Decolonization and Self-Reflection

Decolonization

Decolonization

•

Decolonization

 = restorative justice through cultural, psychological,

political, and economic freedom

•

Decolonization

 = reclaiming what was taken and honoring what we still

have

•

Decolonization

 = repatriation of land, power, and privilege

•

Decolonization

 = a process of examining and undoing unearned privilege

that is a result of these historical and present day processes

•

Decolonization

 = dismantling colonized psyches, mentalities, and

institutions and confronting the ongoing territorial dispossession and risks

to health, economic vitality, lives, psychological well-being, and cultural

integrity that Indigenous Peoples experience

•

Decolonization

 = meaningful and active resistance to the forces of

colonialism that perpetuate the subjugation and/or exploitation of our

minds, bodies, and lands. Decolonization is engaged for the ultimate

purpose of overturning the colonial structure and realizing Indigenous

liberation

Decolonization

Decolonization ultimately requires the

overturning of the colonial structure. It is not

about tweaking the existing structure to make

it more Indigenous-friendly or a little less

oppressive. The existing system is

fundamentally and irreparably flawed.

Decolonizing Yourself

Decolonizing Yourself

•

Decolonization requires each of us to

consciously consider not only the physical

effects of colonization, but also the

psychological, mental, and spiritual aspects

Decolonizing Yourself

“The most potent weapon in the hands of the

oppressor is the mind of the oppressed.”

Steve Biko

Decolonizing Yourself

•

3 Main Steps

–

Awareness

–

Education

–

Action

Decolonizing Yourself

•

Awareness

–

In order to solve a problem, you have to identify it

–

Awareness is the first step for engaging and

promoting antiracism, inclusion, and

decolonization

Decolonizing Yourself

•

Education

–

You have to devote the time and energy to

educate yourself

–

As you engage with new resources, information,

and perspectives you need to constantly reflect

and critically evaluate

–

The most important aspect to this step is

LISTENING

•

Listen to Indigenous Peoples and other minoritized or

oppressed communities

Decolonizing Yourself

•

Action

–

Decolonization requires action

–

Decolonization is a process, not an identity

•

Like antiracism, it is a description of action rather than

a personal characteristic

–

I.e., “Not being racist” is not sufficient

•

Individual changes are necessary but not sufficient to

produce the institutional and systemic changes

required to make equity and sovereignty possible

–

You need to constantly be engaged in identifying what actions

you can take to advocate for these changes

Decolonizing Yourself

•

The hidden step within each of these is 

reflection

–

As you become aware of more problems, you need to reflect on

which ones you prioritize and which you can assist with

•

You can’t fix it all, and that’s ok

–

As you become more educated, you will have more exposure to

contradictory and multidimensional perspectives and

prescriptions

•

So you need to reflect on how these differences can coexist

or depend upon context, which are helpful, what

information is needed to evaluate competing arguments,

what is actionable?

–

As you engage in action advocacy, you need to reflect on your

positionality, your intention, your actions, and your effects

•

You don’t want your advocacy to accidentally do harm,

silence others, etc.

Decolonizing Yourself

Decolonizing Yourself

“In order for the colonizer to be the complete

master, it is not enough for him to be so in

actual fact, he must also believe in its legitimacy.

In order for that legitimacy to be complete, it is

not enough for the colonized to be a slave, he

must also accept his role.”

Albert Memmi

Decolonizing Yourself

•

Learn who you are and where you came from

•

Address the oppressive systems and histories that

enable you to occupy the territory and space that

you now do

•

Learn whose land you live on and what has been

done to them

•

Find out how you benefit from that history and

how you can use your privilege to dismantle it

•

Position yourself: how am I the oppressor or how

am I being oppressed?

Decolonizing Yourself and Promoting it with Others

•

Share knowledge with others and give yourself

and others space to learn, make mistakes, and

correct mistakes

–

Listen with humility

–

Extend grace to yourself and others

•

Give others the benefit of the doubt and address

problematic 

behaviors

 rather than people

–

I.e., call out behavior rather than people (which assumes

behaviors are indicative of moral failure or character flaw)

–

The point of addressing behaviors is to educate others and end

that behavior

»

Attacking people precludes listening, learning, and

productive conversations by triggering defensiveness and

counterattacks

Decolonizing Yourself and Promoting it with Others

“For me, forgiveness and compassion are always

linked: how do we hold people accountable for

wrongdoing and yet at the same time remain in

touch with their humanity enough to believe in

their capacity to be transformed?”

