AAP 2026 CONFERENCE

This paper presents the artwork that was commissioned to represent my Doctoral thesis; "Reimagining Aboriginality: Deconstructing "Race", Aboriginality, And Other Colonial Myths". In this paper, I reflect on the inclusion of my artwork in my doctoral thesis as a core component of philosophical communication to the communities that are directly impacted by our philosophical work. 
The artwork was developed through an ongoing process of conversation and collaboration with a Wiradjuri artist; the artwork reflects a deliberate attempt at decolonisation - a strategy meant to subvert the traditional Western academic template that has long dictated how knowledge is presented and legitimised in the academy. 
I will discuss the question of what counts as philosophical work, and argue that incorporating Indigenous ways of knowing, being and doing is an integral part of a wider effort to make space for Indigenous epistemologies within philosophy. 

Relationality is a significant theme across Western and non-Western frameworks, and its ‘relational turn’ has been a genuine achievement in dislodging atomistic, substance-based thinking. Yet even in radical formulations (e.g., Buber’s I-Thou and Whitehead’s process philosophy), relational ontology commonly presupposes participants that precede relation. This ‘participant presupposition’ reveals a deeper problem: relationality is not only a metaphysics but also a validity regime - it privileges what can be represented as relations between terms, and therefore misrecognises Aboriginal epistemological validity when its warrant is enacted rather than abstracted.
This paper reframes the issue by arguing that Aboriginal epistemological validity is constructed performatively through lawful enactment on/with Country, as exemplified in Songlines and ceremonial practice. Rather than opposing ‘verb’ to ‘noun’ as a familiar Western binary, I argue that Aboriginal knowledge-transfer trains an integrated capacity to hold action, place, law, story, and entity together in one enacted intelligence - where Country, protocol, and obligation are not ‘context’ but warrant. The paper closes by outlining what philosophy (and HDR evaluation practices) must become if Aboriginal knowledges are to be received without validity-destroying translation, including in contemporary debates about representing Indigenous knowledge in AI.

“Who is truly human—the one who reasons, or the one who recognizes kinship in all life?” This paper rethinks animal ethics by moving beyond dominant Western frameworks such as Sentientism and Biocentrism, which evaluate moral worth through anthropocentric criteria like sentience or biological life. Such models, while influential, neglect relational forms of moral engagement central to non-Western thought. Drawing on Indian Adivasi philosophies—particularly the Gond and Santhal traditions—this study foregrounds a worldview in which humans, animals, and forests exist as interdependent members of a shared moral community. Animals, here are treated as ancestral kin, their protection ensured through ritual, taboos, and negotiated reciprocity. This relational orientation resonates with Mahabharata’s account of Yudhishthira, whose loyalty to a dog surpasses the promise of celestial reward, extending moral concern beyond human boundaries. By integrating epic scripture with Adivasi philosophy, the paper proposes a relational animal ethics that centres co-existence, humility, and attentiveness. It positions interspecies relationships—not rational mastery—as the foundation of ethical life. Such an approach offers a transformative alternative to the alienation of the Anthropocene, framing morality as an ongoing negotiation of kinship with the more-than-human world, where ethical life emerges through care, respect, and shared becoming.

This panel brings together Indigenous and non-Indigenous members of the Australasian Association of Philosophy’s Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) Working Group to reflect on the establishment of the upcoming RAP, the role of reconciliation within philosophy as a discipline, and the possibilities and challenges of institutional and intellectual change. Drawing on the perspectives of Indigenous and non-Indigenous philosophers working on this project, the panel explores reconciliation and how we can engage in it as a structural practice. 
The session will discuss the process of developing the AAP RAP and the questions that continue to emerge throughout this work: What does reconciliation mean within a discipline historically shaped by colonial institutions and Eurocentric intellectual traditions? What might genuine reconciliation look like within teaching, research, governance, mentoring and the disciplinary culture of philosophy? 
The panel aims to contribute to broader conversations around the future of philosophy in Australasia by examining reconciliation as both a practical and philosophical project.