Receiving Traditional Knowledges is a gift, not a right
It is important for researchers to manage their expectations regarding
receiving Traditional Knowledges as Indigenous peoples in Australia
continue to recover from intergenerational traumas stemming from
historic, and often continuing, colonial practices. Academic Australia
has a largely British, or otherwise Euro-centric, history that includes
the reverence of humans above all else. Although Indigenous Australians
greatly revere the remains of Old People (ancestors), Indigenous
genomics in Australia encompasses the entirety of Aboriginal and Torres
Strait Islander connectedness to land, flora, and fauna. Akarre Elder
Margaret Kemarre Turner (Order of the Medal of Australia)
demonstrates this as “The Land is us, and we are the Land.”
(Turner & McDonald, 2010, p. 15). The relationships between Land and
Indigenous peoples are not abstract, they are tangible and meaningful.
Indigenous Australians have rules surrounding their Country’s biota,
dictated through lore and stories, which often relate to the breeding
and hunting seasons as well as other aspects of care for totem animals
(Raven, Robinson, & Hunter, 2021; Robinson & Raven, 2020; Steffensen,
2020, p. 95). Indeed, an emu is as much an ancestor as Old People are,
though the strength of this connectedness may depend on an individual’s
familial lines (Raven et al., 2021). Aunty Margaret Kemmareteaches that Aboriginal lore requires plants be respected for stories,
food and medicine and that some trees are considered to have become
human (Turner & McDonald, 2010, pp. 156-161). These kinship ties
integrate obligations to care for Country in perpetuity, in the past,
present, and future, and the meaning of which varies with each Nation as
they do with the landscape (Raven et al., 2021; Robinson & Raven,
2020). SedaDNA could be utilised by Indigenous peoples to connect oral
histories with modern science. Much Traditional Knowledge however, has
been repressed and consequently, the continued research on Indigenous
peoples, plants and animals is likely to perpetuate harmful colonial
narratives, regardless of researchers’ intent (Z. Roberts, 2022).
Balancing the potential for sedaDNA research with the risk to harm
Indigenous peoples can only be done with direct input and control from
Traditional Owners.
Considering the responsibilities of Indigenous peoples in caring for
Country is important for researchers that undertake genomic analyses in
Australia, where they reasonably encounter all aspects of Indigenous
genomics. Like the people who inhabit the continent, the Australian
landscape is diverse, from red desert to snowy mountains and even the
“oldest surviving rainforest in the world” (P. Roberts et al., 2021).
Consequently, land management by Indigenous peoples differs between
Nations along with specialised ways of knowing, learning and being
(Raven et al., 2021). The interconnectedness of Indigenous peoples and
the land they have responsibility for has developed over thousands of
generations and the health of the land is so entwined with the health of
the people that one cannot be separated from the other (Raven et al.,
2021; Robinson & Raven, 2020; Turner & McDonald, 2010, pp. 114, 115).
Therefore, when considering Indigenous sedaDNA work, due respect is owed
to the biota from across the tree of life that leave their DNA traces in
the sediment. As a direct practical consequence, it is paramount to
balance CARE and FAIR principles (Carroll, Herczog, Hudson, Russell, &
Stall, 2021) when disseminating sedaDNA data.
In such an area, where efforts are made to understand Traditional
Knowledges, non-Indigenous researchers may become frustrated at the
hesitancy of Indigenous peoples to share their stories, particularly as
they relate to ecological, or otherwise non-human entities. But
remembering that sediments should be treated with full recognition of
their Indigeneity, respecting the sovereignty of Traditional Owners in
decision making means they have the right to retain or otherwise mediate
the dispersal of that Knowledge (potentially applying Bio-Cultural and
Traditional Knowledge label systems (Mc Cartney et al., 2022). Research
that engages with, but does not dominate or claim ownership of,
Traditional Knowledges will not only improve the ethical standing of the
researcher but improve research outcomes through a more holistic
understanding of species history.