bell hooks

Decolonizing Yourself and 

Promoting it with 

Others

•

Be willing to apologize and remedy your own

mistakes

–

Ask for time to process, internalize, understand,

and reflect so you can come back in the best way

possible

Decolonizing Yourself and 

Promoting it with 

Others

•

Practice mindfulness

–

Mindfulness

 = a mental state achieved by focusing

one's awareness on the present moment, while

calmly acknowledging and accepting one's

feelings, thoughts, and bodily sensations

•

Mindfulness can assist in our ability to regulate

emotions, decrease stress, anxiety, and depression

•

It can help us to focus our attention, as well as to

observe our thoughts and feelings without judgment,

so as to rewire our brains over time and cope/heal from

trauma

Decolonizing Yourself and 

Promoting it with 

Others

Identify and intervene

–

One of the psychological adaptations to

colonization is that the colonized have low or no

commitment to resisting different forms of racism

since colonization normalizes the oppression

experienced and crushes hope through (often

violent) repression of resistance

Decolonizing Yourself and 

Promoting it with 

Others

Identify and intervene

•

Learn to identify racist, discriminatory, prejudicial

actions/statements

•

Train yourself to become comfortable to

intervene when necessary

–

Scripts or templates can be helpful so you do not have

to come up with appropriate responses on the spot

•

Adjust scripts and templates to responses you are

comfortable with and so they can be adapted across

contexts

•

Intervention may not always be required or appropriate, but

learn to distinguish when to speak up and how best to

respond

Decolonizing Yourself and 

Promoting it with 

Others

•

Be cautious of virtue signaling and performative

allyship/activism

–

Virtue signaling 

= the action or practice of publicly expressing

opinions or sentiments intended to demonstrate one's good

character or the moral correctness of one's position on a

particular issue

–

Performative activism

 = refers to activism/allyship done to

increase one's social capital (i.e., reputation and social standing)

rather than because of one's devotion to a cause

•

Both are surface-level activism that are not intended to actually fix

anything but is a performance to show how “woke” or morally

superior an individual is compared to another

–

The commodification of allyship or solidarity as social currency points

•

Watch:

–

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ohm9C4u63qk

–

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ms02RwM_oCI

Allyship

•

Allyship

 = an active, consistent, and arduous practice of

unlearning and re-evaluating, in which a person in a

position of privilege and power seeks to operate in

solidarity with a marginalized group

–

Allyship is not an identity

—it is a lifelong process of building

relationships based on trust, consistency, and accountability

with marginalized individuals and/or groups of people

–

Allyship is not self-defined

—our work and our efforts must be

recognized by the people we seek to ally ourselves with

–

It is important to be intentional in how we frame the work we

do

•

I.e., we are showing support for…, we are showing our commitment to

ending [a system of oppression] by…, we are using our privilege to

help by…

Allyship

•

Allyship responsibilities:

–

we are not acting out of guilt, but rather out of responsibility

–

we actively acknowledge our privilege and power and openly discuss them:

 we recognize that as recipients

of privilege we will always be capable of perpetuating systems of oppression from which our privilege came

–

we listen more and speak less:

 we hold back on our ideas, opinions, and ideologies, and resist the urge to

“save” the people we seek to work with as, with adequate resources and support, they will figure out their

own solutions that meet their needs

–

we do our work with integrity and direct communication:

 we take guidance and direction from the people

we seek to work with (not the other way around), and we keep our word

–

we do not expect to be educated by others:

 we continuously do our own research on the oppressions

experienced by the people we seek to work with, including herstory/history, current news, and what

realities created by systems of oppression look, feel, smell, taste and sound like

–

we build our capacity to receive criticism

, to be honest and accountable with our mistakes, and recognize

that being called out for making a mistake is a gift—that it is an honor of trust to receive a chance to be a

better person, to learn, to grow, and to do things differently

–

we embrace the emotions that come out of the process of allyship

, understanding that we will feel

uncomfortable, challenged, embarrassed, and hurt

–

our needs are secondary to the people we seek to work with:

 we are responsible for our self-care and

recognize that part of the privilege of our identity is that we have a choice about whether or not to resist

oppression; we do not expect the people we seek to work with to provide emotional support (and we’re

grateful if they do)

–

we do not expect awards or special recognition 

for confronting issues that people have to live with every

day and redirect attention to the groups we are supporting, and the issues they face, when we do

Allyship

•

Allyship

roles:

–

we act out of a genuine interest in challenging larger

oppressive power structures

–

we are here to support and make use of our privilege and

power for the people we seek to work with

–

we turn the spotlight we are given away from ourselves

and towards the voices of those who are continuously

marginalized, silenced, and ignored; we give credit where

credit is due

–

we use opportunities to engage people with whom we

share identity and privilege in conversations about

oppression experienced by those we seek to work with

Allyship

•

Allyship

roles:

–

We have opportunities to practice allyship every day:

•

How much space are we taking up in conversations? in rooms? in

organizing?

•

How do we actively improve access to our meetings? our actions?

•

How are our identities taking up space? physically? verbally?

•

How much do we know about the people we seek to work with?

what are our assumptions, and from where did they originate?

•

Who are we leaving behind? Who is absent or excluded?

•

In particular to colonization, take special effort to acknowledge the

original peoples of the area/region/location in which you live, play,

and do your work, and connect with your local Indigenous

communities to involve them from the start, including elders,

hereditary chiefs, and youth

Allyship

•

A decolonizing approach to allyship must

challenge the resilience of settler privilege and

actively dismantle settler colonialist institutions

•

Perspectives on allyship:

–

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_dg86g-QlM0

–

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8xJXKYL8pU

–

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDoOGLJ8lb4

Decolonizing 

Yourself and Promoting Change

“Strong com­mu­ni­ties are born out of indi­vid­u­als

being their best selves.”

