Decolonizing the Discipline? Questions and Methods in Indigenous Geography

Abstract

Indigenizing the academy is not a matter of simply inserting Indigenous content intoexisting curriculum or programs; it requires challenging and changing institutionaland systemic orders that continue to support hegemony. The value of linking geogra­phy with Indigenous scholarship and scholars is undeniable for the decolonizingprocess within the discipline o f geography. While there are genuine attempts to incor­porate Indigenous perspectives into the body of knowledge in geography, these are notframed from an Indigenous theoretical or epistemological standpoint, thus perpetuatingepistemic dominance. The purpose of this paper is to engage with the literature, themes,goals, and problems of Indigenous geography to explore ways of decolonizing the dis­cipline of geography, as part of the larger project of Indigenizing and decolonizingspaces of the academy on an international scale. The paper outlines the links betweendecolonization, ontology, and epistemology in research. Five specific themes related tothe decolonization of geographical research are examined: (1) the concept of communityand the undertaking of community-based research; (2) the role of different approachesto learning in research and the academy; (3) considerations in mapping Indigenousknowledge; (4) forms of knowledge sharing in Indigenous research; and (5) the conceptof place itself with respect to the academy and Indigenous ontologies and epistemolo­gies. Decolonizing the academy requires making space for multiple ontologies and epis­temologies, and not just as subjects of research. Indigenous ontologies andepistemologies must be accorded the same validation, respect, and academic weight asother perspectives on truth and forms o f knowledge.