Indigenous and Decolonizing Studies in Education – serie

This book amplifies the distinct, intersecting, and coalitional possibilities of education in the spaces of ongoing movements for Native and Black liberation. Contributors highlight the importance of activist-oriented teaching and learning in community encampments and other movement spaces for the preservation and expansion of resistance education. With chapters from scholars, educators, and organizers, this volume offers lessons taken from these experiences for nation-state schools, classrooms, and spaces of teaching and learning that are most commonly experienced by Native and Black children and educators. Through attention to recent social movements across the United States—from Standing Rock to Black Lives Matter—this book demonstrates the vital connections between Native and Black communities’ educational futures.

This book amplifies the distinct, intersecting, and coalitional possibilities of education in the spaces of ongoing movements for Native and Black liberation. Contributors highlight the importance of activist-oriented teaching and learning in community encampments and other movement spaces for the preservation and expansion of resistance education. With chapters from scholars, educators, and organizers, this volume offers lessons taken from these experiences for nation-state schools, classrooms, and spaces of teaching and learning that are most commonly experienced by Native and Black children and educators. Through attention to recent social movements across the United States—from Standing Rock to Black Lives Matter—this book demonstrates the vital connections between Native and Black communities’ educational futures.

This book offers insights from young trans, queer, and two-spirit Indigenous people in Toronto who examine the breadth and depth of meanings that two-spirit holds. Tracing the refusals and desires of these youth and their communities, Urban Indigenous Youth Reframing Two-Spirit expands critical conversations on queerness, Indigeneity, and community and simultaneously troubles the idea that articulating a definition of two-spirit is a worthwhile undertaking. Beyond the expansion of these conversations, this book also seeks to empower community members, educators, and young people — both Indigenous and non-Indigenous — to better support the self-determination of trans, queer, and two-spirit Indigenous youth. By including a research zine and community discussion guidelines, Laing demonstrates the possibility of powerful change that comes from Indigenous people creating spaces to share knowledge with one another.

This book offers insights from young trans, queer, and two-spirit Indigenous people in Toronto who examine the breadth and depth of meanings that two-spirit holds. Tracing the refusals and desires of these youth and their communities, Urban Indigenous Youth Reframing Two-Spirit expands critical conversations on queerness, Indigeneity, and community and simultaneously troubles the idea that articulating a definition of two-spirit is a worthwhile undertaking. Beyond the expansion of these conversations, this book also seeks to empower community members, educators, and young people — both Indigenous and non-Indigenous — to better support the self-determination of trans, queer, and two-spirit Indigenous youth. By including a research zine and community discussion guidelines, Laing demonstrates the possibility of powerful change that comes from Indigenous people creating spaces to share knowledge with one another.

Within educational research, the over-disciplining of Black and Indigenous students is most often presented as a problem located within pathologized or misunderstood communities. That is, theories and proposed solutions tend toward those that ask how we can make students of color from particular backgrounds more suited to US educational standards rather than questioning the racist roots of those standards. Tender Violence in US Schools takes as a provocation this "discipline gap," in exploring a thus far unconsidered stance and asking how white women (the majority of US teachers) have historically understood their roles in the disciplining of Black and Indigenous students, and how and why their role has been constructed over time and space in service to institutions of the white settler colonial state.

Within educational research, the over-disciplining of Black and Indigenous students is most often presented as a problem located within pathologized or misunderstood communities. That is, theories and proposed solutions tend toward those that ask how we can make students of color from particular backgrounds more suited to US educational standards rather than questioning the racist roots of those standards. Tender Violence in US Schools takes as a provocation this "discipline gap," in exploring a thus far unconsidered stance and asking how white women (the majority of US teachers) have historically understood their roles in the disciplining of Black and Indigenous students, and how and why their role has been constructed over time and space in service to institutions of the white settler colonial state.