Leanne Betasamosake Simpson

Decolonizing 

Yourself and Promoting Change

•

Shift or expand political awareness to include

–

Perpetually ask if each policy (new or status quo) is discriminatory

in that it maintains or increases disparities across groups and

communities

–

Vote people in/out of office and lobby representatives accordingly

–

Donate time and/or money to causes you associate with

–

Ask what kinds of institutional changes need to occur in order to

make issue areas/policies more equitable

Settler Guilt

•

Settler guilt

= individual or collective guilt felt by

some people for harm resulting from racist

treatment of Indigenous Peoples by other white

people, most specifically in the context of

the colonialism and its legacies

–

Often results in pessimism or hopelessness, leading

settlers to opt out of coalitional movements or give up

access to resources in moments where these might

actually benefit decolonial struggles—thus producing

complacency and perpetuation of colonizing

institutions

Settler Guilt

•

Settler moves to innocence 

= actions that aim to

alleviate settler guilt without doing anything

meaningful to undo harm to Indigenous

communities

–

Some examples include

•

claiming long lost Indigenous ancestry,

•

homogenizing and mentally equating various experiences of

oppression with indigeneity,

•

adopting indigenous practices and ways of life

•

solidarity is a settler move to innocence when non-Native

people selectively invoke solidarity with Native peoples to

distance themselves from the role of colonizer/settler in an

attempt to assuage settler guilt

Settler Guilt

•

But when you are neither the colonizer nor the Indigenous group,

where do you fit in?

–

Settler colonial studies has been overwhelmingly concerned with the

native-settler binary and have been critiqued for its lack of attention

to Africans and people of African descent in the Americas (among

others)

•

Perspective: 

https://www.vice.com/en/article/gyajj4/who-is-a-settler-

according-to-indigenous-and-black-scholars

–

What about settler versus immigrant?

•

An immigrant is a person who leaves their native land by choice, in order to

settle in a new country with an established State already in place. Typically an

immigrant is not looking to expand their mother country, but to become part

of a new one, agreeing to abide by host State laws and customs.

•

A settler colonist enters a land to expand, acquire, modify, and settle

according to the systems of their sovereign nation.

–

Settlers are not immigrants. Immigrants are beholden to the Indigenous laws and

epistemologies of the lands they migrate to. Settlers become the law, supplanting

Indigenous laws and epistemologies. Therefore, settler nations are not immigrant

nations.

Decolonizing the Classroom

Decolonizing the Classroom

“Learning is always a creative act. Through the

unique processes of learning, we are

continuously engaged in the art of creating our

world and creating meaning from our world.”

Gregory A. Cajete

Decolonizing the Classroom

•

Consider your (physical) classroom space.

–

Is the space accessible?

–

Is the space hierarchical?

–

Does the space allow for student interaction or

only view the instructor?

–

Consider light, sound, and other stimuli

–

Are class decorations representative of your

students?

Decolonizing the Classroom

•

Consider your space

.

–

The physical space and arrangement of the classroom

tells students the style of education and directly

impacts learning

•

E.g. Desks in rows all facing instructor on elevated platform

and/or at a lectern/podium in the front of the room tells

students that they are merely to receive knowledge from

instructor as an audience member recipient to this

unidirectional flow of knowledge

–

Lack of comfort and safety in classroom hinders

learning

–

Class decorations tell students who is intended to

receive this knowledge and who is welcome

Decolonizing the Classroom

•

Disrupt the colonized classroom space

–

Sit amongst your students

–

Rearranging chair and tables

•

E.g. Rearrange as circles or groups and/or facilitate

movement around classroom

–

Make classroom decorations reflective of your

students’ diversity

–

Adjust the physical space to reflect and reinforce

the learning environment you want to produce

Decolonizing the Classroom

•

Reconsider the educational hierarchy

–

Students can contribute to their own education

and to other students’ education

–

Students should have agency in their own

education

–

Students have knowledge and experiences that

are valuable

Decolonizing the Classroom

•

Disrupt the educational hierarchy

–

Ask students to participate in the development of the curricula

and materials

•

Empower students to have agency in directing and controlling their

own learning

–

Demonstrate that you, as an educator, are not the only

knowledge-holder

•

Acknowledge, validate, and actively seek student knowledges

–

Recognize your own positionality and privilege, bias and

ignorance

–

Learning is collaborative, cooperative, and multidirectional

•

Learning environment and experience is co-created, based upon

relationship of equality, trust, mutual respect, and reciprocity

•

Consider a transformative education and mutual empowerment

rather than education as a force of assimilation requiring dogmatic

conformity to authority

Decolonizing the Classroom

“When classes are not grounded in the lives of

students, do not include the voices and

knowledge of communities being studied, and

are not based in dialogue, they create

environments where not only are white students

miseducated, but students of color feel as if

their very identities are under attack.”

