Focus & Scope

ULAYAT: Journal of Decolonisation, Indigenous Studies, and Customary Law focuses on critical and interdisciplinary scholarship that examines the decolonisation of knowledge, Indigenous peoples, and customary legal systems. The journal provides a scholarly platform for research that interrogates dominant legal, political, and epistemic frameworks, while foregrounding Indigenous epistemologies, legal pluralism, and alternative modes of governance rooted in customary practices.

The journal welcomes original research articles, conceptual and theoretical contributions, and critical analyses that explore the social, legal, and political dimensions of Indigenous communities, including questions of identity, collective rights, gender relations, and intergenerational dynamics. Particular attention is given to the operation of customary law in contemporary contexts, its interaction with state and international legal regimes, and the processes through which customary norms are recognised, marginalised, transformed, or criminalised.

ULAYAT also engages with scholarship on land, territory, and natural resource governance, especially in relation to customary land rights, extractive development, agrarian conflict, and environmental change. The journal encourages work that critically examines Indigenous responses to development projects, climate impacts, and ecological transformations, as well as Indigenous-led governance practices and resistance strategies.

In addition, the journal supports methodological and theoretical innovations that advance decolonial, postcolonial, and critical legal approaches. Contributions employing participatory, community-based, and Indigenous research methodologies are particularly encouraged, alongside reflections on research ethics, epistemic justice, and knowledge production involving customary and Indigenous communities.