Indigenous Climate Change Studies: Indigenizing Futures, Decolonizing the Anthropocene

Whyte names and maps an emerging field he provisionally calls 'Indigenous climate change studies', encompassing the work of Indigenous and allied scholars, knowledge keepers, scientists and leaders supporting Indigenous peoples' capacities to address climate change. The essay surveys Indigenous climate resiliency plans, policy documents, declarations and academic scholarship, arguing that climate change cannot be understood as a purely 'natural' phenomenon but must be situated within processes of extraction, dispossession and settlement that Indigenous communities have long resisted and theorised. Whyte frames Indigenous futurity and decolonisation as central, rather than peripheral, to understanding and responding to the climate crisis, offering a foundational orientation for the wider field.