(Au 2008/2009)

Decolonizing the Classroom

•

Teach to transgress

–

Education should promote self-actualization and emphasize well-being

–

Education can only be liberatory when everyone claims knowledge as a field in

which we all labor

•

Avoid using the classroom as a space for domination

–

Education not as a passive consumption of memorized content, but active

inquiry and praxis

•

Praxis

 = action and reflection upon the world in order to change it

–

Connection between what students are learning and their life experiences

–

Reject the false dichotomy between theory and practice

•

Avoid replicating and reinforcing intellectual class hierarchies by making theory

accessible

–

Make the classroom a democratic setting where everyone feels a

responsibility to contribute to the central goal of transformative pedagogy

•

Build community by recognizing everyone and the value of each individual voice

•

Understanding and appreciating our different locations and positionalities is a necessary

framework to build professional and political solidarity and to create a space of

emotional trust and regard for one another

–

Engaged pedagogy can be an expression of political activism

Decolonizing the Classroom

•

Start classes with a practice of mindfulness

–

Encourages students to refocus and mentally prepare

for learning

•

Sitting meditation, guided movement, breathing exercises,

sensory experiences, or focusing on an object/aspect of the

room for 2-5 minutes can reduce stress, anxiety, and

distraction

•

Creates a calm, focused, intentional learning environment

–

More info for integrating into classroom:

https://www.edutopia.org/blog/integrating-mindfulness-in-

classroom-curriculum-giselle-shardlow

–

https://www.mindfulschools.org/personal-practice/back-to-

school-6-ideas-creating-mindfulness-classroom/

Decolonizing the Classroom

•

Reevaluate our doctrines and canon

–

What do we accept as knowledge?

–

Who has it and produces it?

–

Who are the intellectuals?

Decolonizing the Classroom

•

Engage with multiple epistemologies and sources of

knowledge

–

Epistemic coloniality 

= refers to processes of knowing about

‘others’ but never fully acknowledging these ‘others’

•

Science is deeply implicated in forms colonialism and white

supremacy, as are the legacies and histories of educational curricula

•

Research and knowledge production can be an abusive forms of

power and domination, as can educational institutions

–

Indigenous knowledge is experiential knowledge

•

Evidence-based knowledge based upon thousands of years

•

Indigenous knowledge as indigenous science since based upon same

principles of western science: observation, experimentation, analysis

•

Indigenous knowledges, and non-European-derived knowledges, have

value and can offer solutions and contributions to contemporary

problems

Decolonizing the Classroom

“Epistemic justice means that we 

must

 read,

discuss, quote works from thinkers of the Global

South. We must at least be aware that Western

thinking is 

one 

school of thinking, that Western

thought is a historical construction that has

marginalized and erased not only non-European

knowledge and epistemologies, but also knowledge

that existed on the continent called “Europe”—

women who were called “witches,” nomads, the

Roma people, and indigenous communities such as

the Sámis.”

Françoise Vergès

Decolonizing the Classroom

“It appalls us that the West can desire, extract

and claim ownership of our ways of knowing,

our imagery, the things we create and produce,

and then simultaneously reject the people who

created and developed those ideas and seek to

deny them further opportunities to be creators

of their own culture and own nations.”

Linda Tuhiwai Smith

Decolonizing the Classroom

•

Consider intersectional and multicultural educational

strategies

–

While opportunities vary across discipline, most disciplines

can adapt these strategies to meet their unique needs

–

Use intersectional pedagogy

•

Four key features:

–

Focusing on multiple identities

–

Foregrounding of power and process

–

Transforming courses through inclusion

–

Employing a normative commitment to equality

–

Use multicultural educational strategies

•

More resources:

•

https://education.uw.edu/cme/view

•

https://www.edglossary.org/multicultural-education/

Decolonizing the Classroom

•

Consider intersectional and multicultural educational strategies

–

Multicultural education is fundamentally based in a critique of school

knowledge that has historically been Eurocentric

•

Invites students to engage with real social issues from a variety of

perspectives/positions

•

E.g. Mexican-American War

–

A typical class would focus solely on the actions of governments — U.S. and Mexican

alike.

–

A multicultural perspective asks about the Irish-American soldiers, Mexican women in

conquered territories, Black and white abolitionists who opposed the war, soldiers who

embraced and also rejected the war, Mexican cadets who jumped to their death rather

than surrender to invading U.S. troops, etc.

»

A multicultural perspective is not only inherently more interesting, it is also more

complex — and more fully truthful

»

Academic rigor is impossible without the multiple perspectives that multicultural

education provides because without it, we miss huge pieces of history, culture,

and society — leaving gaps in our knowledge about the world

»

Telling and retelling a story from various perspective enriches learning, emphasizes

key thoughts, mirrors ideas, attitudes, and perspectives back to learners

»

Learning through each orientation involves finding meaning through indirect,

vicarious, empathized experience

»

Learning through reflection and experience allows us to understand our learning

within a context of a greater whole

Decolonizing the Classroom

“Everything can be explained to the people, on

the single condition that you want them to

understand.”

Frantz Fanon

Decolonizing the Classroom

•

Evaluate your course content and emphasis

–

Diversify syllabi and content

•

Eliminate Euro-centric and Western-centric approaches

•

Integrate multiple voices, scholarship, and influences/contributions throughout

each course

–

Decentering dominant groups and hold space for previously marginalized

voices

–

Integration throughout the course is better than adding separate sections,

which can imply that these non-mainstream or minoritized contributors are

auxiliary or ancillary to main themes

–

Students see who you prioritize and will not see themselves in fields where

neither faculty nor the readings reflect them

•

Even technical fields, mathematics, and sciences (among others) can ensure that

the contributions of all significant scientists are explicitly recognized

•

Be mindful of how your textbooks (and other materials) discuss or present all

(ethnic, gendered and other) groups. Do they reinforce stereotypes? Are these

groups invisible or largely absent from the texts? Are they marginalized, as

sidenotes or anecdotes, divorced from the larger narrative, or merely responsive to

”the canon”?

