Indigenous Pathways to Social Justice, Reconciliation, Healing and Well-being with all Our Relations

Abstract

Indigenous Peoples, despite being crucial stewards of biodiversity, continue to face deep social injustices and marginalization. They endure ongoing criminalization in the name of conservation and sustainable development, while their knowledge systems and rights are consistently undermined and neglected by dominant policies and narratives. In this paper, we argue that understanding social injustice requires acknowledging the enduring legacy of colonization, we introduce the Ărramăt Project and propose the Maslow's hierarchy as a methodological framework aimed at decolonizing narratives and research, to achieve social justice, healing, and reconciliation among all our relations and with Mother Earth.