The Peace Ontologies Project is dedicated to documenting, preserving, and platforming Indigenous knowledge and meanings of peace and conflict resolution. At the heart of our work is the recognition that Indigenous epistemes—ways of knowing—are increasingly being supplanted by dominant Western concepts of peacebuilding and peacemaking. These mainstream frameworks, often inherited from colonial histories, can alienate communities whose rich traditions of conflict resolution and social harmony are deeply rooted in oral texts, songs, art, and other non-normative forms of knowledge transmission.
By centering Indigenous voices, the Peace Ontologies Project challenges the conceptual genocide that occurs when local social epistemes are erased or rendered invisible. The loss of these traditions not only marginalises Indigenous worldviews but also impoverishes global understandings of peace. We believe that true peace cannot be built on a single dominant framework; rather, it must be informed by the diverse ways that communities have historically sustained harmony, navigated conflict, and restored relationships.
Our platform serves as a living archive of Indigenous peace meanings and peacebuilding processes, ensuring that these invaluable traditions are recognised, respected, and integrated into broader conversations about global peace efforts. We work collaboratively with Indigenous scholars, storytellers, elders, and artists to collect, document, and share these insights in ways that honour their original forms and socio-cultural contexts.
The Peace Ontologies Project is more than a research initiative—it is a movement. A movement to reclaim, protect, and amplify the wisdom of Indigenous peoples, to prevent the further erosion of their epistemic sovereignty, and to create spaces where peace is understood not as a fixed concept, but as a living, evolving practice deeply embedded in community life and ecological balance.
Join us in this vital work of re-imagining peace—one that respects and revitalises the knowledge systems that have sustained communities for generations.