Decolonizing the Classroom

•

Evaluate your grading policies

–

Grading systems and assessment should be cognizant of systems

of power and seek to minimize student disenfranchisement

while simultaneously training students to be competitive in job

markets and/or higher education

•

Having multiple forms of assignments can mediate some of these

issues and/or incorporate flexible grading processes

•

Remain aware of learning disabilities, non-native English or Spanish

speakers, and other forms of vulnerability that can systematically

disenfranchise students and undermine their education

–

Ensure accessibility

•

Include closed captioning for all video and audio materials

•

Use 

Universal Design for Learning (UDL)

 for online and classroom

instruction, including video captioning, web and email accessibility.

Information can be found online at 

http://udlguidelines.cast.org

•

UTEP CASS provides sign language interpreters

Decolonizing the Classroom

•

Evaluate your grading policies

–

Acknowledge that assignments in English and Spanish are reflective of

colonization and privilege.

•

The quality of written assignments are reflective of colonization processes and

privileges

•

Yet, part of educating requires effective written (and oral) communication in

order to ensure professional opportunities to all students

–

One may want to re-evaluate grading policies pertaining to writing assignments,

recognizing that 1) learning English and Spanish (especially “proper” forms, such as

Standard Academic English) are derived from and perpetuate colonization, and  2)

writing quality is largely reflective not of student ability but (socio-economic) privilege

and/or their place of origin that has affected their education.

–

If the purpose of the written assignment is not to reflect student mastery of a specific

professional or technical writing style, then one may consider offering feedback on

grammar, punctuation, etc. while reducing point deductions for such errors.

–

The use of multiple drafts may be an option, though the students who have the time to

write multiple drafts are usually more privileged than those who do not (due to work,

care-giving, or health issues).

–

Incentivizing the Writing Center is also helpful, though again students who tend to be

able to use this resource typically have more ability to (i.e. more privilege than those

who do not).

Decolonizing the Classroom

•

Evaluate your grading policies

–

‘Incorrect’ language usage is often a form of rebellion

and resistance

•

Intentional use of incorrect words, word placement, spelling,

capitalization, and other modifications claims language as a

cite for resistance and remade oppressors’ language(s) in

order to become a counter-language beyond the boundaries

of conquest and domination

–

Allow for the intentional, conscientious use of language as

protest and resistance

–

Explicitly address these forms of resistance as generating

alternative cultural production and epistemologies to create

counter-hegemonic worldviews

Decolonizing the Classroom

•

Embrace neurodiversity and neurodivergence

–

Neurodiversity 

= The diversity or variation of

cognitive functioning in humans

–

Neurodivergence

 = The presence, or grouping, of less-

typical, cognitive variations

•

E.g. autism, ADHD, dyslexia, dyspraxia

–

Neurodiversity is an approach to education and ability

that supports various neurological conditions

•

Neuro-differences are recognized and appreciated as a social

category on par with ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender, or

disability status

•

Watch: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jkTCSseDNms

Decolonizing the Classroom

•

Embrace neurodiversity and neurodivergence

–

Ableism

 = the belief that people are automatically

better, have better lives, or have better brains or

bodies because they aren’t disabled

–

Instead of promoting or being complicit with

ableism in our education systems, embrace

neurodiversity paradigm 

(there is no ‘right’ or

‘wrong’ brain as everyone is wired differently)

rather than 

pathology paradigm 

(any difference

from the ‘normal’ brain is a disorder)

Decolonizing the Classroom

Decolonizing the Classroom

•

Embrace neurodiversity and neurodivergence

–

Design a quiet, structured learning environment

–

Keep verbal instructions concise

–

Break down large assignments into a series of smaller tasks with separate due dates

–

Don’t make unnecessary or unrealistic restrictions on movement and/or consider having rolling chairs and

other movable furniture give students the freedom to sit comfortably and move closer to or farther from our

classmates as needed

–

Fluorescent lights can be distracting or too harsh, so rooms with windows to let in natural light can be

better. If bright fluorescent lighting is the only option, allow students to wear hats or sunglasses in class

–

Give permission to take breaks

–

Use strength-based learning strategies

–

Presume competence even when you don’t see or hear it yet.

–

Smile

–

Listen

–

Allow some downtime to contemplate words and plan a response in class, during the day, or even overnight

may give time for a fresh perspective to materialize

–

Make room for nonverbal communication

–

Create routines

–

Let students know that human excellence comes in all packages — so they are invited to be themselves.

–

Modify your teaching style and adapt to how you teach specific students, checking in with them to see how

they’re getting on

–

Incorporate neurodiversity paradigm and training into teacher preparation programs

–

Be patient with yourself as you learn more and do better (and encourage the same in students)

Decolonizing

 Our Communities and Institutions

ILLUSTRATION: VICTOR JUHASZ

Decolonizing

 Our Institutions

•

Communities and institutions can decolonize

by deconstructing hierarchies and other social

structures that support a discriminatory status

quo

Decolonizing 

Our Political Institutions

•

Repatriate indigenous lands and resources

–

Is true self-determination possible while

indigenous territories are occupied or if First

Nations are trapped within a colonial state

system?

