Decolonizing Citational and Quotational Practices as Reparative Politics

How do we predominantly understand and practise citation and quotation in academia? What alternative practices are already in evidence, and may be usefully theorized for greater diversity in the sources and types of knowledge we valorize? This chapter considers these questions as a way of addressing the epistemic-material violence of knowledge-generating systems still inflected with colonial and patriarchal values. After setting out how epistemological and material reparations are intimately entangled, the chapter posits that paying critical attention to the politics of citation and quotation may be necessary to re-craft strategies for more sustainable futures. By focusing on the problematic of quoting Indigenous knowledges and ways of knowing-living that involve intimate, sometimes wordless, conversations with human-plant-animal-material elements, the chapter explores how moving beyond the conventional reliance on human language to paying attention to indexical and iconic semiotics may benefit from a careful use of multimodal media. It concludes with a plea for greater experimentation with citational, quotational and publishing practices.