Decolonising Methodologies and other Indigenous Perspectives on Research

This course centres the work of Indigenous scholars, from this continent and internationally, regarding research in general and research that concerns Indigenous peoples in particular. Decentring dominant paradigms of research methodologies and theoretical perspectives, this scholarship disrupts perspectives on Indigenous peoples, knowledge and ways of knowing. It critically challenges problematic ‘truths’ and other powerful ideas that have contributed to the dispossession and marginalisation of First Nations' Peoples. In challenging enculturated perspectives, positions and framing of knowledge, this course explores the possibilities of decolonising research, recognises the relevance of Indigenous perspectives in every sphere of knowledge and practice, and looks to the possibility of bringing First Peoples' ways of knowing into the academy. Repudiating deficit accounts of First Peoples, students are encouraged to reflect on more respectful and ethical engagement with (and between) Indigenous peoples, knowledge and ways of knowing, and to explore and innovate research premised on strength-based perspectives that recognise the resilience, capability, self- determination and resurgence of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples.