"It Feels Fake": Creating Decolonizing Syllabi in the University

• In Event: Indigenous and Justice World-Remaking: Curriculum of Bodies and Land

Abstract

This paper describes the processes, tensions, questions, conflicts, and celebrations the three authors experienced while creating and implementing decolonizing and/or Indigenous curriculum and pedagogy for the university classroom. The theoretical framework engages Indigenous epistemologies and decolonizing pedagogy to disrupt western schooling rooted in the Cartesian split that separates mind, body, and spirit that makes knowledge objective and land as a mere resource. Western schooling continues to support, the dispossession of Indigenous peoples from their/our lands with a “civilizing agenda” that promotes individualization. We seek to re-connect relationships with the land and Indigenous community in our various disciplines. The authors share their reflections through stories and will describe similarities, differences, and insights based on their positionalities.

Authors

• Hollie Anderson Kulago, Pennsylvania State University

• Wayne Wapeemukwa, Pennsylvania State University

• Paul Guernsey, Lafayette College