This volume argues that refusal is a viable political ethics in education. It is an ethics that allows space for new possibilities to emerge, with the potential to enrich higher education study and pedagogies in the future. Chapters examine the ethical, epistemological, political and affective premises of refusing the colonial university, and reflect upon what refusal means for higher education decolonization across international settings. Refusal marks a political ethos and praxis that denies, resists, reframes and redirects colonial and neoliberal logics, while asserting diverse sovereignties and lifeworlds. Whereas resistance may reinscribe the weakness of the colonized in the power relations with the colonizer, refusal interrupts the smooth operation of power relations, denying the authority of the settler state and remaking the rules of engagement. It is a political stance and action that denies the very legitimacy of power over the subjugated. This collection views refusal not as an end in itself, nor as a mode of critique, but as a necessary first step for educators and students in higher education to invest in the idea of radically different modes of futurity. It explores how educators and students in higher education can invent pedagogies of refusal that function ethically, affectively and politically, and asks: What do pedagogies of refusal look like? How might western universities sustain and support refusal, rather than discipline it? What assumptions are sustained by ruling out certain educational futures as out of bounds, or impossible? This book will be important reading for researchers, scholars and educators in Decolonizing Education, Higher Education Transformation, and Philosophy of Education. It will also be valuable to policymakers and activists who are considering how refusal might be carried out within and outside institutions.

This volume argues that refusal is a viable political ethics in education. It is an ethics that allows space for new possibilities to emerge, with the potential to enrich higher education study and pedagogies in the future. Chapters examine the ethical, epistemological, political and affective premises of refusing the colonial university, and reflect upon what refusal means for higher education decolonization across international settings. Refusal marks a political ethos and praxis that denies, resists, reframes and redirects colonial and neoliberal logics, while asserting diverse sovereignties and lifeworlds. Whereas resistance may reinscribe the weakness of the colonized in the power relations with the colonizer, refusal interrupts the smooth operation of power relations, denying the authority of the settler state and remaking the rules of engagement. It is a political stance and action that denies the very legitimacy of power over the subjugated. This collection views refusal not as an end in itself, nor as a mode of critique, but as a necessary first step for educators and students in higher education to invest in the idea of radically different modes of futurity. It explores how educators and students in higher education can invent pedagogies of refusal that function ethically, affectively and politically, and asks: What do pedagogies of refusal look like? How might western universities sustain and support refusal, rather than discipline it? What assumptions are sustained by ruling out certain educational futures as out of bounds, or impossible? This book will be important reading for researchers, scholars and educators in Decolonizing Education, Higher Education Transformation, and Philosophy of Education. It will also be valuable to policymakers and activists who are considering how refusal might be carried out within and outside institutions.

Conceptualizations of Blackness in Education engages the specific junction of educational research and multiple theorizations of Blackness. In this volume, authors narrate how they have come to conceptualize Blackness through reading, writing, research, training, and practice. The contributors reflect a range of personal and political perspectives and experiences, disciplinary roots, and career stages. The stories in each chapter are intended to encourage more theoretically reflexive and vulnerable conversations among scholars of Black Studies in Education committed to reducing inequality in the lives of Black youth. They are not merely stories about theory; the stories are theories themselves.

Conceptualizations of Blackness in Education engages the specific junction of educational research and multiple theorizations of Blackness. In this volume, authors narrate how they have come to conceptualize Blackness through reading, writing, research, training, and practice. The contributors reflect a range of personal and political perspectives and experiences, disciplinary roots, and career stages. The stories in each chapter are intended to encourage more theoretically reflexive and vulnerable conversations among scholars of Black Studies in Education committed to reducing inequality in the lives of Black youth. They are not merely stories about theory; the stories are theories themselves.

Centered on personal reflection and storytelling, this volume weaves together narratives of educational resilience, kinship, and auntie support to highlight the importance of Indigenous perspectives in all learning spaces. Bringing together the experiences of community members, students, mothers, aunties, and academics, it shows how the voices of Indigenous women and girls represent their ongoing survival within spaces often focused on assimilation and erasure and puts forward a new way of thinking about the value of Indigenous knowledge. It does so using a storytelling approach, which celebrates the experiences of Indigenous girls and women and expands the definition of education to include more informal spaces of learning in order to address the contentious relationship between Indigenous communities and formal schooling. This celebration of presence accentuates and amplifies the degree to which Indigenous peoples and communities have successfully retained their values and authenticity, despite ongoing attempts at assimilation by the dominant culture. As such, it centers Indigenous perspectives in ways that affirm the experiences of Indigenous women and girls in educational spaces and demonstrate how girls and women have overcome existing structures to ensure the survival of Indigenous knowledges, cultures, and authenticity.Presenting an innovative new approach to supporting Indigenous girls and women and centering the need to create new modes of scholarship and thinking that exist outside of the academic system, this book is designed for scholars, faculty, graduates, and educators with interests in education, Indigenous studies, anthropology, sociology, and women’s studies.

