Paper short abstract:

How can researchers apply concepts which are spatially and temporally produced in a non-indigenous setting to an indigenous setting? How can development studies on indigenous people be decolonized and indigenous knowledge be acknowledged?

Paper long abstract:

Epistemological concepts and ideas have a historical timeline through which they developed over a period of time. All knowledge is historically and locally produced. To apply these temporal and spatially produced knowledge universally would not only be erroneous to the resultant research but also unjust to the local knowledges. The locality of knowledge production helps us to place the concepts in a socio-historical context. But the question of how do we present indigenous knowledge without falling into the trap of colonialism remains.

The paper suggests that the division surrounding the dichotomy of indigenous and non-indigenous is proposed to further reinforce segregation and division between the two groups. Based on the idea of 'difference', indigenous knowledge and experiences have always been presented in a comparative framework alongside Eurocentric versions of the same. Recent understandings (like that of Gurminder K. Bhambra and Denise Ferreira da Silva) have proposed difference to be the basis of discrimination. With an emphasis on the need to decolonize methodology and theoretical concepts, the paper attempts to suggest that such dichotomies need to be re-evaluated.