Contribution short abstract:

The presentation will describe some practices of introducing Brazilian Indigenous epistemological proposals in the processes of teaching and learning anthropology in a Central European university, for debating their potentialities and challenges toward a multiplication of knowledge practices.

Contribution long abstract:

In recent years, a growing number of Indigenous scholars are suggesting their epistemological proposals as alternative and complementary ways of engaging with knowledge practices. Starting from ongoing and longstanding dialogues in the field and academia, the presentation introduces some examples of epistemological proposals raised by Indigenous people in Brazil, in particular on the suggestions of "theory as practice" (Tucano people), of "doing together" (Karipuna people), and of "territorialised knowledge" (Xakriabá people). These proposals, as well as many others, promote the reflection on how hegemonic formats of teaching, learning, and doing anthropology (re)produce hierarchies among people and knowledge. The presentation describes some exercises developed at Masaryk University by a group of students and teachers toward an effective and affective engagement with these as specific forms of pluralising epistemological panorama in the context of both specific courses and in the fieldwork. These are the implementation of first-hand exercises as a form of knowing practically, the development of collaborative activities as a way of knowing collectively, and the promotion of direct participative undertakings as a modality of knowing in situated contexts. The thesis is that assuming these proposals by Indigenous scholars as proper epistemological methods can support a pluralisation of knowledge practices in teaching and learning and in the field toward the emergence of epistemic collectives, allowing a deeper engagement of students in the activities and more symmetrical relations. The presentation also describes the difficulties this indigenisation of academia still faces to be recognised as a proper epistemological and political proposal.