mapping global Indigenous connections
Transindigenous Studies is an evolving, interdisciplinary field that explores the histories, cultures, and knowledge systems of Indigenous peoples across different regions and nations. It moves beyond national and colonial frameworks to illuminate the deep networks of connection, exchange, and solidarity that have shaped Indigenous experiences throughout history and into the present.
At its core, Transindigenous Studies examines how Indigenous communities have engaged with one another across time and space—through trade, diplomacy, storytelling, and shared resistance against colonialism, yet it must be said that in practice, Transindigenous Studies usually deal with those peoples who never obtained postcolonial independence, such as Inuits, Native Americans, Maori in New Zealand, or various ethnic groups of the Russian Siberia. The research field highlights the parallels in Indigenous resistance movements across political borders, their shared environmental attitudes, and legal battles for sovereignty while also celebrating the diversity of Indigenous languages, oral literatures, and artistic expressions.
The question of endangered languages, although treated as quite a separate discipline, overlaps with this field, as the fate of minoritarian tongues reflects both the destruction and resilience of Indigenous communities. Many Indigenous languages have survived systematic suppression, other are creatically endangered or doomed to disappear in a perspective of years or decades. They transmit and embody identities, cultural memory, land-based knowledge, unique worldviews, and ways of conceptualizing human experience. Through language revitalization movements, Indigenous scholars, activists, and artists are reclaiming their linguistic heritage, fostering intergenerational transmission, and creating new spaces for Indigenous expression in literature, media, and education. By examining various issues connected with the preservation of linguistic diversity, Transindigenous Studies reveal shared struggles and strategies for survival, demonstrating how language is both a site of loss and a powerful tool of resilience.
By embracing a comparative and global perspective, this field sheds light on how Indigenous peoples adapt, innovate, and assert their identities in a rapidly changing world. Whether through literature, activism, land rights movements, or cultural revitalization, Transindigenous Studies reveal the interconnectedness of Indigenous experiences and foster a deeper understanding of their contribution to global history and contemporary thought.
At its core, Transindigenous Studies examines how Indigenous communities have engaged with one another across time and space—through trade, diplomacy, storytelling, and shared resistance against colonialism, yet it must be said that in practice, Transindigenous Studies usually deal with those peoples who never obtained postcolonial independence, such as Inuits, Native Americans, Maori in New Zealand, or various ethnic groups of the Russian Siberia. The research field highlights the parallels in Indigenous resistance movements across political borders, their shared environmental attitudes, and legal battles for sovereignty while also celebrating the diversity of Indigenous languages, oral literatures, and artistic expressions.
The question of endangered languages, although treated as quite a separate discipline, overlaps with this field, as the fate of minoritarian tongues reflects both the destruction and resilience of Indigenous communities. Many Indigenous languages have survived systematic suppression, other are creatically endangered or doomed to disappear in a perspective of years or decades. They transmit and embody identities, cultural memory, land-based knowledge, unique worldviews, and ways of conceptualizing human experience. Through language revitalization movements, Indigenous scholars, activists, and artists are reclaiming their linguistic heritage, fostering intergenerational transmission, and creating new spaces for Indigenous expression in literature, media, and education. By examining various issues connected with the preservation of linguistic diversity, Transindigenous Studies reveal shared struggles and strategies for survival, demonstrating how language is both a site of loss and a powerful tool of resilience.
By embracing a comparative and global perspective, this field sheds light on how Indigenous peoples adapt, innovate, and assert their identities in a rapidly changing world. Whether through literature, activism, land rights movements, or cultural revitalization, Transindigenous Studies reveal the interconnectedness of Indigenous experiences and foster a deeper understanding of their contribution to global history and contemporary thought.
Selected bibliography
Foundational books in Transindigenous Studies
Allen, Chadwick. Trans-Indigenous: Methodologies for Global Native Literary Studies. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2012.
Allen, Chadwick. “Trans-Indigenous: Crossing Literary and Cultural Boundaries.” Studies in American Indian Literatures 24, no. 4 (2012): 1–21.
Brooks, Lisa. The Common Pot: The Recovery of Native Space in the Northeast. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2008.
Byrd, Jodi A. The Transit of Empire: Indigenous Critiques of Colonialism. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2011.
Justice, Daniel Heath. Why Indigenous Literatures Matter. Waterloo: Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 2018.
