Protecting Indigenous Knowledge and Heritage: A Global Challenge.

• Author: Lametti, David
• Position: Book Review

M. Battiste & J.Y. Henderson, Protecting Indigenous Knowledge and Heritage: A Global Challenge. Saskatoon: Purich Press, 2000. Pp. 324.

This text is a welcome aid to understanding the nature and importance of indigenous knowledge and culture. It is a wide-ranging text that covers a variety of topics, from colonization, language, cultural property, comparative epistemology, and domestic and international law to research ethics. It adequately portrays the complexity of these various issues, with equal measures of explanation of indigenous traditions and culture, of critique of Eurocentrism, and of calls for reform.

The monograph is effectively divided into four parts. (The brief conclusion stands as a fifth part.) Part I sets up the twin poles of Eurocentrism (its epistemology and ontology, as well as impact) and indigenous knowledge. The latter is outlined in terms of its own unique ways of understanding and ways of being, in particular its "location" and transmission. Part II outlines a variety of contexts in which the understanding of indigenous culture should have an impact on dominant colonial and post-colonial social and legal discourse: indigenous rights, language, education, religion, scientific thought, intellectual property, etc. These first two parts are the strongest in the text. Part III outlines local and international regimes that set out to protect indigenous culture and rights, while Part IV outlines the need for reform in specific areas and provides some potential avenues for change.

The strengths of the book are its encyclopedic scope and its tone. The text covers a great deal of territory, touching upon most of the important current Aboriginal issues (with the important exception of self-government or sovereignty, which is briefly treated in the discussion of RCAP) through the lens of heritage and culture. As stated above, the strongest parts are the first two. Part I exposes the very different assumptions behind European and indigenous epistemology and ontology, and Part II shows how the latter indigenous ways have been negatively impacted by the former. It is a story that needs to be retold as often as possible. The need for reform outlined in Part IV, flowing...