Decolonising information: comparing Western conceptions of information to Indigenous Knowledge and Indigenous Knowledge Systems

Abstract

Introduction. This paper investigates how Western and Indigenous epistemologies conceptualise information, with a focus on the contrast between cognitive-oriented and relational understandings. Western information science has historically defined information as a measurable ‘thing’, while Indigenous Knowledge and Indigenous Knowledge Systems view information as relational, embodied, and inseparable from land, community, and spirit.

Method. The study undertakes a comparative analysis of theoretical frameworks, drawing on Bates’s (2017) typology of information concepts and Indigenous epistemological literature, including works by McGregor (2021), Wilson (2008), and Absolon (2010).

Analysis. Key themes were identified through interpretive textual analysis of these sources, emphasising both differing and similar assumptions about the definition of information in either context.

Results. Findings reveal that dominant Western definitions privilege rationalism, subjectivity and control, whereas Indigenous frameworks define knowledge as reciprocal, lived, and land based. The analysis also identifies emerging models of reconciliation, such as Two-Eyed Seeing and Knowledge Co-production, which promote respectful coexistence of knowledge systems.

Conclusion. Reconciliation in information science requires recognizing Indigenous Knowledge Systems as self-determining epistemologies and shifting from managing information as an object to sustaining it as a living relationship grounded in reciprocity and respect.