O'Brien, Jean M. Firsting and Lasting: Writing Indians out of Existence in New England. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2010.
Warrior, Robert. The People and the Word: Reading Native Nonfiction. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2005.
Works on endangered languages and indigenous knowledge
Hinton, Leanne. How to Keep Your Language Alive: A Commonsense Approach to One-on-One Language Learning. Berkeley: Heyday Books, 2002.
Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o. Decolonising the Mind: The Politics of Language in African Literature. London: James Currey, 1986.
Zuckermann, Ghil‘ad. Revivalistics: From the Genesis of Israeli to Language Reclamation in Australia and Beyond. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2020.
Postcolonial vs. Indigenous Studies
Moreton-Robinson, Aileen. The White Possessive: Property, Power, and Indigenous Sovereignty. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2015.
Smith, Linda Tuhiwai. Decolonizing Methodologies: Research and Indigenous Peoples. London: Zed Books, 1999 (2nd ed. 2012).
Wolfe, Patrick. “Settler Colonialism and the Elimination of the Native.” Journal of Genocide Research 8, no. 4 (2006): 387–409.
Foundational books in Transindigenous Studies
Allen, Chadwick. Trans-Indigenous: Methodologies for Global Native Literary Studies. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2012.
Allen, Chadwick. “Trans-Indigenous: Crossing Literary and Cultural Boundaries.” Studies in American Indian Literatures 24, no. 4 (2012): 1–21.
Brooks, Lisa. The Common Pot: The Recovery of Native Space in the Northeast. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2008.
Byrd, Jodi A. The Transit of Empire: Indigenous Critiques of Colonialism. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2011.
Justice, Daniel Heath. Why Indigenous Literatures Matter. Waterloo: Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 2018.
O'Brien, Jean M. Firsting and Lasting: Writing Indians out of Existence in New England. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2010.
Warrior, Robert. The People and the Word: Reading Native Nonfiction. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2005.
Works on endangered languages and indigenous knowledge
Hinton, Leanne. How to Keep Your Language Alive: A Commonsense Approach to One-on-One Language Learning. Berkeley: Heyday Books, 2002.
Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o. Decolonising the Mind: The Politics of Language in African Literature. London: James Currey, 1986.
Zuckermann, Ghil‘ad. Revivalistics: From the Genesis of Israeli to Language Reclamation in Australia and Beyond. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2020.
Postcolonial vs. Indigenous Studies
Moreton-Robinson, Aileen. The White Possessive: Property, Power, and Indigenous Sovereignty. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2015.
Smith, Linda Tuhiwai. Decolonizing Methodologies: Research and Indigenous Peoples. London: Zed Books, 1999 (2nd ed. 2012).
Wolfe, Patrick. “Settler Colonialism and the Elimination of the Native.” Journal of Genocide Research 8, no. 4 (2006): 387–409.
my papers in transindigenous studies
Language – audibility – marginalisation. On dying tongues and creative participation
Logos & Littera. Journal of Interdisciplinary Approaches to Text, issue 7/2020, p. 1-11. ISSN 2336-9884
The essay is dedicated to the problems of linguistic revitalisation and the dynamics leading to language death. Among such factors as colonial oppression and policies of state centralisation, a special attention is paid to the causes of language relinquishment and the situations in which minor languages are abandoned in favour of major ones. The author muses on the lure of larger, more attractive speech communities and the importance of language choice in building global solidarity and networks of exchange of ideas. The main question asked is how to foster the participation and visibility of native creators and intellectuals representing minor ethnolinguistic communities, making the diversity of outlooks and cognitive moods associated with minor languages available and enriching for global majorities.
The essay is dedicated to the problems of linguistic revitalisation and the dynamics leading to language death. Among such factors as colonial oppression and policies of state centralisation, a special attention is paid to the causes of language relinquishment and the situations in which minor languages are abandoned in favour of major ones. The author muses on the lure of larger, more attractive speech communities and the importance of language choice in building global solidarity and networks of exchange of ideas. The main question asked is how to foster the participation and visibility of native creators and intellectuals representing minor ethnolinguistic communities, making the diversity of outlooks and cognitive moods associated with minor languages available and enriching for global majorities.
| language_audibility_marginalisation.pdf |
ongoing research
we are all natives
transindigenous studies and the cause of global solidarity
The thread of research leading me to this formulation of a transcolonial concept started in 2006 with a study concerning African "intelligentsia" (this conceptual frame was imposed to me by the research project, while I would rather prefer to talk about fully individualized figures of intellectuals), active in Portugal during the 90ies and at the beginning of the 21st century. At this stage, I formulated the concept of "meek symbolic violence" related to the attractiveness of the former dominant culture in the eyes of the former colonized. The Africans in Lisbon in the 90ties were no longer minor or subaltern subjects. The metropolitan politics switched from marginalization to a tempting inclusion, promoting the grandiloquent ideal of Lusophony ("community of speech and historical destiny") and founding thousands of scholarships for African students.
