decolonising methodologies research and indigenous peoples

These counter narratives might have to be actively sought out.Ħ. We should be aware of such distortions and consider alternative or ‘counter-hegemonic’ sources. Are bodies of knowledge distorted? Decolonisation researchers seek to explain how discourse affects the way we look at subordinate groups, as for example Said in discussing dominant, sometimes, romanticised versions of orientalism in the context of Arabic studies or, earlier, Fanon in discussing culture, psychotherapy and violence in the particular context of the struggle for Algerian independence.

Radical voices would argue that there are limits on non-indigenous researcher involvement and researchers should not ‘talk about what they don’t know’. Non-indigenous researchers can research indigenous communities but this will call for a more critical analysis of their own standpoints and more collaborative way of working. Who conducts the research? Decolonising researchers argue that indigenous communities are often un / under represented in academic research communities and hence their voices and concerns are not heard. For example, Zavala argues for a participatory action research in looking at popular education initiatives among Chicano and indigenous communities in North America.Ĥ. Extending the point above, research should have an action orientation, and researchers should work with the communities they study to collaboratively seek change. In contrast, dominant research paradigms prize distance from those being research often for reasons of objectivity and bias.ģ.

What relationship does the researcher have with those being researched? An indigenous standpoint is that the researcher is accountable, and those doing the research must give back to the communities they study - as Keane, Khupe, and Seehawer argue in discussing educational research in South Africa. How do assumptions about power affect what we select as problems for research who pays for this research and what purposes does the research serve? A critique of research practice might take on the neo liberal globalisation agenda in higher education, institutional reliance on private money and an over eagerness to put knowledge at the service of the highest bidder.Ģ. When it comes to academic research decolonisation takes a number of forms, some mainstream, some more contentious. Decolonisation then offers a powerful metaphor for those wanting to critique positions of power and dominant culture. Decolonisation itself refers to the undoing of colonial rule over subordinate countries but has taken on a wider meaning as the ‘freeing of minds from colonial ideology’ in particular by addressing the ingrained idea that to be colonised was to be inferior.

Decolonising methodologies research and indigenous peoples