Posthumanism, Indigenous Philosophy, and Agentially Realist Approaches to Educational Research

• In Event: 42.083 - Roundtable Session 17
  In Roundtable Session: 42.083-9 - Engaging in Post-Qualitative Inquiry

Abstract

This paper examines the relevance of traditional and contemporary indigenous studies literature to the emerging post-humanist movement in social inquiry. It identifies precedents of many of the unique features of posthumanism in indigenous studies scholarship. The paper warns that post-humanist scholars who ignore these substantive and sophisticated philosophical precedents risk reproducing a process of colonialist erasure of indigenous peoples and culture. The authors particularly focuses on the concept of agential realism—the idea that acknowledging the material reality of phenomena after postmodern critiques can best be accomplished by attributing agency to non-human things. A variety of conceptions of non-human agency in the indigenous studies literature are inventoried and their implications for research on education is explored.

Authors

• Jerry L. Rosiek, University of Oregon

• Jimmy Snyder, University of Oregon

• Scott L. Pratt, University of Oregon