My subsequent attempts at introducing the term "transcolonial" into the Polish-speaking discourse originated from thread of research, contrasted, in the meanwhile, with further experiences gathered in such places as Malaysia - a country I visited in 2011, and Brazil - a country I have never visited, by to which I dedicated an extensive research in literary history. It became interesting for me in this new perspective as I decided to ask the questions concerning the deconstruction of the Eurocentric canons in the Brazilian cultural products forcing their entrance on the global markets.
My subsequent attempts at introducing the term "transcolonial" into the Polish-speaking discourse originated from thread of research, contrasted, in the meanwhile, with further experiences gathered in such places as Malaysia - a country I visited in 2011, and Brazil - a country I have never visited, by to which I dedicated an extensive research in literary history. It became interesting for me in this new perspective as I decided to ask the questions concerning the deconstruction of the Eurocentric canons in the Brazilian cultural products forcing their entrance on the global markets.
my case studies
MAGHREB
A Maghrebian example shows very clearly what is at the core of the transcolonial: consider the emergence of the Amazigh question. The origin of the phenomenon is obviously pre-colonial; potential antagonisms had been covered by more pronounced, colonial distinctions. At the end of the colonial era, the problems had been initially out of the scope of renegotiation. Accentuating Arab/Berber dualism in such countries as Morocco had been seen as a danger for the early postcolonial concept of national state till the end of the 90ties. Only recently, the new policy of royal patronage over the project of Amazigh linguistic and cultural emancipation inverted this trend, at the same time marking, in my eyes, the watershed between the postcolonial and the transcolonial.
In the Moroccan case, the colonial gap between the autonomous past and the autonomous present has been closed. Even if I admit that the other countries of the Mediterranean region may not be equally lucky, the changes initialized by the so called Arab Spring may bring about a very similar turn, marking the progression from colonial and postcolonial oppression (epitomized by apparently modernizing, yet insufficiently democratic regimes) to a future that yet remains to be defined.
LUSOPHONE AFRICA
Similar questions emerge also in other parts of the world and the transcolonial may be understood in universal terms as a criticism concerning postcolonial realities at a social, political or cultural level. If one reads the prose of Mia Couto written in the first and the second decade of the 21st c., one may observe the reduced importance of typically postcolonial aspects. On the other hand, a different set of problems, dealing essentially with domestic tensions, injustice and locally produced symbolic violence, can be observed. I'm also persuaded that the main scope of the criticism in such writers of the younger African generation as Ondjaki is directed mainly toward the local sources of injustice and figures epitomizing violence that have emerged already during the years of deficient and imperfect, postcolonial freedom.
Another aspect that interests me in this context is the emergence of a transcolonial literature understood as a kind of commentary on the postcolonial one. The example of this new phenomenon is the short story by Ondjaki, Nós chorámos pelo Cão Tinhoso, establishing an obvious intertextual relationship with the masterpiece of Honwana, Nós matámos o cão tinhoso.
Finally, what characterizes, in my opinion, the transcolonial cultural order is the emergence of a new figure of the intellectual, transgressing the limitations imposed to this figure by postcolonial conditions. If the postcolonial intellectual typically lived in diaspora, often in the ex-metropolis, the transcolonial intellectual becomes "organic" as a voice epitomizing, in a higher degree, a local reality, living the life of the local culture, in a growing independence of the former symbolic center.
