Faces of ‘not knowing’ in International Relations

ABSTRACTThat Indigenous diplomacies remain largely unknown to states and to disciplinary International Relations is, ultimately, a matter of choices made by those privileged in terms of the power to (re)produce social facts and common senses. Distinguishing distinct faces of ‘not knowing’ exposes ontological commitments underwriting the logics of territorially exclusive sovereign power and the knowledge practices of International Relations that, in both spheres, make Indigenous ways of knowing and being in the world seem implausible. ‘Not knowing’ in this sense is a form of rejection of knowledge and, therefore, a consequential practice which, as such, is never politically innocent. Relational autonomy raises a challenge to the rigid singularism and exclusivity of dominant ontologies—one that is rooted in long-run historical experiences of still-existing Indigenous forms of community and inter-national diplomatic practice. Among other things, it points us to more sustainable possibilities upon which to found relations between polities and reminds us that diplomacies are always plural.KEYWORDS: Relational autonomyIndigenous diplomaciesInternational Relationsknowingnot knowing Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Additional informationNotes on contributorsJ. Marshall BeierJ. Marshall Beier is Professor of Political Science at McMaster University and Editor-in-Chief of the journal Critical Studies on Security. His current research examines issues of Indigenous peoples’ global diplomacies, children’s rights, and imagined childhood as a technology of global governance. His publications include International Relations in Uncommon Places: Indigeneity, Cosmology, and the Limits of International Theory (2005, 2009), Indigenous Diplomacies, ed. (2009), Discovering Childhood in International Relations, ed. (2020), and, with Helen Berents, Children, Childhoods, and Global Politics, eds. (2023). His work has appeared in journals including Children’s Geographies, Contemporary Security Policy, Cooperation and Conflict, Global Governance, Global Responsibility to Protect, International Political Sociology, International Politics, International Studies Review, Journal of Human Rights, Security Dialogue, and Third World Quarterly.