In my area I often hear people speak of indigenous pasts; or representations of the past, as 'history' as a study - or as a science- is a profoundly and specifically western approach to the study of the past, albeit one that has greatly influenced the approach of people across the globe to the study of the past.

I would say, its not a rejection of our ability to know or represent the past, but an acceptance that there are many different ways to represent the past, that history is always just a re-presentation of the past influenced very much by the time and place, or context, of its recall. Hence, historiographies shift and the lens or focus we deploy to read the past is influenced greatly by the vantage point of our present.

There have been tons of great writers that have tackled this from various POV in the Pacific- it is an ongoing conversation as I believe you allude. First to mind is the estimable Greg Dening, but also John Waiko or Minoru Hokari and more recently Teresia Teaiwa and Chris Ballard have all had interesting things to say on the topic.

This question points to something interesting that I am starting to look into in a more academic way, so I am sorry if my response sounds a bit crude. In archaeology, there is a growing, yet no mainstream or hear about, movement that is referred to as “Indigenous archaeology”. This is not archaeology done by indigenous or about indigenous, bur rather a process of doing archaeology that very actively takes into account collaboration with indigenous stakeholders, indigenous epistemologies, and native conceptions of the past, history, and time, and very importantly questions the role of research in a given community.

Mainstream archaeology has utilized western epistemologies (aka the scientific process) to study and understand the practices and lifeways of non-westerns, many of whom held very different worldviews and ideas about knowledge acquisition that operate on a different set of ontological and epistemological principles. For example, a lot of archaeologists reject the use of oral traditions as valid repositories of knowledge because of the lack of validation. This research very often is carried out for the benefit of western scholars, is produce and reproduces using western methods of recording history (external from people, held in books and articles for purchase), and is taught in western institutions of higher learning or sold to western public audiences. People like Vine Deloria among others, would argue that this way of doing archaeology (or anthropology for that matter) is a child of colonialism and a further exploitation of Native people. Even at times when archaeologists do public outreach, it often entails a unidirectional design of “us” archaeologists giving “them” (the other, either western or non-western) answers to questions chosen by the researchers, that benefits the researchers careers.

Thus indigenous archaeology makes a call and provide a variety of possible pathways to start decolonize the modern practice of archaeology. For example, indigenous archaeology calls for research that is done for the community (no just for the researcher), in a collaborative way (not a consultative way) that includes stakeholders in the research design, carrying out the research in appropriate ethical ways, final interpretations, as well as the dissemination of knowledge through culturally sensitive pedagogical ways. Of upmost importance in this approach is the acceptance that (true to its post-modern roots) western ways of thinking and knowing the past are not superior to non-western ways. This is not to suggest a nihilist view of knowledge where everything goes, but the acceptance that the scientific process (just as any cultural practice for that matter) is produced, reproduced, affected, and affects daily practices. As such, human ways of knowing and understanding our world can be disrupted, changed, and improved upon. Historical knowledge is not a constant static thing, but a reflexive entity that talks back at us as we talk to it. In that way, Indigenous archaeology is a manifestation of multi-culturalism that attempts to reclaim traditional epistemologies and ontologies for knowing the world.