The retention, revival, and subjugation of Indigenous fire knowledge through agency fire fighting in eastern Australia and California

This article explores the potential impact of training and employment with wildfire

management agencies on the retention of Indigenous fire knowledge. It focuses on

the comparative knowledge and experiences of Indigenous Elders, cultural practitioners,

and land stewards in connection with ‘‘modern’’ political constructs of fire

in New South Wales and Queensland, Australia, and California in the United States

of America. This article emphasises the close link between cross-cultural acceptance,

integration of Indigenous and agency fire cultures, and the ways in which knowledge

types are shared or withheld. While agency fire fighting provides an opportunity for

Indigenous people to connect and care for country, it simultaneously allows for the

breaking of traditional rules surrounding what knowledge is shared with whom in the

context of Indigenous cultural burning. By highlighting how privilege intersects with

ethnicity, class, gender and age, this article demonstrates how greater cross-cultural

acceptance could aid ongoing debates on how to coexist with wildfire today.