Distraction or Disruption: Decolonization and the Academic Enterprise

• In Event: Indigenous Knowledges and Technologies - III

Abstract

Indigenous peoples continue to thwart attempts to erase their cultures, languages, spirituality, political processes, and stewardship of their land and water. This includes rejecting colonial assumptions regarding ideas of ownership, control, access, and preservation, entrenched in dominant ways of conceptualizing information (Dourish & Mainwaring, 2012; First Nations Information Governance Centre, 2014). Indigenous and Western perspectives concerning the manifestations of information (e.g., material, spiritual), how to care for information (e.g., preservation practice, ceremonial practice) and who determines access to information (e.g., nation-state edict, community protocol), are often incompatible (Lawson, 2004). Yet, Western assumptions guide the design of dominant tools, policies, and practices, leading to problematic information systems, inapplicable professional standards, and unattainable “best” practices (Duarte & Belarde-Lewis, 2015; Nakata, 2002). Compelling accounts of these issues are well documented (Brown et al., 2017; Doyle, Lawson, & Dupont, 2015; Nakata, 2006), prompting calls to decolonize systems and processes (Duarte & Belarde-Lewis, 2015). However, the systemic disruption decolonization demands—including within the academy—is rarely acknowledged (Tuck & Yang, 2012).

Although critical socio-technical theory from venues such as 4S offer ways to conceptualize and articulate this work, they paradoxically risk distracting academics from doing the relational work decolonizing academic practice requires (Castleden, Sylvestre, Martin, & McNally, 2015). As an alternative, this paper points to Indigitization—an Indigenous and non-Indigenous collective—that assists Indigenous-led digitization projects by circumventing predispositions typically tied to academic initiatives (e.g., benefitting the credentialed, restricting expenditures, requiring public access to material products). Indigitization uplifts Indigenous voices while re-envisioning academic responsibility (http://www.indigitization.ca).

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Author

• Lisa P. Nathan, Univeristy of British Columbia