Decolonial Pedagogies.
APPROACHES TO RESEARCH
Linda Tuhiwai Smith’s Decolonizing Methodologies
The goal of decolonizing our research methods is to recognize research as an institution of knowledge that is embedded in a global system of imperialism and power, and to methodologically counter passive embeddedness.[1] Praxis involves theorizing, acting, and reflecting [2]. Deconstruction involves taking apart the story, revealing underlying texts, and giving voices to things that are often known intuitively.[3] The effort of decolonizing methodologies raises key questions like: “Whose research is it? Who owns it? Whose interests does it serve? Who will benefit from it? Who has designed its questions and framed its scope? Who will carry it out? Who will write it up? How will its results be disseminated?”[4] It emphasizes a principle of reciprocity and feedback. Cultural protocols, values, and behaviors are to be, “thought about reflexively, to be declared openly as part of the research design, to be discussed as part of the final results of a study and to be disseminated back to the people in culturally appropriate ways and a language that can be understood.”[5] These methods need be continual and long-term commitments.
“I still hear statements at meetings and conferences across the world that echo the perception still held by many indigenous communities that research has been a process that exploits indigenous peoples, their culture, their knowledge, and their resources,”… “in my experience many approaches to research remain insulated against the challenges of either indigenous research or stronger ethical protocols, and continue to see indigenous peoples, their values and practices as political hindrances that get in the way of good research.”[6]
The intellectual project of decolonization "has to set out ways to proceed through a colonizing world. It needs a radical compassion that reaches out, that seeks collaboration, and that is open to possibilities that can only be imagined as other things fall into place."[7] On the colonial-period sub-genre of travelers' tales: “The effect of travellers’ tales, as pointed out by French philosopher Foucault, has contributed as much to the West's knowledge of itself as it has to the systematic gathering of scientific data,”… “Traveller’s stories were generally the experiences and observations of white men whose interactions with indigenous ‘societies’ or ‘peoples’ were constructed around their own cultural views of gender and sexuality.”[8] Thierry de Monenville's journal implicitly holds a lot of information about Europeans’ view of themselves. “Traveller’s tales and other anecdotal ways of representing indigenous peoples have contributed to the general impressions and the milieu of ideas that have informed Western knowledge and Western constructions of the Other,”… “Although always ethnocentric and patriarchal, travellers’ accounts remain interesting because of the details and sometimes perceptive (and on occasion reflective) comments made by some writers.”[9]
On non-Indigenous folks researching Indigenous history: There are powerful groups of researchers “whose research paradigms constantly permit them to exploit indigenous peoples and their knowledges." A decolonial approach necessitates clear research aims, consideration of impact and ethics, and the involvement of Indigenous perspectives “in an ongoing and mutually beneficial way.”[10] Imperialism "still hurts, still destroys and is reforming itself constantly."[11] Decolonized research requires breaking from "the ‘archive’ of knowledge and systems, rules and values" that is the Western canon.[12]
“We Talk, You Ignore: Movies, Murder, and Decolonization,” presented by Liza Black
From Stanford Art & Art History’s colloquium Rethinking Our Disciplines: Decolonial Theory and Praxis in Art, Film, and Media
In cinema of the 1940s and 50s, Native people existed as both the means of production and the commodity. The "murderable" Native woman became a trope. This stereotype is smitten with white men and immediately devoted with no return of affection. Today, 4 in 5 native women experience violence in their lifetime. Black's book, How to Get Away with Murder, addresses the questions of: “When did this crisis begin? When did native women lose value and access in American economy?" This violence began with the colonization of the Americas; it is a uniquely colonial phenomenon. Black's research has found that violence against Native women is often interracial. Indigenous women are 16 times more likely to be murdered or missing than Caucasian women in Canada. Indigenous women were/are subjected to forced sterilization without consent or knowledge. From 1973-1976, over 3,000 sterilizations were reported. Activists argue the true statistic is far greater – 1 in 4 native women.
Black claims decolonization is misused in academia as a metaphor, as opposed to a method that confronts real history.
Linda Tuhiwai Smith’s Decolonizing Methodologies
The goal of decolonizing our research methods is to recognize research as an institution of knowledge that is embedded in a global system of imperialism and power, and to methodologically counter passive embeddedness.[1] Praxis involves theorizing, acting, and reflecting [2]. Deconstruction involves taking apart the story, revealing underlying texts, and giving voices to things that are often known intuitively.[3] The effort of decolonizing methodologies raises key questions like: “Whose research is it? Who owns it? Whose interests does it serve? Who will benefit from it? Who has designed its questions and framed its scope? Who will carry it out? Who will write it up? How will its results be disseminated?”[4] It emphasizes a principle of reciprocity and feedback. Cultural protocols, values, and behaviors are to be, “thought about reflexively, to be declared openly as part of the research design, to be discussed as part of the final results of a study and to be disseminated back to the people in culturally appropriate ways and a language that can be understood.”[5] These methods need be continual and long-term commitments.