MALAYSIA
Malaysia is a country that can be at the same time compared and contrasted with the Lusophone Africa, because its historical encounter with the Portuguese had been so differently located in time and circumstances. Nonetheless, also in this case the vehemence of early post-colonial criticism, visible in such texts as Panglima Awang by Harun Aminurrashid, contrasted with the climate determined by the economic and cultural enthusiasms of the 90ties, as well as growing intellectual refinement of the current century. Malaysia also gave me the idea of analyzing not only the texts, but also other kinds of cultural formulation, such as the ways of conceiving museums and expositions. In a recent article for Kultura i Społeczeństwo (currently in print), I contrast Portuguese, British and Malay museums, treating the IAMM, Islamic Art museum in Kuala Lumpur, as an illustration of a transcolonial way of rebuilding the imago mundi in a culture that has left its colonial past far behind. The emergence of the intellectual, exemplified in my studies by the figure of Farish Noor, signifies a moderating presence that was typically absent (or silenced by violent means) in most of those "insufficiently democratic" postcolonial regimes all over the world.
POLAND
Last but not least, I consider also the possibility of speaking about Polish transcolonial literature. An episodic reading of Paw królowej by Dorota Masłowska inspired me to put in evidence some similarities between recent Polish prose and the transcultural phenomenon that I've been studying. Even if the colonial character of the Polish past, once suggested by Ewa Thompson, and thus the pertinence of the postcolonial studies as a way of understanding ourselves has never been fully accepted, such literary texts as Paw królowej or Wojna polsko-ruska pod flagą białoczerwoną may support a reading in transcolonial terms. What calls my attention in the former is the emergence of the feminine intellectual subject in clear opposition to instances that may be interpreted as epitomizing the postcolonial oppression (the novel's ending suggests a discharge that might be more than just a fusillade of insults: "Ognia, panowie!"). The implicit progression is thus clear: unrecognized and unhealed trauma of colonization by Russians leads to the persistence of an oppressive postcolonial stage (a phantasmal "war without number" - "chciałaby zapomnieć w jakim kraju żyke strasznym o dziwnej nazwie Polska, w którym jakby jeszcze trwała jakaś spoza numeracji wojna"). The final step is yet to be decided: either accepting the challenge of transcolonial renegotiation epitomized by the female writer or trying to bring about a ritualistic breakthrough by sacrificing this figure. All circumstances being different, the core situation remains the same as presented by the Amazigh writer Lhoussain Azergui: the community has to decide if they finally kill the journalist released from a postcolonial prison, or they let him live, accepting the full burden of transcolonial autonomy and self-consciousness. Either back into the eternal circle composed by remembrance of oppression and repetition of violence, - or forward, into a Verwindung and transcolonial future.
A Maghrebian example shows very clearly what is at the core of the transcolonial: consider the emergence of the Amazigh question. The origin of the phenomenon is obviously pre-colonial; potential antagonisms had been covered by more pronounced, colonial distinctions. At the end of the colonial era, the problems had been initially out of the scope of renegotiation. Accentuating Arab/Berber dualism in such countries as Morocco had been seen as a danger for the early postcolonial concept of national state till the end of the 90ties. Only recently, the new policy of royal patronage over the project of Amazigh linguistic and cultural emancipation inverted this trend, at the same time marking, in my eyes, the watershed between the postcolonial and the transcolonial.
In the Moroccan case, the colonial gap between the autonomous past and the autonomous present has been closed. Even if I admit that the other countries of the Mediterranean region may not be equally lucky, the changes initialized by the so called Arab Spring may bring about a very similar turn, marking the progression from colonial and postcolonial oppression (epitomized by apparently modernizing, yet insufficiently democratic regimes) to a future that yet remains to be defined.
LUSOPHONE AFRICA
Similar questions emerge also in other parts of the world and the transcolonial may be understood in universal terms as a criticism concerning postcolonial realities at a social, political or cultural level. If one reads the prose of Mia Couto written in the first and the second decade of the 21st c., one may observe the reduced importance of typically postcolonial aspects. On the other hand, a different set of problems, dealing essentially with domestic tensions, injustice and locally produced symbolic violence, can be observed. I'm also persuaded that the main scope of the criticism in such writers of the younger African generation as Ondjaki is directed mainly toward the local sources of injustice and figures epitomizing violence that have emerged already during the years of deficient and imperfect, postcolonial freedom.
Another aspect that interests me in this context is the emergence of a transcolonial literature understood as a kind of commentary on the postcolonial one. The example of this new phenomenon is the short story by Ondjaki, Nós chorámos pelo Cão Tinhoso, establishing an obvious intertextual relationship with the masterpiece of Honwana, Nós matámos o cão tinhoso.
