UDTR — Radar mondial des droits de la Nature

Fire Back: Rematriating Indigenous Cultural Fire and Sovereignty

Identification

Clé publique

doi:10.17953/a3.43537

Auteurs

Melinda M. Adams · Natasha Caverley · Theresa Gregor · Kelsey Leonard · Emily Burgueno · Amy Cardinal Christianson · Michela Carrière · Solomon Carriere · Renee Carriere · Madeline Courtorielle · Paul Courtoreille · Marlené L. Dusek · Dancy Panther Dixon

Année déclarée

2026

Langue déclarée

en

Type source

article

Première détection

2026-11-09T19:04:47.730714+00:00

Dernière observation des métadonnées

2026-11-09T19:04:47.730714+00:00

Dernière vérification HTTP

Non effectuée

Résumé documentaire — langue originale

We are living in an era of Indigenous rematriation where Indigenous peoples’ ontologies, epistemologies, diverse cultures, languages, curation, and arts all around the globe are working to restore balance and return the sacred toward our self-determination and political sovereignty. As a collective led mostly by Indigenous women representing a broad span of what is currently known as the United States and Canada, we each are working with and alongside Indigenous communities to reclaim the cultural, spiritual, relational, and ecological protection of future uses of cultural fire. Cultural fire includes Indigenous-led fire practices such as cultural burning, fire medicine, ceremonial fire, and ancestral land-based stewardship responsibilities. Outlawed by settlers and state-led agencies, Indigenous peoples understood our relationship with fire was not solely ecological—it was and continues to be cultural, spiritual, relational, and political. With increased extreme weather, settler government agencies are now calling for an increase in cultural burning to mitigate the effects of uncontrolled wildfires and climate- change impacts. As many of our nations across the globe revitalize our cultural fire practices, we are collectively experiencing what we deem a Fire Back movement. The reclamation and revitalization of fire practices is being led through Indigenous rematriation (which is community-driven), Indigenous matriarchal-led practices, and relations with the land. Rematriation aims to restore balance and promote healing in Indigenous communities by reclaiming Indigenous knowledges, revitalizing cultural practices and obligations, and supporting Indigenous leadership and decision-making power. We conceptualize “rematriation” to mean the return, revivification, and restoration of our responsibilities and relationalities with fire as our relative. Furthermore, we offer rematriation not in opposition to “repatriation” (a legal term developed under the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, which aims to return cultural objects to Indigenous peoples)—rather, we offer the term as a balance of societal roles our peoples held in our communities and with our environments since time immemorial. This article and the Indigenous fire scholarship curated represent a spectrum of geographies throughout the USA and Canada, offering a conceptualization of “Fire Back” through rematriation to restore rights to the intentional use of Indigenous-led and -informed fire practices. Our framework articulates fire rematriation through the interconnected kinship of people, fire, and planet. It also advocates for cultural fire sovereignty: fire practices, governance, safety, health, and adaptation led and informed by Indigenous peoples, including our scholars, practitioners, and allied researchers meaningfully engaging as partners and supporters. Significantly, cultural fire differs from prescribed fire in both process and protocol. To differentiate, we expand on, adapt, and apply the role of cultural safety in relation to rematriating Indigenous fire practices and cultural fire sovereignty. In this context, cultural safety is trauma-informed and can only be defined and assessed by Indigenous peoples, our families, and our communities in the given fire-scape and related institutional setting. Outcomes can range from feeling physically, socially, emotionally, and spiritually respected and safe or safer, to experiencing the absence of racism and discrimination, to feeling that one’s Indigenous culture is acknowledged, appreciated, and incorporated into wildfire management. Furthermore, cultural safety in wildfire management can be recognized at various levels from the microlevel (individual) to the macrolevel (environmental and societal—land, water, place, and geography). Fostering spaces where Indigenous cultural practices are seen, heard, included and respected, relationality is built from cultural safety in fostering equity in the use of Indigenous-led fire practices: facilitating the exercise of inherent relationships and rights by Indigenous peoples, families, nations, and communities in this current Fire Back movement.

Identifiants

OPENALEX

W7148438388

DOI

10.17953/a3.43537

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article

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Sources

OpenAlex · Document 1 · Document 2

• DOI · https://doi.org/10.17953/a3.43537
• OpenAlex · https://openalex.org/W7148438388

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