The future is in the past: Creating an Indigenous Information Theory

This paper discusses the relationship between Indigenous information and knowledge on the Information disciplines in three parts. Part one, describes the impact of colonisation on Indigenous peoples. Part two discusses the value of Indigenous knowledge and why it should be included in the curricula of the Information disciplines (Information Studies, Information Management & Information Systems). Finally, in part three, the author presents Indigenous Information theory to demonstrate how Indigenous information contributes to our understanding of ways of knowing. The paper uses examples that are reflective of Māori perspectives, and the terms information and knowledge are used interchangeably as in Indigenous knowledge systems they are not always distinguished from each other.