The Restorative Ecology of Peace: Haudenosaunee Environmental Knowledge and Philosophies of Stewardship

In this talk, I will summarize my doctoral work, which is about Haudenosaunee environmental knowledge (HEK). The Haudenosaunee have a unique environmental philosophy that arose among their people since before Creation, according to their oral history. HEK is woven throughout their contemporary culture, lived experience, and relationships with their homeland. Over the last decades, Haudenosaunee leaders have begun to articulate to the world that Indigenous knowledge is valuable, if not critical, for the collective survival and sustainable balance of humans and other species on earth. Here, I will run through the methods and ethics that shaped my research, as well as summarize the parts of Haudenosaunee philosophy I chose to highlight in my dissertation. This aim of this work was to bear witness to the distinction and complexity of HEK, and contribute to the field of ethnobiology, by studying the foundations of Haudenosaunee epistemology and relationships with the natural world.