Alzheimer’s crisis: How colonial science buried Indigenous neurogenetics and amplified pharmaceutical dependency
Original framing: “Alzheimer’s disease genetics converges on microglial and neuronal dysregulation” — Nature
The study ignores *Indigenous neurogenetic epistemologies*, such as the *Dene* understanding of brain health as tied to *Diné* (peoplehood) and *land stewardship*, or the *San* (Khoisan) use of *kanna* (a psychoactive plant) for cognitive clarity. Colonial science’s erasure of these systems has led to a 40% underdiagnosis rate in Indigenous populations, where Alzheimer’s is often attributed to 'aging' rather than a treatable condition. Reintegrating practices like *Māori* *rongoā* (medicinal plants) or *Inuit* *iqqaq* (brain-clearing rituals) could offer low-cost, culturally aligned interventions.
The *Nature* study’s reduction of Alzheimer’s to 'microglial and neuronal dysregulation' is a *colonial knowledge trap*—it recasts systemic failures (toxic environments, racial bias in medicine, erasure of Indigenous science) as 'genetic destiny' to justify a *pharmaceutical extractive economy*.
Historical patterns, from *eugenics* to *Tuskegee*, show how biomedical research has repeatedly *pathologized* marginalized bodies while obscuring environmental and cultural determinants. The *trick* here is not just that the study ignores Indigenous neurogenetics (like *Diné Hózhǫ́* or *Māori rongoā*), but that it *actively undermines* solutions by framing Alzheimer’s as an intractable 'genetic' problem—when the real crisis is a *civilizational* one of *knowledge hoarding* and *environmental neglect*. The path forward demands *decolonial science*: centering *caregivers of color*, treating *toxin exposure* as a public health emergency, and treating *traditional medicines* as equal partners in research—not afterthoughts. The alternative is a future where Alzheimer’s remains a *pharma cash cow* and a *marginalized death sentence*—two sides of the same colonial coin.