–

Return stolen lands, starting with existing public

lands

Decolonizing 

Our Political Institutions

•

Protect indigenous rights to vote and voting

accessibility, along with votes of people in

territories

–

Universal suffrage could be a vector for

decolonization, because suitably organized it could

bring forth a corporate, collective voice that centuries

of colonialism had repressed

•

Indigenous Peoples face systemic barriers to voting

•

Peoples living in U.S. territories are afforded only nonvoting

delegates in the House of Representatives; have no

representation in Senate; and have no voting rights for

presidential elections

Decolonizing 

Our Political Institutions

•

Avoid using reconciliation as tool for

legitimizing continued colonization

–

Reconciliation often promises a renewed

relationship with the state but is can also be used

to further colonize First Nations and legitimize the

presence of states

Decolonizing 

Our Political Institutions

“The easy adoption of decolonization as a metaphor (and

nothing else) ... is a premature attempt at reconciliation.

The absorption of decolonization by settler social justice

frameworks is one way the settler, disturbed by her own

settler status, tries to escape or contain the unbearable

searchlight of complicity, of having harmed others just by

being one’s self. The desire to reconcile is just as

relentless as the desire to disappear the Native; it is a

desire to not have to deal with this (Indian) problem

anymore.”

Eve Tuck and K. W. Yang (2012)

Decolonizing 

Our Political Institutions

•

Defund policing and prison systems

–

Policing and prison are forms of 

internal colonization

intended to manage, control, and subjugate

•

Internal colonization 

= biopolitical and geopolitical management

of people, land, flora, and fauna within the domestic borders of

the imperial nation to ensure the ascendancy of a nation and its

white elite

–

Modes of control include use of prisons, policing, schooling, minoritizing

–

Strategies of internal colonialism are structural and interpersonal,

including segregation, divestment, surveillance, and criminalization

•

Indigenous youth and adults are disproportionately represented in

federal and state criminal justice institutions

–

Indigenous People are incarcerated at rates 38% higher than non-

indigenous people

–

Incarcerated indigenous youth are 50% more likely than white youths to

receive the harshest, most punitive measures

Decolonizing 

Our Political Institutions

•

Defund policing and prison systems

–

Transfer funding to social programs, education, rehabilitation systems, and

restorative justice programs

–

Dismantle and abolish the prison industrial complex, exploiting and profiting

from the pathologizing and criminalizing Indigenous individuals, Black

individuals, and other people of color

–

Substitute for incarceration: supervised release, probation, restitution to

victims, and/or community work

–

Decreasing terms of imprisonment by abolishing mandatory minimum

sentencing

–

Decreasing ethnic disparity in prison populations

–

Improve prison conditions

–

Prioritize and fund crime prevention rather than punishment

–

Abolish programs designed to increase prison population, such as

the prohibition of drugs (e.g., the American War on Drugs) and prohibition

of sex work

–

Improve legal representation, education, and mechanisms to prevent and

correct wrongful conviction, reliance on plea bargains, and the criminalization

of poverty (e.g., bail)

Decolonizing 

Our Political Institutions

“The prison therefore functions ideologically as an

abstract site into which undesirables are deposited,

relieving us of the responsibility of thinking about

the real issues afflicting those communities from

which prisoners are drawn in such disproportionate

numbers. This is the ideological work that the

prison performs—it relieves us of the responsibility

of seriously engaging with the problems of our

society, especially those produced by racism and,

increasingly, global capitalism.”

Angela Davis

Decolonizing 

Our Political Institutions

•

Reevaluate immigration policy

–

Immigration policies are a contemporary manifestation of the legacy of settler

colonialism as well as consequence of external (imperialist) colonialism

•

Settler societies like the U.S. were founded on white supremacy and colonial

expansionism, and thus are intrinsically concerned with maintaining white

dominance over Indigenous People (and people of color) and asserting state

sovereignty against the incursion of people deemed “other”

–

It is the source of their present-day prosperity and informs the way they act

to protect their borders.

–

While the immigration policy of many sovereign nations has some basis in

such insider-outsider rhetoric, it is a particular hallmark of settler colonial

states which overstate the belonging of their settler founders and

pathologize/criminalize “less desirable” or “bad” immigrants (generally those

from the Global South and non-white) from the “good” immigrants

»

This reproduces the exclusion of certain migrants and perpetuates

colonizing dichotomies and dehumanization of the “wrong type” of

migrant, where only certain types of people are deserving of protection

•

In addition, there is rarely recognition of the fact that these refugees and migrants

have been in fact escaping wars and murderous regimes propped by the US, as well

as conflicts derived from its history of imperialist, exploitative foreign policies

Decolonizing 

Our Energy Systems

•

Transform our energy reliance

–

Current reliance on finite natural resources is not sustainable (at

domestic or global levels)

