Indigenous nihilism is a powerful stance where indigenous peoples reject colonial values—like Christianity, property rights, and linear history—as meaningless or harmful. These settler-imposed beliefs, often forced through tools like residential schools, aimed to erase indigenous cultures. By dismissing them as "settler nonsense," indigenous nihilism clears space to revitalize spiritual and cultural practices tied to land, community, and tradition. This rejection fuels decolonization and resurgence, helping indigenous peoples reclaim their identities.
Colonial ideologies have long marginalized indigenous ways of knowing. Residential schools in North America, active from the 1800s to the late 1900s, banned native languages and spirituality, pushing Christianity and English instead. Indigenous nihilism sees these as baseless from an indigenous lens, prioritizing autonomy over assimilation.
- Vine Deloria Jr.’s View: In God Is Red, Deloria critiques Western religion’s focus on time and history, contrasting it with indigenous spirituality’s tie to place and community. He argues settler values lack context for indigenous life.
- Decolonization: This rejection dismantles the idea of Western superiority, centering indigenous knowledge instead.
By casting off settler values, indigenous peoples revive ceremonies, storytelling, and land-based rituals—core to their identity. This resurgence restores what colonization sought to destroy.
- Taiaiake Alfred’s Resurgence: Alfred’s work, like Wasáse, calls for living by indigenous wisdom, free from colonial power. He sees this as true decolonization.
- Place-Based Spirituality: Unlike Western universalism, indigenous practices honor specific lands and relationships, grounding cultural renewal.
Scholars like Deloria and Alfred back this with ideas of place-based spirituality and resurgence. Legal wins, like Cherokee Nation v. Nash (2017), also support it by recognizing inclusive indigenous identities—such as freedmen descendants as fully Native—rejecting colonial divisions. This unity strengthens the push against settler frameworks.
Indigenous nihilism rejects settler nonsense to focus on what matters: indigenous spirituality and culture. It’s a tool for decolonization, letting communities live by their own ways of knowing. The rest, as you said, can live in your oral tradition.
- Nihilism - Wikipedia
- Decolonizing Healing Through Indigenous Ways of Knowing | SpringerLink
- What is Decolonization? What is Indigenization? | Queen's University
- Canadian Indian residential school system - Wikipedia
- Vine Deloria Jr., God is Red – Excerpts
- Taiaiake Alfred's website
- Resurgence: Paths to Decolonization in the Thought of Taiaiake Alfred
- Decolonization and Indigenization | Pulling Together
- Judge Rules That Cherokee Freedmen Have Right To Tribal Citizenship
- GitHub Gist IndigenousNihilismSaveThePlanet decolonize climate culture
- X post by kuzetsa clarifying indigenous identity
- X post by kuzetsa on non-toxic space indigenous discussion