Re-Indigenizing Ecological Consciousness and the Interconnectedness to Indigenous Identities: (Environment and Religion in Feminist-Womanist, Queer, and Indigenous Perspectives)

The authors of Re-Indigenizing Ecological Consciousness and the Interconnectedness to Indigenous Identities share the diversity and complexities of the Indigenous context of worldviews, examining relationships between humans and other living beings within an eco-conscious lens. Michelle Montgomery’s edited volume shows that we belong not only to a human community, but to a community of all nature as well. The contributors demonstrate that the reciprocity of Indigenous knowledges is inclusive and represents worldviews for regenerative solutions and the need to realign our view of the environment as a “who” rather than an “it.” This reciprocity is intertwined as an obligation of environmental ethics to acknowledge the attributes of Indigenous knowledges as not merely a body of knowledge but as multiple layers or levels of placed-based knowledges, identities, and lived experiences.

Table of Contents:
Contents Foreword by Bill Thomas Chapter 1. Traditional Ecological Knowledges: An Antidote to Destruction by Daniel Wildcat Chapter 2. Na Mele Ku?e by Hokulani Rivera Chapter 3. The World and the West by Jasmine Neosh Chapter 4. Reflecting on Environmental Narratives: In Order to Address the Legacy of Settler Colonial Structures Painted on the Rocks is the Story of My Beginning by Pah-Tu Pitt Chapter 5. Indigenous Moral Epistemologies and Eco-Critical Race Theory by Michelle Montgomery Chapter 6. Ripples and Ribbons: Indigenizing Apiculture and Pollinator Stewardship by Melanie Kirby Chapter 7. Indigenous Feminisms and Environmentalism in Care of Place by Paulette Blanchard Chapter 8. Queer Indigeneity: Decolonizing our Relationships to Build a Sense of Belonging by Michael H. Chang and Melissa Watkinson-Schutten Chapter 9. Building Sustainability by Creating Belonging by Merisa Jones Chapter 10. Restoring the Chehalis Story: An Indigenous Approach to Reclaiming and Re-Centering a Tribal History

About the Author :
Michelle Montgomery is associate professor and chair of the Division of Social and Historical Studies in the School of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences at the University of Washington, Tacoma.

Review :
Editor Michelle Montgomery has gathered a diverse collection of voices—distinct in lived experiences, cultural traditions, and academic backgrounds—that demands to be heard. Personal narratives and reflections join gripping analyses to illuminate Indigenous relationships to place while dismantling stereotypical notions and colonial assumptions. The result is a fearless and multifaceted look at the critical roles of place-based knowledges and identities in the twenty-first century. “This timely and important volume weaves together an impressive array of voices who share stories and histories of Indigenous resilience and resurgence in response to the climate crisis we all live in today. Their stories explain how Indigenous relationships to one other and the natural world are based on reciprocity and respect. Hence, the authors elucidate the importance of including and, more essentially, centering and valuing Indigenous environmental wisdom and ecological knowledge in discussions concerning climate change and environmental destruction. Their stories remind us that we have a collective responsibility to care for both our human and nonhuman relatives, and will leave readers enlightened, saddened, and disheartened but hopeful that social, racial, gender, and environmental justice will prevail.” Weaving together stories and accounts from a multitude of Indigenous geographies ranging from the Pacific to the forests of the Menominee nation, this book's chapters provide an insight into the ways that Indigenous identity, Indigenous resurgence, and ecological sustainability are deeply intertwined and must be taken together when thinking about the possibilities that still are possible in the world around us. Montgomery and co's words, stories, thoughts, and hopes leap from the page and remind us of our accountabilities to the environment around us and that we cannot create the desirable futures we seek and hope for without it. “In this engaging collection, Montgomery brings together diverse and radical thinkers that deftly decolonize environmental and scientific narratives and centers self-determined ways of knowing from multiple Indigenous perspectives. This book represents a profound liberation scholarship that reclaims the power of Indigenous ecological consciousness through critical, queer, and feminist reflections. I can’t wait to teach this book in my courses!”