WE STILL HAVE NOT EMBRACED INDIGENOUS WORLDS, OR WHAT IS THE ENDGAME FOR THE ONTOLOGICAL TURN?

Konrad Szlendak

doi:10.23858/ethp.2025.46.3929

Published: 2025-12-23

Vol. 46 (2025)

WE STILL HAVE NOT EMBRACED INDIGENOUS WORLDS, OR WHAT IS THE ENDGAME FOR THE ONTOLOGICAL TURN?

Konrad Szlendak

Ethnologia Polona

Section: Varia

https://doi.org/10.23858/ethp.2025.46.3929

Abstract

This article examines some of the most important methodological and ethical challenges to be tackled by anthropologists advancing the ontological turn. I extricate such issues as causality, determinism, material relationality, Cartesian duality, Western modes of being, ethnocentric-ontological bias, the appropriation of indigenous ontologies and the decolonisation of indigenous thought. In the process, I explicitly connect with post-relational anthropology, actor network theory, thinking through things, cultural critique and controversy mapping. In conclusion, I propose a coherent set of methods with a strong potential to further improve ethnographic fieldwork, shed light on ongoing dilemmas and make the next step possible for OTTers (proponents of the ontological turn). Specifically, I point to performativity, active participation in creating “the common world” and connecting with indigenous scholars and thinkers (via ethical relationality), which encourages a way forward.

Keywords:

Ontological turn, controversy mapping, ethical relationality, incompleteness, being-as-other, anthropological methodology, indigenous thought, post-relationality

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Szlendak, K. (2025). WE STILL HAVE NOT EMBRACED INDIGENOUS WORLDS, OR WHAT IS THE ENDGAME FOR THE ONTOLOGICAL TURN?. Ethnologia Polona, 46. https://doi.org/10.23858/ethp.2025.46.3929

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