Conclusion—Reclaiming the Past, Reimagining the Future

Sangaralingam Ramesh ()
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Sangaralingam Ramesh: University College London

Chapter 7 in The Political Economy of the Indigenous Peoples of the World, Volume I, 2026, pp 345-367 from Springer

Abstract: Abstract This chapter synthesizes the volume’s central insights to reframe political economy for a “pluriversal” world. It revisits colonialism as an enduring structure—not only a historical episode—shaping contemporary constraints on Indigenous sovereignty and economic autonomy. The chapter consolidates the book’s critique of Western economic assumptions (commodification, utility maximization, extractivist growth) by foregrounding Indigenous relational ontologies in which land is a living entity governed through reciprocity, law, kinship, and multigenerational stewardship. It draws explicit parallels with ancient moral economies—Confucian agrarian legitimacy, Kautilyan public investment and welfare duties, and Aristotelian critiques of chrematistics—showing convergent limits on limitless accumulation. The chapter recognizes revitalization initiatives (food sovereignty, Indigenous data governance) as forms of epistemic resistance and economic innovation. Finally, it introduces Symbiotic Gaian Economics (SGE) as a design-oriented framework grounded in Earth-system constraints, consent, regeneration, capabilities, and embedded pluralism—bridging to Volume 2’s applied agenda.

Date: 2026
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:sprchp:978-3-032-24041-5_7

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DOI: 10.1007/978-3-032-24041-5_7

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