Reclaiming Indigenous Community-Led Disaster Adaptation

Abstract

Decolonizing human-created environmental disasters and relearning adaptations from Indigenous land-based perspectives in Bangladesh explore how Indigenous communities’ social, economic, and environmental considerations aligned with cultural and traditional values. Resilience to disasters within Indigenous contexts could not be comprehended in isolation from the community’s land-based traditions, land rights, and customary practices. While the pursuit of disaster crisis resilience was broadly conceptualized, it was deeply rooted in traditional land-based learning and practices, as land-based knowledge held hybrid, relational, and scientific meanings for Indigenous communities. This book systematically examines how Indigenous communities revitalized the meanings of disaster adaptations by leveraging traditional knowledge to seamlessly integrate traditional sentiments with the large-scale dislocations occurring both within their land-based knowledge and practice. Using Indigenist, decolonial, relational, and feminist theoretical research frameworks, the book addresses fundamental questions surrounding disaster adaptations concerning conceptions and practices of land management. It seeks to explore effective ways those invoking the term “disaster adaptations” could proactively engage with Indigenous ecological, economic, and social challenges. In line with the specified research questions, the book was guided by critical concerns in identifying the problems inherent in existing forest and disaster management practices concerning everyday land-based practices and traditional experiences in Indigenous regions.