Australasian Philosophical Review

Pūrākau as Philosophy: Indigenous Philosophies as Pluralizing the Purpose and Practice of Philosophy

Call for Proposals for Open Peer Commentaries: Australasian Philosophical Review

Lead author: Krushil Watene

Theme: Indigenous Philosophies and Philosophical Practice

Lead Article: Pūrākau as Philosophy: Indigenous Philosophies as Pluralizing the Purpose and Practice of Philosophy

Curator: Anne Schwenkenbecher

Panel: Emma Maurice

Invited Commentaries From:

• Collethy Jaru (Flinders University) with Nicolas Bullot (Charles Darwin University)
• Nicolas Drake (Australian National University)
• Ethan Jappiljarri Taylor (University of Oxford)
• Paul-Mikhail Catapang Podosky (Macquarie University)
• Emma Velez (University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign)

Authors wishing to submit an Open Peer Commentary can read the lead article here https://doi.org/10.1093/9780191994784.003.0005

In “Purākau as Philosophy,” Krushil Watene argues that Indigenous philosophies fundamentally pluralise not just the content but the purpose and practice of philosophy itself. Focusing on pūrākau (Māori stories and storytelling), Watene demonstrates how these narrative tradition’s function both as repositories of accumulated philosophical knowledge and as active sites of philosophical inquiry.

Watene traces the attempted destruction of Māori philosophy through colonisation, what Moana Jackson describes as an attack on “the soul of a people”, and examines how Māori communities have continued to protect, rebuild, and cultivate their philosophy under conditions designed to undermine its legitimacy. Through pūrākau, she shows how philosophical concepts are critically engaged, transformed, and transmitted across generations through relational practices of storying and restorying.

The article challenges the academic discipline of philosophy to recognise Indigenous philosophies not merely as content to be studied, but as traditions that fundamentally reshape how we understand philosophical inquiry. Indigenous philosophies demonstrate diverse starting points (land, water, language, art, social practices) and diverse methods (storytelling, embodied performance, environmental practices, collective knowledge-making). Importantly, these philosophies serve community healing, justice, and self-determination, reimagining philosophy’s purpose and practice in ways that reconnect the discipline with on-the-ground communities where philosophy is experienced and lived.

Commentary Topics

We welcome commentaries that engage critically and constructively with Watene’s arguments. Possible directions include (but are not limited to):

• The relationship between Indigenous philosophies and mainstream Western philosophical traditions
• Methodological questions about recognising diverse forms of philosophical inquiry
• The politics of philosophical recognition and epistemic justice
• Comparing pūrākau with storytelling traditions in other Indigenous philosophies
• The role of relationality and place-based thinking in philosophical practice
• Implications for decolonising philosophy institutionally and pedagogically
• Philosophy’s purpose: serving communities vs. pursuing abstract truth
• The transmission and transformation of philosophical knowledge across generations
• Questions of access, authority, and responsibility in engaging with Indigenous philosophies
• Applications of Indigenous philosophical frameworks to contemporary issues
• Critiques or extensions of Watene’s framework