“I still hear statements at meetings and conferences across the world that echo the perception still held by many indigenous communities that research has been a process that exploits indigenous peoples, their culture, their knowledge, and their resources,”… “in my experience many approaches to research remain insulated against the challenges of either indigenous research or stronger ethical protocols, and continue to see indigenous peoples, their values and practices as political hindrances that get in the way of good research.”[6]
The intellectual project of decolonization "has to set out ways to proceed through a colonizing world. It needs a radical compassion that reaches out, that seeks collaboration, and that is open to possibilities that can only be imagined as other things fall into place."[7] On the colonial-period sub-genre of travelers' tales: “The effect of travellers’ tales, as pointed out by French philosopher Foucault, has contributed as much to the West's knowledge of itself as it has to the systematic gathering of scientific data,”… “Traveller’s stories were generally the experiences and observations of white men whose interactions with indigenous ‘societies’ or ‘peoples’ were constructed around their own cultural views of gender and sexuality.”[8] Thierry de Monenville's journal implicitly holds a lot of information about Europeans’ view of themselves. “Traveller’s tales and other anecdotal ways of representing indigenous peoples have contributed to the general impressions and the milieu of ideas that have informed Western knowledge and Western constructions of the Other,”… “Although always ethnocentric and patriarchal, travellers’ accounts remain interesting because of the details and sometimes perceptive (and on occasion reflective) comments made by some writers.”[9]
On non-Indigenous folks researching Indigenous history: There are powerful groups of researchers “whose research paradigms constantly permit them to exploit indigenous peoples and their knowledges." A decolonial approach necessitates clear research aims, consideration of impact and ethics, and the involvement of Indigenous perspectives “in an ongoing and mutually beneficial way.”[10] Imperialism "still hurts, still destroys and is reforming itself constantly."[11] Decolonized research requires breaking from "the ‘archive’ of knowledge and systems, rules and values" that is the Western canon.[12]
“We Talk, You Ignore: Movies, Murder, and Decolonization,” presented by Liza Black
From Stanford Art & Art History’s colloquium Rethinking Our Disciplines: Decolonial Theory and Praxis in Art, Film, and Media
In cinema of the 1940s and 50s, Native people existed as both the means of production and the commodity. The "murderable" Native woman became a trope. This stereotype is smitten with white men and immediately devoted with no return of affection. Today, 4 in 5 native women experience violence in their lifetime. Black's book, How to Get Away with Murder, addresses the questions of: “When did this crisis begin? When did native women lose value and access in American economy?" This violence began with the colonization of the Americas; it is a uniquely colonial phenomenon. Black's research has found that violence against Native women is often interracial. Indigenous women are 16 times more likely to be murdered or missing than Caucasian women in Canada. Indigenous women were/are subjected to forced sterilization without consent or knowledge. From 1973-1976, over 3,000 sterilizations were reported. Activists argue the true statistic is far greater – 1 in 4 native women.
Black claims decolonization is misused in academia as a metaphor, as opposed to a method that confronts real history.
[1] Tuhiwai Smith, ix.
[2] Tuhiwai Smith, xiii.
[3] Tuhiwai Smith, 3.
[4] Tuhiwai Smith, 10.
[5] Tuhiwai Smith, 16.
[6] Tuhiwai Smith, xi.
[7] Tuhiwai Smith, xii.
[8] Tuhiwai Smith, 2 and 9.
[9] Tuhiwai Smith, 81.
[10] Tuhiwai Smith, 17-18.
[11] Tuhiwai Smith, 20.
[12] Tuhiwai Smith, 44.
Go to full bibliography.
[2] Tuhiwai Smith, xiii.
[3] Tuhiwai Smith, 3.
[4] Tuhiwai Smith, 10.
[5] Tuhiwai Smith, 16.
[6] Tuhiwai Smith, xi.
[7] Tuhiwai Smith, xii.
[8] Tuhiwai Smith, 2 and 9.
[9] Tuhiwai Smith, 81.
[10] Tuhiwai Smith, 17-18.
[11] Tuhiwai Smith, 20.
[12] Tuhiwai Smith, 44.
Go to full bibliography.