Indigenous Perceptions of Time: Decolonizing Theory, World History, and the Fates of Human Societies

In this article, I discuss how indigenous understandings of time can contribute to broader studies of human societies, civilizations, and world history. Colonial paradigms have extended into the realm of world history and assumptions of human behavior have been unfairly applied to all human societies and labeled humans as aggressors against nature and each other. This is unjust especially to the populations that remain victims of colonialism and imperialism. I have developed or, put more appropriately, revealed an indigenous historical paradigm that can be applied to the study of human societies, but my primary goal is to provide a model that links indigenous histories in comparative studies of humans and human societies. To provide an adequate discussion of this model, I use examples from two indigenous societies (Maya and Hopi) to develop my thesis, and two other indigenous societies (Haudenosaunee and Cheyenne) for evaluation under this thesis. I conclude with a final discussion of Christian societies and their place in an indigenous view of world history.