•

Alternative renewable energy sources are often accessories to fossil fuels due

to needing them in manufacturing, processing, transport, and installation

processes

•

We’ve know this for a long time but largely bought into the narrative that we’ll

be saved by some sort of technological advancement by the time we run out

of resources

–

Maybe, maybe not

–

Refocus on sustainability, simplify lives, shed materialistic values,

promote ethics of responsibility rather than entitlement

–

Radically rethink humankind’s position within, reliance upon, and

interdependence with natural ecosystems

–

Institute policies and processes to address global warming and

revitalize natural world (water, topsoil, etc.) so that sustainable living is

possible

•

Indigenous knowledges are crucial for developing these policies of

sustainability and revitalization

Decolonizing 

the Law

Decolonizing 

the Law

•

Ensure self-determination and self-

governance

–

Allow First Nations to rule themselves as they

wish, providing the promised funding and

resources necessary to make self-governance

possible

Decolonizing 

the Law

•

Honor the treaties

–

Make treaties with Indigenous Peoples equal to

contemporary treaty law and contract law, interpreted

based upon indigenous understanding of the language

and recognizing coercion when applicable

•

In other words, indigenous treaty law should have equal

weight to other treaty law and constitutional law

–

Treaty law and relevant precedent should be

determined consistently and develop jurisprudence

that is equitable, predictable, consistent, and abiding

by the rule of law

Decolonizing 

the Law

•

Return to the practice of treaty-making

–

Recognizing indigenous sovereignty requires

treaty-making as the appropriate mode of policy-

making between the United States and First

Nations

•

Unilateral congressional or executive policies must be

terminated

–

Policy-making in indigenous affairs requires the

consultation and consent of impacted First

Nations

Decolonizing 

the Law

•

Support and protect tribal sovereignty in law and

justice

–

United States needs to provide the promised funding for

First Nations, includes resources to develop their political

institutions (as determined by each First Nation)

–

United States must defer to First Nations jurisdiction and

expand their jurisdiction to normally-recognized

parameters that sovereigns typically work within (so they

can better protect their members and survival)

•

i.e., stop undermining native justice by assuming incompetence or

leniency and stop undermining non-indigenous applications under

presumption of inequality (benefiting non-native individuals at the

expense of native communities)

Decolonizing 

the Law

•

Develop, support, and protect legal pluralism in U.S.

courts

–

Recognize multiple sources of law, knowledge, and

communication in judicial and legal systems

–

Integrate these legal systems within judicial and

adjudicatory decision-making processes in indigenous

cases

•

Give indigenous law(s) standing in federal courts

•

Allow for oral histories to be provided in cases

–

Canadian Supreme Court in 

Delgamuukw

 (1997) determined that oral

traditions must be placed “on an equal footing with the types of

historical evidence that courts are familiar with” in Aboriginal land claims

court proceedings

•

Recognize, understand, and apply indigenous law and rights

Decolonizing 

the Law

•

Reduce evidentiary requirements mandating

static, permanent ‘pre-colonial’ practice and

residence in order to obtain indigenous rights

–

Law must recognize the dynamic and adaptive nature

of indigenous practices, behaviors, and laws

•

Similarly applies for protecting indigenous land rights

–

Authenticity and tradition cannot be determined by

non-natives

•

Relegating “authentic” indigenous rights to pre-colonial

practices that are necessary for self-governance limits rights

to static practices; ignores necessity to adapt; ignores

dynamism inherent in communities; and intentionally limits

rights protections

Decolonizing 

the Law

•

Comply with international law applicable to

Indigenous Peoples

–

UNDRIP (2007) and the ILO 169 offer a baseline for

protections and processes that all states are required

to abide by

•

This is the minimum that all states should be committed to

•

Engage with First Nations to determine what each Nation

needs and how best to cooperate and collaborate to achieve

mutually beneficial goals in practice, as well as honor

treaties and indigenous sovereignty

Decolonizing 

the Law

•

Recognize First Nations as legal persons and

entities and sovereign nation-states

–

First Nations are legitimate political bodies within the

international community, 

equal to states

, who are

responsible for participating in all affairs that concern

the well-being of all nations on the planet

•

Denying indigenous self-determination exposes the inherent

violence of state-building against Indigenous Nations

–

Existing states, the United Nations, and international

law should recognize First Nations as sovereign states

Decolonizing 

the Law

•

Eliminate state authority in indigenous affairs

–

Because (intra-national) states have vested

interests in reducing tribal power and sovereignty,

reduce the invitations of conflict to ensure

equitable and consistent federal adjudication

when non-native adjudication is necessary

–

Enable mechanisms for cooperation and

collaboration between jurisdictions but ensuring

indigenous self-governance without state

intrusion or coercion

Decolonizing 

the Law

•

Generate more scholarships for aspiring indigenous lawyers (as

well as general education funding opportunities)

–

Funding for education is crucial for indigenous representation in legal

issues

–

Develop more funding opportunities and invest in existing organization

providing these opportunities

•

Native American Rights Fund (NARF): 

https://www.narf.org/fellowships/

•

American Indian Graduate Center

•

Association on American Indian Affairs

•

American Indian College Fund

•

Bureau of Indian Education Higher Education Grant/Scholarship Program

•

Gates Millennium Scholars Program

•

Indian Country Media Networks Scholarship Directory

•

Native Agriculture and Food Systems Initiative Scholarship Program

•

Tyonek Native Corporation

•

Johnson Scholarship Foundation

Decolonizing 

the Law

•

Appoint Indigenous Peoples as judges in state

and federal courts

–

Awareness, education, and representation of

indigenous issues, perspectives, experiences,

knowledges, and epistemologies are required to

equitable and democratic application of the law

Decolonizing 

the Law

•

Appoint and elect Indigenous Peoples as

policy-makers

–

Awareness, education, and representation of

indigenous issues, perspectives, experiences,

knowledges, and epistemologies are required to

develop equitable policy

Decolonizing 

the Law

•

Expand federal recognition for First Nations

to protect the rights of all Indigenous Peoples

–

Federal recognition is often required for the

collective rights to be obtained

–

This has, and continues, to exclude some First

Nations

Decolonizing 

the Law

•

Indigeneity is self-determined by each First

Nation

–

End blood quantum requirements

–

Allow each First Nation to determine their own

processes of identification and recognition

Decolonization

“I am not free while any woman is unfree, even

when her shackles are very different from my

own.”

