{"id":6,"date":"2020-09-20T10:21:44","date_gmt":"2020-09-20T17:21:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/last303vgd\/?p=6"},"modified":"2020-09-20T10:31:24","modified_gmt":"2020-09-20T17:31:24","slug":"reflections-on-decolonization-and-epistemology","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/last303vgd\/2020\/09\/20\/reflections-on-decolonization-and-epistemology\/","title":{"rendered":"Reflections on decolonization and epistemology"},"content":{"rendered":"

Whilst reading\u00a0Introduction<\/em> by Tuhiwai Smith, Tuck & Yang I couldn’t help but think about how colonization is deeply rooted on our behavior, as well as on the academic landscape. At first glance, it was overwhelming to have gained awareness of how damaging colonization has been to the land, culture and our hectic modern lifestyles, yet after a few more reads I found hope that we could reshape some aspects of our behavior. Although the reading very clearly explains the concept of decolonization and urges us to understand that it’s not merely I metaphor, I believe that the alternatives that the authors pose to shift our habits to include indigenous knowledge are really innovative. I particularly liked the focus that Tuhiwai Smith poses on pedagogy and how Western notions of education attempt to “fix” Indigenous knowledge under the idea that they “know better”, when academia could easily include Indigenous scholars into the curriculum. I was especially drawn to Smith’s introduction to the second chapter, which talks about how we could take a land-centered approach to education, and understand that ultimately, it’s our first teacher so we can engage with our history\u00a0through<\/em> the land and become our relationships with others.<\/p>\n

The concepts put forward in\u00a0Introduction<\/em> stuck with me even when looking at the other readings, and I found that these ideas are also seen when we talk about food. Before reading Belasco’s text, I had an extremely superficial view on food, which aligned greatly with the Industrialized perspective of food distribution and consumption. The reading managed to expand my horizons on the concept of food, and I was surprised to find the fascinating philosophy that lies behind it. It allowed me to be self-aware of the fact that I have too been conditioned to forget about the thrill and excitement of enjoying a meal, and understanding its journey to the table. This was the reading that I enjoyed the most given that it prompted me to gain a new perspective on food, and helped me to connect with my eating habits and how I can change them in a way that I can make it enjoyable.<\/p>\n

For instance, I’ve always been aware of the fact that my mom keeps a vegetable garden in the house, so we get most of our ingredients and spices from there, yet I never acknowledge the effort and care that goes into harvesting it for consumption. After reading Belasco’s text, I immediately asked my mom to help me learn her process, so now we’re growing our food together! It has been an incredible to connect with my mom and the land in which I’m located, since we are growing tons of native goods with traditional agricultural techniques.<\/p>\n

ps. Here is a picture of a couple of veggies we’ve been growing \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Whilst reading\u00a0Introduction by Tuhiwai Smith, Tuck & Yang I couldn’t help but think about how colonization is deeply rooted on our behavior, as well as on the academic landscape. At first glance, it was overwhelming to have gained awareness of how damaging colonization has been to the land, culture and our hectic modern lifestyles, yet […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":74609,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"image","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,3],"tags":[4,5],"class_list":["post-6","post","type-post","status-publish","format-image","hentry","category-uncategorized","category-unit1","tag-reflections","tag-unit1","post_format-post-format-image"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/last303vgd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/last303vgd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/last303vgd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/last303vgd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/74609"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/last303vgd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/last303vgd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/last303vgd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6\/revisions\/8"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/last303vgd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/last303vgd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/last303vgd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}