This website offers an overview of projects led by a collective of Indigenous and non-Indigenous researchers mostly based at the University of British Columbia who are working on the topic of “confronting colonialism(s)” in different fields of study and sectors of society.
What is unique about the approach of this research collective is that our work is multi-scalar, complexity-focused, inquiry-based, and anchored in ontological critiques that address cognitive, affective, relational, economic and ecological dimensions of practice. These dimensions include practices related to knowledge production, representation, decision-making, relationship building, answerability, and accountability, with an emphasis on the practice of facing responsibility for complicities in historical, systemic and ongoing harm.
As researchers, we have a common approach to analyses of colonialism, but we work in different areas, each with its own contextually-specific layers of complexity. Most of our work happens in different Indigenous territories of what is currently known as Canada. We acknowledge that discussions in the Canadian context are different from other places in the world when it comes to questions of decolonization, Indigenization, and Indigenous struggles.
Our work is also committed to reparations to Indigenous-led projects related to food sovereignty, water security, and land rematriation, in Indigenous partner communities, mainly in Brazil.