Audre Lorde

Image by Anoushka Khandwala

References

•

https://theantioppressionnetwork.com/allyship/

•

hooks, bell. 1994. 

Teaching to Transgress: 

Education as the Practice of Freedom. Routledge.

•

Waziyatawin, and Michael Yellow Bird, eds. 2012. For Indigenous Minds Only: A Decolonization Handbook.  SAR Press.

•

Tuck, Eve, and K. Wayne Yang. 2012. “Decolonization is Not a Metaphor.” 

Decolonization: Indigeneity, Education & Society 

1 (1): 1- 40.

•

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SW0chDCifPQ

•

(Au 2008/2009) 

http://www.professorsapp.com/au-decolonizing-the-classro.pdf

•

https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.174.4021&rep=rep1&type=pdf

•

https://ruor.uottawa.ca/bitstream/10393/37106/1/Furo_Annette_2018_thesis.pdf

•

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/00131725.2014.850985?casa_token=6Y26TGlMeBsAAAAA:HMgIi74RL0EKJ5SYZ16y9Mk97r1_TqbG5Gm8JzKZyXrGzm8J0_r2cjJpqOTtUic1l4

0vwGsp4qoK

•

https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s11256-012-0222-5.pdf

•

https://www.yesmagazine.org/issue/decolonize/2018/04/03/white-allies-lets-be-honest-about-decolonization

•

https://www.teenvogue.com/story/what-decolonization-is-and-what-it-means-to-me

•

https://www.racialequitytools.org/resources/fundamentals/core-concepts/decolonization-theory-and-practice

•

https://slought.org/resources/practicing_decolonization

•

https://www.communitypsychology.com/demystifying-decolonialization/

•

Silva, J. M., & Students for Diversity Now. (2018). 

# WEWANTSPACE: Developing Student Activism Through a Decolonial Pedagogy. American Journal of Community Psychology.

•

https://everydayfeminism.com/2018/05/decolonizing-nonprofits/

•

https://racebaitr.com/2016/05/24/stolen-people-stolen-land/

•

https://blogs.brown.edu/amst-1700k-s01-2019-spring/solidarity-as-a-settler-move-to-innocence/

•

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQofZc0aLC0

•

Smith, Linda Tuhiwai. 2012. 

Decolonizing Methodologies: Research and Indigenous Peoples

. Zed Books.

•

https://www.indigenousmindfulness.com/

; 

https://www.acesconnection.com/g/practicing-resilience/resource/decolonizing-the-mind-healing-through-neurodecolonization-and-

mindfulness-1-hour-dr-michael-yellow-bird

•

https://exceptionalindividuals.com/neurodiversity/

•

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00393541.2017.1403790?casa_token=ZeRLVl78a-AAAAAA:OscRSn-2_Pbg-

xvPYjWRgkfXIGoAuoYz__54yK_V01w1bifrSE1yISU3a2a_lzaApWl7tLcKkwv2

•

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/09687599.2014.910107?casa_token=lBIUALtgNiYAAAAA:xSJjFpC0c3Ek756z7UBs08bTgZsXS2Xrt3Ci0kyaEZ634ihwmFHD1pbB8ripKw0WCzIJ

9_WpOI-R

•

https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/1f91/fe220ea1ac004a9c4c342a1fa69819917359.pdf

•

http://www.ascd.org/publications/books/117035/chapters/The_Urgent_Need_for_a_Strengths-Based_Approach.aspx

•

Armstrong, Thomas. Neurodiversity in the Classroom: Strength-Based Strategies to Help Students with Special Needs Succeed in School and Life. Alexandria, VA: ASCD, 2012.

•

https://kappanonline.org/rentenbach-prislovsky-gabriel-valuing-differences-neurodiversity-classroom/

•

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.2202/1940-1639.1041

•

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/03/give-voting-rights-us-territories/618246/

•

https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2018/7/2/how-colonialism-shapes-immigration-policy-in-the-us-and-australia

•

Monika Batra Kashyap, Unsettling Immigration Laws: Settler Colonialism and the U.S. Immigration Legal System, 46 Fordham Urb. L. J. 548 (2019).

•

Madrigal, Raquel A.. "Immigration/Migration and Settler Colonialism: Doing Critical Ethnic Studies on the U.S. - Mexico Border." (2019).

•

DUONG, K. (2021). Universal Suffrage as Decolonization. 

American Political Science Review,

115

(2), 412-428. doi:10.1017/S0003055420000994

•

https://eyeondesign.aiga.org/what-does-it-mean-to-decolonize-design/