I’m gradually getting into North American Indigenous philosophy. I find it compelling that, by and large, “western” philosophy has brought about terminal imbalance to earth’s systems which has lead to cyclical apocalypse.

Indigenous philosophy is on the “borderlands” meaning that it has been uncomfortably close to settler-colonial discourse and has had to engage for some 500 years or so. Thus Indigenous philosophy is born, not as a reduction of the many nations into a monolithic race, but as a conglomeration of responses to the shared experience that came with colonialism. This intensified around 1890 when many different peoples where thrust into boarding schools and forced to learn the same language and forced to endure incrediblely high death rates, abuse, humiliation and continued poly-apocalypse. Many wrote about their experiences and ideas, formed organizations and became active, continuing discourse with each other and the settler empire.

NA Indigenous philosophy is uniquely important to understanding the US Empire because they were the ones that watched its birth. There are also striking parallels between US/settler relations with Indigenous nations and how the US Empire treats much of the world.

If more people new Indigenous philosophy and history I think we would have stroger political thinkers with more possibilities to work with. It would also make it easier to gain more comrades in the struggle against imperialism and the capitalist classes and restore just relations with colonized peoples which is paramount to building a worthwhile anti imperialist bloc in the core.