knowledge, I think it is also important that they simultaneously demonstrate that they have educated themselves on how the "objectivity" of science has been used to promote systematic racism throughout society. (Maybe those cited in the article have, I don't know, but if so I wish the article had included that awareness.)

This one will run and run as indigenous groups become ever better organized with growing access to media and their leaders acquire a university education at all levels. The failure of states to provide good primary and secondary education and to ensure social justice in other ways has meant that the demand for recognition takes the place of the demand for justice. Much of this occurs in the hothouse of academia which places those who teach and do research under severe pressure which they are ill-equipped to handle. Much also consists of people engaged in social science and cultural studies taking a position on issues in natural sciences, often blithely accusing them of a lack of objectivity, something social science has come to live with, but is a very different matter in the natural sciences. As the article points out repeatedly, there is a big difference between including indigenous people, taking their knowledge seriously, and claiming that their procedures for acquiring knowledge can be reconciled with modern science. To navigate these treacherous waters, the academic hothouse needs leadership of the kind it does not usually attract.

Since there is little reason to believe indigenous knowledge is easier to learn than non-indigenous knowledge, it seems reasonable to expect a huge increase in the demand for the services of indigenous teachers to teach non-indigenous students. Unless this demand is addressed promptly by the educational establishment these cross-cultural programs will be unlikely to bear fruit.

'How far should the indigenisation of university teaching and research go?' Presumably as far as it takes for the THS to realise that constructing a question in such a manner is symptomatic of the problem - in the same way as 'How far should the desegregation of university teaching and research go?' and 'How far should the feminisation of university teaching and research go?' were/are also symptomatic of the problems of established positions and values.

I had the same approach, we designed camera-traps easy to assemble, repair and even updated thinking of users living into or near the tropical rainforests. The idea was to create a market of services provided by this small villagers. You can see the rationale in this presentation: https://educast.pucp.edu.pe/video/9289/presentacion_de_resultados_tecnologia_que_protege_la_amazonia and a short "elevator speech" here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-pvuCJCxQ8.