Kanyini and the Survival of Meaning

Research Focus

We examine the Anthropocene as a profound crisis of meaning rather than a mere environmental or technological failure. It argues that modern frameworks often treat responsibility as a reactive choice or a managerial task, effectively severing it from a true sense of belonging. To address this, we introduce Kanyini, an Indigenous Anangu ontology where care is an inherent condition of existence rather than an optional ethical add-on. By engaging with the temporal concept of Tjukurrpa, we illustrate a worldview in which creation and law are continuous, binding generations through an enduring field of relationship. Ultimately, we position these Indigenous perspectives not as policy tools, but as ontological diagnostics that reveal the necessity of reconnecting responsibility to kinship for humanity to truly flourish.