Centered on personal reflection and storytelling, this volume weaves together narratives of educational resilience, kinship, and auntie support to highlight the importance of Indigenous perspectives in all learning spaces. Bringing together the experiences of community members, students, mothers, aunties, and academics, it shows how the voices of Indigenous women and girls represent their ongoing survival within spaces often focused on assimilation and erasure and puts forward a new way of thinking about the value of Indigenous knowledge. It does so using a storytelling approach, which celebrates the experiences of Indigenous girls and women and expands the definition of education to include more informal spaces of learning in order to address the contentious relationship between Indigenous communities and formal schooling. This celebration of presence accentuates and amplifies the degree to which Indigenous peoples and communities have successfully retained their values and authenticity, despite ongoing attempts at assimilation by the dominant culture. As such, it centers Indigenous perspectives in ways that affirm the experiences of Indigenous women and girls in educational spaces and demonstrate how girls and women have overcome existing structures to ensure the survival of Indigenous knowledges, cultures, and authenticity.Presenting an innovative new approach to supporting Indigenous girls and women and centering the need to create new modes of scholarship and thinking that exist outside of the academic system, this book is designed for scholars, faculty, graduates, and educators with interests in education, Indigenous studies, anthropology, sociology, and women’s studies.

This book offers new perspectives from Indigenous leaders in academic affairs, student affairs, and central administration to improve colleges and universities to cultivate spaces of belonging with Indigenous students and professionals. Providing rich context on the realities of Indigenous leadership in today’s higher education landscape, and highlighting organizations that center Indigenous knowledges and approaches, the volume brings together prominent voices of Indigenous Peoples on administration and governance, Indigenous leadership academic programs, and Indigenous student leadership and activism. The book discusses and illustrates ways that leadership norms, values, assumptions, and behaviors can often originate from cultural identities, and how these assumptions can affect how colleges and universities evolve to serve Indigenous Peoples. The intergenerational perspectives in this book contribute valuable insights for leadership development and reflection among leaders in higher education, and offers key recommendations for transforming higher education. This volume will be important reading for those studying or researching Education Leadership, Indigenous Studies, Higher Education, Foundations of Education, and Multicultural Education, and will serve as a beneficial resource to Indigenous leaders and educational leaders.

This book offers new perspectives from Indigenous leaders in academic affairs, student affairs, and central administration to improve colleges and universities to cultivate spaces of belonging with Indigenous students and professionals. Providing rich context on the realities of Indigenous leadership in today’s higher education landscape, and highlighting organizations that center Indigenous knowledges and approaches, the volume brings together prominent voices of Indigenous Peoples on administration and governance, Indigenous leadership academic programs, and Indigenous student leadership and activism. The book discusses and illustrates ways that leadership norms, values, assumptions, and behaviors can often originate from cultural identities, and how these assumptions can affect how colleges and universities evolve to serve Indigenous Peoples. The intergenerational perspectives in this book contribute valuable insights for leadership development and reflection among leaders in higher education, and offers key recommendations for transforming higher education. This volume will be important reading for those studying or researching Education Leadership, Indigenous Studies, Higher Education, Foundations of Education, and Multicultural Education, and will serve as a beneficial resource to Indigenous leaders and educational leaders.

Applying Indigenous Research Methods focuses on the question of "How" Indigenous Research Methodologies (IRMs) can be used and taught across Indigenous studies and education. In this collection, Indigenous scholars address the importance of IRMs in their own scholarship, while focusing conversations on the application with others. Each chapter is co-authored to model methods rooted in the sharing of stories to strengthen relationships, such as yarning, storywork, and others. The chapters offer a wealth of specific examples, as told by researchers about their research methods in conversation with other scholars, teachers, and community members.Applying Indigenous Research Methods is an interdisciplinary showcase of the ways IRMs can enhance scholarship in fields including education, Indigenous studies, settler colonial studies, social work, qualitative methodologies, and beyond.

