Lecture recording: Rethinking Human–Nature Relations Through Indigenous Epistemologies.

Dr Helina Jolly, University of Vermont.

What can conservation learn from Indigenous knowledge systems? In this lecture, Rethinking Human–Nature Relations Through Indigenous Epistemologies, we explore how Indigenous worldviews challenge dominant models of conservation, biodiversity management, and nature recovery.

Drawing from long-term ethnographic research with the Kattunayakan community in the Western Ghats of South India, this talk highlights Indigenous perspectives where wild animals are seen not as resources to manage, but as kin, teachers, and spiritual beings. Discover how cultural burning practices, ancestral land stewardship, and ethical relations with more-than-human beings reshape our understanding of environmental conservation and sustainability. Unlike mainstream conservation approaches that separate humans from nature, Indigenous epistemologies emphasise relational, place-based ethics and coexistence.