Weaving Indigenous temporalities in energy transitions: reflections from the cracks

This article examines how Indigenous relational epistemologies could further challenge dominant understandings of justice and sustainability in contemporary energy transition discourses. Drawing on decolonial political ecology, Energy Justice (EJ), Climate Environmental Justice (CEJ), and Indigenous environmental thought, it argues that dominant approaches to renewable energy transitions often reproduce colonial and extractivist relations despite being framed as sustainable and progressive. It advocates integrating Indigenous epistemologies into energy transition debates through localized and plural approaches to energy justice grounded in the lived realities of communities across the Global South and North. The article highlights the pedagogical role of the land in shaping just and sustainable futures while critically examining the romanticization and epistemic extraction of Indigenous knowledge within sustainability discourse. It develops the concept of 'cracks' as a decolonial methodological pathways for rethinking dominant vocabularies of sustainability, transition, and justice. While recognizing capitalism as a key driver of climate change, it questions whether terms such as 'radical and transformative liberation' adequately reflect Indigenous and marginalized struggles. By foregrounding reciprocity and complementarity, the article advances a relational understanding of energy justice grounded in multiple temporalities and reciprocal relationships with the land, fostering more inclusive, territorially grounded and socially just energy futures for diverse communities.