Rethinking the role of Indigenous knowledges in the academy

Abstract

This paper is an invitation critically to engage in the discussion of ‘Indigenous knowledges’ and the implication for academic decolonization. Among the issues raised are questions of the definition and operationalization of Indigenous knowledges and the challenges of pursuing such knowledge in the Western academy. The paper draws attention to some of the nuances, contradictions and contestations in affirming the place of Indigenous knowledges in the academy. It is pointed out that Indigenous knowledges do not ‘sit in pristine fashion’ outside of the effects of other knowledges. In particular, the paper brings new and complex readings to the term ‘Indigenous’, maintaining that different bodies of knowledge continually influence each other to show the dynamism of all knowledge systems. It is argued that when located in the Euro-American educational contexts, Indigenous knowledges can be fundamentally experientially based, non-universal, holistic and relational knowledges of ‘resistance’. In the discussion, the paper interrogates the notions of tradition, authenticity, orality and the assertion of Indigenous identity as crucial to the educational and political project of affirming Indigenous knowledges.