Witnessing and Decolonization as Spectacle: Open Access as an Exhibitionary Pedagogy of Colonialism?

• In Event: Decolonizing the Curriculum: Challenging the Constraints of Colonized Knowledge

Abstract

This paper examines the tensions present in Open Access research dissemination, asking if it works towards Indigenous decolonization through the witnessing of counter-narratives or if it a form of discipline enacted through colonial discourses of 'public good', 'openness', and 'access'. This paper shows how Open Access is implicated in and part of the structure of colonial intrusion that has always seen Indigenous peoples’ intellectual and material borders as permeable and ‘open for access’ (Smith, 2005), as well as examining the possibilities of using Open Access for Indigenous decolonization.

Author

• Eric Ritskes, University of Toronto