Two Decades of Collaboration

Thinking and Researching Relationally

“…As Māori scholar Smith (2012) describes in her seminal text, understanding the etiology of and necessity for decolonizing methodologies requires an understanding of the colonizing reputation and history of academic research in settler-colonial societies. As a distinct philosophical orientation, decolonizing methodologies have evolved in response to multifaceted factors that are rooted in colonial oppression, including the historical context in which Indigenous peoples have been overresearched and “Othered 2 ” in the research process (Smith, 2012); Indigenous scholars’ resistance to the imposition of hegemonic research theories and practices that are founded on the history, culture, and worldviews of Euro-Western thought (Bishop, 2005; Chilisa, 2012; Mutua & Swadener, 2004; Sherwood, 2010), and the commodification of Indigenous knowledges (Battiste & Henderson, 2000; McGuire, 2010). Decolonizing methodologies also emerged in response to the inadequacy of dominant research methodologies to benefit Indigenous peoples and to advance global issues of social justice and human rights (Chilisa, 2012; Smith, 2012).…”

“Subjects” in and of Research: Decolonizing Oppressive Rhetorical Practices in Technical Communication Research

“…Subjects in 19th and 20th century colonial era were treated as inconvenient subhumans who were targets of years of racist imperialism. The term represents a convenient metaphor for colonial knowledge, for power, and for truth for the researcher (Denzin & Lincoln, 2005), and it “casts [participants] in the role of the marginalized ‘Other’” (Mutua & Swadener, 2004, p. 12). Historically, scientific research itself bears the fingerprints of colonialism because it has been implicated in some of the worst excesses during research encounters (Agboka, 2014).…”

“…Historically, scientific research itself bears the fingerprints of colonialism because it has been implicated in some of the worst excesses during research encounters (Agboka, 2014). As indigenous scholars such as Smith (1999) and Mutua and Swadener (2004) note, for example, for many local sites, the word research “… stirs up silence [and] conjures up bad memories …” (p. 1), making research become a significant site of struggle. In essence, using rhetoric without considering its implications suggests that researchers are either not aware of the struggles of research collaborators or that they do not care.…”

Reflections on Positionalities in Social Science Fieldwork in Northern Botswana: A Call for Decolonizing Research

“…Since the 1999 clarion call of Linda Tuhiwai Smith's Decolonizing Methodologies: Research and Indigenous Peoples (Smith 1999) was published, a rich literature has developed in the social sciences around efforts to conduct more equitable and plural research. Indigenous scholars and scholars from the Global South have clearly articulated the history of Western research obscuring and erasing alternative ontologies and epistemologies, and they have suggested ways to reinvigorate the academy with these practices (Asselin and Basile 2018; Brown and Strega 2005; Chilisa 2012, 2017; Datta 2018; Mutua and Swadener 2004). Although it has been ongoing for decades, this scholarship now intersects with a burgeoning political movement demanding decolonizing methodologies, as well as the academy more broadly.…”