Decolonizing Methodologies

Linda Tuhiwai-Smith
Feb 16, 2016
2 min read

"Colonized people compelled to define what it means to be human because there is a deep understanding of what it has meant to be considered not human."

~Linda Tuhiwai-Smith

Linda's book was an eye opening read for me. She touched on every imaginable angle involving indigenous and colonizer. I was firstly intrigued because we are from the same side of the globe, then secondly beaming with pride that we were both born on the same shores... because she is one wicked academic who takes no prisoners!

What I have come away with from this book that seems to bear the most weight and is still pertinent to this day is the fact that there is no such thing as post-colonialism. Colonialism still exists and we are all colonized people. Some of us are just a little closer to our indigenous roots and have not been completely succumbed to or embedded in what is globally running rampant in our present day society of consumerism.

Linda begins in her introduction, and continues to stress throughout the entire reading, about how it is the duty of the colonized to research for themselves. Our histories have been spun by European patriarchal hegemony from the point of view of the conqueror/colonizer/oppressor. Research from indigenous perspectives via the process of recounting our experiences is perhaps the only way to understand our past, bridge it with our present, and reshape our tomorrows.

Much to my dismay, I completely agree with her! Lawd knows how much I abhor the tedious aspects of research especially when it is done in the monotonous manner that Westernized academia has thrust upon us. But thankfully Tuhiwai-Smith did not leave us teetering on that steep cliffside by providing alternative guidelines for Indigenous research methodologies.

Chapter 8 is dedicated to 25 research projects that are much more bearable to my creative mind than the standard protocol that has been laid before me during my 17 years of Euro-American schooling. These activities range widely from Claiming and Story-telling to Discovering and Protecting. I truly believe that the process alone of using ones voice, reclaiming your heritage and telling your life experiences through the eyes of your own culture can be liberating. Alluding to a sense of autonomy for ourselves, our communities, and our future.