Applying Indigenous Research Methods focuses on the question of "How" Indigenous Research Methodologies (IRMs) can be used and taught across Indigenous studies and education. In this collection, Indigenous scholars address the importance of IRMs in their own scholarship, while focusing conversations on the application with others. Each chapter is co-authored to model methods rooted in the sharing of stories to strengthen relationships, such as yarning, storywork, and others. The chapters offer a wealth of specific examples, as told by researchers about their research methods in conversation with other scholars, teachers, and community members.Applying Indigenous Research Methods is an interdisciplinary showcase of the ways IRMs can enhance scholarship in fields including education, Indigenous studies, settler colonial studies, social work, qualitative methodologies, and beyond.

Indigenous Children’s Survivance in Public Schools examines the cultural, social, and political terrain of Indigenous education by providing accounts of Indigenous students and educators creatively navigating the colonial dynamics within public schools. Through a series of survivance stories, the book surveys a range of educational issues, including implementation of Native-themed curriculum, teachers’ attempts to support Native students in their classrooms, and efforts to claim physical and cultural space in a school district, among others. As a collective, these stories highlight the ways that colonization continues to shape Native students’ experiences in schools. By documenting the nuanced intelligence, courage, artfulness, and survivance of Native students, families, and educators, the book counters deficit framings of Indigenous students. The goal is also to develop educators’ anticolonial literacy so that teachers can counter colonialism and better support Indigenous students in public schools.

Indigenous Children’s Survivance in Public Schools examines the cultural, social, and political terrain of Indigenous education by providing accounts of Indigenous students and educators creatively navigating the colonial dynamics within public schools. Through a series of survivance stories, the book surveys a range of educational issues, including implementation of Native-themed curriculum, teachers’ attempts to support Native students in their classrooms, and efforts to claim physical and cultural space in a school district, among others. As a collective, these stories highlight the ways that colonization continues to shape Native students’ experiences in schools. By documenting the nuanced intelligence, courage, artfulness, and survivance of Native students, families, and educators, the book counters deficit framings of Indigenous students. The goal is also to develop educators’ anticolonial literacy so that teachers can counter colonialism and better support Indigenous students in public schools.

This book draws attention to the urgent need for early childhood education to critically encounter and pedagogically respond to the entanglements of environmentally damaged places, anti-blackness, and settler colonial legacies. Drawing from the author’s multi-year participatory action research with educators and children in suburban settings, the book highlights Indigenous presences and land relations within ongoing settler colonialism as necessary, yet often ignored, aspects of environmental education. Chapters discuss topics such as: geotheorizing in a capitalist society, absences of Black place relations, and unsettling unquestioned Western assumptions about nature education. Rather than offer prescriptive solutions, this book works to broaden possibilities and bolster the conversation among teachers and scholars concerned with early years environmental education.

This book draws attention to the urgent need for early childhood education to critically encounter and pedagogically respond to the entanglements of environmentally damaged places, anti-blackness, and settler colonial legacies. Drawing from the author’s multi-year participatory action research with educators and children in suburban settings, the book highlights Indigenous presences and land relations within ongoing settler colonialism as necessary, yet often ignored, aspects of environmental education. Chapters discuss topics such as: geotheorizing in a capitalist society, absences of Black place relations, and unsettling unquestioned Western assumptions about nature education. Rather than offer prescriptive solutions, this book works to broaden possibilities and bolster the conversation among teachers and scholars concerned with early years environmental education.

Indigenous and decolonizing perspectives on education have long persisted alongside colonial models of education, yet too often have been subsumed within the fields of multiculturalism, critical race theory, and progressive education. Timely and compelling, Indigenous and Decolonizing Studies in Education features research, theory, and dynamic foundational readings for educators and educational researchers who are looking for possibilities beyond the limits of liberal democratic schooling. Featuring original chapters by authors at the forefront of theorizing, practice, research, and activism, this volume helps define and imagine the exciting interstices between Indigenous and decolonizing studies and education. Each chapter forwards Indigenous principles - such as Land as literacy and water as life - that are grounded in place-specific efforts of creating Indigenous universities and schools, community organizing and social movements, trans and Two Spirit practices, refusals of state policies, and land-based and water-based pedagogies.