DECOLONIAL & ANTI- IMPERIALIST PERSPECTIVES

Question 1

Positivism (Macro)

Answer 1

research should be observed and researched objectively

• Research should not be subjective
• Quantitative - surveys, stats, etc.
• may dismiss the experience of women, certain cultures, etc.

Question 2

Interpretivism (Micro)

Answer 2

Seeking subjective meanings and interpretations as main source of knowledge

• qualitative - interviews, personal experiences, etc.
• assume reality is constructed through meanings created by individuals

Question 3

Imperialism

Answer 3

A policy of extending a country’s power into other lands and influence through economic or political force.

• economic control over another

Ex. Roman Empire

Question 4

Colonialism

Answer 4

One country physically dominates another to have complete control.

• Settling in a nation and displacing indigenous population

Ex. British and French conquest of North America

Question 5

Linda Tuhuwai Smith

Answer 5

1999 Decolonizing methodologies

• Research with indigenous peoples
• Critiques Western Knowledge
• Argues Western Knowledge created by the collective archive that relies on Imperialism and Colonialism produced through the means of violence.
• We have come to understand what counts as knowledge through Western Ideas. We assume they are rational and we ascribe value to them.
• Inaccurately reflects Indigenous peoples and the history of our colonialism.
• Western researchers have robbed tradition, history and trauma, and have repackaged it as Western Knowledge. Used to exert power over colonized people.
• Smith argues Western Knowledge is rooted in positivism.

Question 6

How race and gender has been subsumed into Western Knowledge

Answer 6

Racial discourses and practices were justified through ideas about human reason, morality, and science.

• racial hierarchy justified through human reason.

Ideas of gender were taken from Greeks and Romans

• argues Western ideas of indigenous people and women continue to have marginalizing effects.

Discourses about race and gender have produced a whole system that ensures Western Interests remain dominant.

Question 7

How individual and society has been subsumed into Western Knowledge

Answer 7

Western society in reality has come to be viewed as representing something better. Higher thinking, and literacy rates. Less prone to primitive ideas.

Ex. Developed vs developing nations.

• This assumes the goal of every nation is to develop into a Westernized nation.

Question 8

How conceptions of time and space has been subsumed into Western Knowledge

Answer 8

Colonialism in Western Knowledge relies on Westernized ideas of time and space.

Indigenous often do not make distinctions between time and space the same way we do.

Indigenous world repackaged using Western concepts.

Ex. Land

West - land as something to be tamed, purchased, and exploited for resources. etc. Renamed using Western names.

Appropriated land and regifted it as reservations.

Ex. Time

West - progress as a Western notion. Society should always be working as developing. History is not only the story of domination but also assumes there is a prehistoric point. Western determines what counts as history. Indigenous History largely doesn’t exist due to it’s secrecy by West.

Question 9

4 takeaways about Western Knowledge

Answer 9

1. Based on imperialism & Colonialism
2. Harmed marginalized populations (Indigenous)
3. We should consider what we take for granted (time/space)
4. Power, Violence, Control are about anxiety, fear, entitlement

Question 10

Decolonization takeaways (4)

Answer 10

1. Western knowledge based on the history of imperialism and colonialism.
2. ‘Producing Knowledge’ has harmed marginalized peoples, especially indigenous populations
3. Think critically about taken-for-granted concepts (time & and space)
4. Power, violence and control are ultimately about anxiety, fear, and entitlement