As a non-Indigenous scholar in educational studies, who teaches at a German university and who is deeply interested in Indigenous theory, in my talk I want to analyse the reasons for such a desire. Referring to criticism in relation to a romanticisation (Jones & Jenkins 2008) and an exploitation (Owen 2008; Todd 2016) of Indigenous knowledge in the academic context I want to explore the explicit and implicit hopes associated with this desire and hint at its problematic aspects. Hereby I will especially refer to the poly-crisis and the limitations of Western thinking it made clear and will reflect on my own hopes as well as hopes connected with references to Indigenous knowledge in the context of discussions on education for sustainable development (e.g. Manns et al. 2025). On this basis I will work out, which of these hopes can be fulfilled and which cannot be fulfilled by an attempt to learn from Indigenous knowledge. In the end I will present some thoughts on the consequences of my analysis for the building of fruitful relationships and on the question, under which (ethical) conditions such a learning can be possible and fruitful.

Jones, A., Jenkins, K. (2008): Rethinking collaboration: Working the Indigene-Colonizer hyphen. In: N. K. Denzin, Y. S. Lincoln, & L. T. Smith (Eds.) Handbook of critical and Indigenous methodologies. Los Angeles: Sage, pp. 471-486. Manns, M., Heiss, J., Morohashi, J., & Loupis, L. (2025). Harnessing Indigenous Knowledge for Education for Sustainable Development. Journal of Education for Sustainable Development, 19(2), 157-167 Owen, S. (2008): The Appropriation of Native American Spirituality. London: Continuum International Publishing Group Ltd. Todd, Zoe (2016): ‘An Indigenous Feminist’s Take on the Ontological Turn: ‘Ontology’ is just another word for colonialism’. Journal of Historical Sociology 29(1): 4-22.