In order to explore the role of decolonization and/or anti-colonialism it is essential to first understand colonization’s role in education.
From both a familial and lived experience perspective I will discuss some of my understandings of colonization’s relationship to education. The discourse of colonialism, as it is known to me, is one of erasure and dichotomies. Colonial discourse works to erase the original people of the land by rendering them savages – unable to make “good” use of the land. It works to erase their humanity by painting them less than. Not equal to white Europeans by any measure; not in culture, not in language, not in technology, not in beliefs, not in intellect. By creating a discourse of savages, being who are less than human, colonialism made rendered their lands empty. Essentially claiming terra nullis, “a Latin expression deriving from Roman Law meaning “nobody’s land”, which is used in international law to describe territory which has never been subject to the sovereignty of any state” (Wikepedia). This was a deliberate creating of a discourse that would allow colonization of North America to be acceptable.
As evidence of this mindset I quote the first stanza of Rudard Kipling’s poem from 1899 “The White Man’s Burden”
“Take up the White Man’s burden—
Send forth the best ye breed—
Go send your sons to exile
To serve your captives’ need
To wait in heavy harness
On fluttered folk and wild—
Your new-caught, sullen peoples,
Half devil and half child”
That poem and the colonial mindset from which it came belong only in history books, some might say. However, it is only in 2016 that we are attempting to include them in history books. Prior to movement of reconciliation started by Indian Residential School Survivors taking the govern of Canada to court, Canada purposefully left out their darker colonial past. Of course it was fine to teach about the white side of the story. I cannot tell you how many times I learned about the fur trade, Champlain and the war of 1812 in school. This is colonial history told from the side of the colonizers. First Nations voices are absent from the story. Who exactly were those fur traders trading with? Until recently Canada has still be practicing a colonial discourse of erasure.
The fact that the fur trade exploited Native people, their resources, and lead to mass epidemics that wiped out as much as 90% of the Native population (from the book Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond) is left out of the history books. In the media Native people are only shown in the context of the four D’s – drumming, dancing, drunk, and/or dead (Duncan McCue, CBC). It sad but true. The old power imbalances that are imbedded in our current systems, left over from colonial times, dictate who gets to tell the story.
As much as I would like to think that our current new direction in education came from a place of enlightenment and all of us coming to our good sense – it didn’t. Many Indigenous people had to fight to be included in the history books. Although they might not have known that that was what they were doing at the time. Indian Residential School survivors went to court for justice. They knew that the cultural genocide committed against them and their communities by the government of Canada was wrong and someone needed to pay. It was only through their victory that things began to change. A formal apology was made by Canada’s prime minister. The Truth & Reconciliation Commission was established. Through the hard work of the commission and other advocacy groups and powerful individuals the mindset of Canada began to change. As the stories were told and places of higher learning began to wake up to the truth, we slowly realized that we could not continue to tell a one sided story.
Decolonization is about action. It is about fighting for justice. Things do not change because you know it is the right thing – they change because someone cared enough to take action. Which is why I think decolonization can be so transformative for Indigenous learners.
Two of the basic needs of young people are empowerment and connection. Decolonization can lead to both. Because decolonization is about action, if Indigenous learners take up decolonization they will gain empowerment through forward moving action. Secondly, the process of decolonization will connect them to their communities. For it is only by going back to the community, families, elder’s, teachings, and land that we can truly decolonize.