Finally, what characterizes, in my opinion, the transcolonial cultural order is the emergence of a new figure of the intellectual, transgressing the limitations imposed to this figure by postcolonial conditions. If the postcolonial intellectual typically lived in diaspora, often in the ex-metropolis, the transcolonial intellectual becomes "organic" as a voice epitomizing, in a higher degree, a local reality, living the life of the local culture, in a growing independence of the former symbolic center.
MALAYSIA
Malaysia is a country that can be at the same time compared and contrasted with the Lusophone Africa, because its historical encounter with the Portuguese had been so differently located in time and circumstances. Nonetheless, also in this case the vehemence of early post-colonial criticism, visible in such texts as Panglima Awang by Harun Aminurrashid, contrasted with the climate determined by the economic and cultural enthusiasms of the 90ties, as well as growing intellectual refinement of the current century. Malaysia also gave me the idea of analyzing not only the texts, but also other kinds of cultural formulation, such as the ways of conceiving museums and expositions. In a recent article for Kultura i Społeczeństwo (currently in print), I contrast Portuguese, British and Malay museums, treating the IAMM, Islamic Art museum in Kuala Lumpur, as an illustration of a transcolonial way of rebuilding the imago mundi in a culture that has left its colonial past far behind. The emergence of the intellectual, exemplified in my studies by the figure of Farish Noor, signifies a moderating presence that was typically absent (or silenced by violent means) in most of those "insufficiently democratic" postcolonial regimes all over the world.
POLAND
Last but not least, I consider also the possibility of speaking about Polish transcolonial literature. An episodic reading of Paw królowej by Dorota Masłowska inspired me to put in evidence some similarities between recent Polish prose and the transcultural phenomenon that I've been studying. Even if the colonial character of the Polish past, once suggested by Ewa Thompson, and thus the pertinence of the postcolonial studies as a way of understanding ourselves has never been fully accepted, such literary texts as Paw królowej or Wojna polsko-ruska pod flagą białoczerwoną may support a reading in transcolonial terms. What calls my attention in the former is the emergence of the feminine intellectual subject in clear opposition to instances that may be interpreted as epitomizing the postcolonial oppression (the novel's ending suggests a discharge that might be more than just a fusillade of insults: "Ognia, panowie!"). The implicit progression is thus clear: unrecognized and unhealed trauma of colonization by Russians leads to the persistence of an oppressive postcolonial stage (a phantasmal "war without number" - "chciałaby zapomnieć w jakim kraju żyke strasznym o dziwnej nazwie Polska, w którym jakby jeszcze trwała jakaś spoza numeracji wojna"). The final step is yet to be decided: either accepting the challenge of transcolonial renegotiation epitomized by the female writer or trying to bring about a ritualistic breakthrough by sacrificing this figure. All circumstances being different, the core situation remains the same as presented by the Amazigh writer Lhoussain Azergui: the community has to decide if they finally kill the journalist released from a postcolonial prison, or they let him live, accepting the full burden of transcolonial autonomy and self-consciousness. Either back into the eternal circle composed by remembrance of oppression and repetition of violence, - or forward, into a Verwindung and transcolonial future.
international journals in transindigenous studies
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AlterNative: An International Journal of Indigenous Peoples is a peer-reviewed interdisciplinary journal. We aim to present scholarly research on Indigenous worldviews and experiences of decolonization from Indigenous perspectives from around the world. The journal spans themes of transforming places, peoples, communities, cultures, histories and colonialism. AlterNative seeks to build bridges between the academic study of Indigenous affairs and theory and practical or empirical issues in the modern world. Articles should link theory and practice in a way that sheds light on the present state of Indigenous theory, thinking and practice, and make sense out of concrete issues, whether they are at local, national or global levels. AlterNative publishes papers that substantively address and critically engage with Indigenous issues from a scholarly Indigenous viewpoint. All papers must address and engage with current international and national literature and academic and/or Indigenous theory, and make a significant contribution to the field of Indigenous studies. AlterNative is a multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary journal that publishes scholarship across the Social Sciences, Humanities, Education, Health, Business, and Law. AlterNative publishes articles engaging with a variety of theoretical debates in areas including: -Cultural studies -Education -Human Geography -Health -Business -Law -History -Politics -Philosophy -Literature -Visual and Performing Arts -Environmental studies -Psychology -Sociology
https://journals.sagepub.com/home/alna |
