Decolonize Me

Scholar and author Peggy McIntosh wrote an article in 1989 about white privilege, where she introduced an activity called " Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack ."  She created a list of 50 conditions that white folks can consistently count on, and asked that readers use this to assess their unearned racial privilege.  I've read this article several times and I thought I had it cased; got it - I have privilege.   However, as I was working my way through the "Decolonizing Educational Relationships" book I decided to look at the list again and really think about it deeply.  I downloaded the PDF and set about the task of highlighting each condition that *didn't* apply to me so I could get a more nuanced and concrete understanding of my privilege.  So, anything highlighted would indicate a condition where I did not have unearned privilege as a white person.   Even though it takes up a lot of screen space I thought it worthwhile to share my results here:...

 I'd like to take this opportunity to extend one of Shauneen Pete's exercises - which I outlined in the post "How did you learn about Indigenous people?" - and apply it to my professional life.  I'll extend the original question a bit, and ask myself: How did you learn about Indigenous research?    I certainly * did not * learn about Indigenous research during my graduate education.  I don't remember encountering even a mention of Indigenous research during my Masters program (2003 - 2005), and our exposure to Indigenous inquiry during my PhD (2009 - 2013) was cursory at best.  I do recall reading an article or two by Linda Tuhiwai Smith, a Maori scholar, that focused on Indigenous methodologies, but there was little offered within my doctoral program to situate this alongside the status quo conversations about research paradigms or traditions of inquiry.   I struggle to recall how I perceived of Indigenous research.  I suppose I imagine...