On Fire: Western and Indigenous Approaches to Nature in Settler Colonial Societies

Abstract In recent years, forest fires have brought destruction to large swathes of land around the world and will increase in frequency and intensity with the onset of climate change. This article examines dominant discourses of fire origins, prevention, and management among the key policy communities in two Western countries that have been (and will be) affected by forest fires/bushfires: the United States and Australia. Alongside this analysis, the article also draws out Indigenous approaches to fire ecology in these settings, noting both different relationships to fire and the different sets of relationships to nature of which these are a part. In the process, the article draws on the concept of the Anthropocene to illustrate the mutually reinforcing harms of colonization and ecological destruction. More positively, the article reflects on examples of Indigenous fire management in these settings and points to the possibility they represent for a more productive relationship to nature, with the potential to inform Western approaches to disaster and ecological stewardship more broadly.