Insurgent Education

Adam J. Gaudry

• Metis and assistant Professor in the Department of Indigenous studies at the University of Saskatchewan.
• Doctoral reserach on historical Metis-Canada relations.
• 1870 'Manitoba treaty'

Untitled Slide

• Extraction Research
• Insurgent Research

Extraction Research

• Taking info from one group and presenting it to a third party
• Lose: context, values and on-the-ground struggles
• Ethics: Responsibility to the academy and intellectual property
• Language as a gatekeeper

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• Explaining indigenous viewpoints and knowledge in a western world view - being judged within dominant culture

Isurgent reserach

"Insurgent research, then is situated within a larger Indigenous movement that challenges colonialism and its ideological underpinnings and is working from within Indigenous frameworks to reimagine a world by putting Indigenous ideals into practice." pp 117

4 key principles:

• Grounded in, respects & ultimately seeks to validated Indigenous world views
• Research output is geared towards Indigenous peoples and in Indigenous communities
• Indigenous communities are the final judges of the validity and effectiveness of insurgent research
• Research is action orientated

Indigenous world view

• Indigenous knowledge seen as the starting point
• Self-validating system
• Finding a voice
• E.g. Diné and cultural borrowers

Research intended for Indigenous peoples

• Strategic use of 'we' and 'us'
• A 'them' is identified as a common adversary
• Collective challenge to the the oppressive status quo

Research intended for Indigenous peoples

• Strategic use of 'we' and 'us'
• A 'them' is identified as a common adversary
• Collective challenge to the the oppressive status quo

Research is responsible to Indigenous communties

• Traditional: honesty - peer review process
• Responsible to the community
• Creating harmonious relationships and to fight strife, social suffering and further dysfuncion
• Putting points of view forward in a positive way & unifying way
• Witnessing

Research as action orienated

• 'creating space for the self-determination and empowerment for Indigenous peoples
• Alternative forms of dissemenation

Insurgent research in the academy

• Honouring different ways of knowing
• Way of getting out information and viewpoints

Language and concepts in Insurgent research

• Importance of writing in own language to protect it
• Lack of vocabulary to discuss decolonialization & resistance
• Two languages as a means of 'participation in two physical and cultural realms.'

Liberatory praxis in research

• Embracing a liberatory orientation
• Presenting alternative to oppressive and exploitive colonial status quo
• 'All research is propaganda - so why not make it openly so?'

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• Researchers are responsible for both listening and speaking.
• We all have a responisbility to speak with the people.