![]() ![]() As with many terms hashtagged, tracked, commercialized and weaponized, decolonization has suffered from a distortion, casually thrown around online, in the media, in academic discourse, and in social justice spaces without nuance. When we misunderstand words, we misunderstand each other. Image : Print by Katrina Brown Akootchook and photograph of the print by Berdell Paninguna Akootchook.ĭiving in Part 2: Critiquing the Buzzword But it is absolutely your responsibility.” As Sanchez points out at 7:03 in the video, “his history is not your fault. We each have a responsibility to push back on colonial narratives. Sanchez also centers Indigenous peoples’ history and their continued resilience against erasure, extraction, and oppression. She does this in part by pushing back on historical amnesia, a phenomenon whereby settlers choose not to recognize the genocidal role of colonialism. ![]() In this 13 minute TED Talk introducing decolonization by Nikki Sanchez, an Indigenous media maker, environmental educator, and academic, Sanchez invites us to think about the territories we inhabit, specifically unceded, never-surrendered and occupied land. For the purposes of clarity, this series will focus primarily on decolonization in the context of North America and Canada, although the movement to decolonize expands far beyond these national (settler-imposed) borders. Colonialism is a historical and ongoing global project where settlers continue to occupy land, dictate social, political, and economic systems, and exploit Indigenous people and their resources. Lastly, decolonization is a path forward to creating systems which are just and equitable, addressing inequality through education, dialogue, communication, and action.ĭiving in Part 1 – What is Decolonization?ĭecolonization is about “cultural, psychological, and economic freedom” for Indigenous people with the goal of achieving Indigenous sovereignty - the right and ability of Indigenous people to practice self-determination over their land, cultures, and political and economic systems. It asks us to embrace responsibility as opposed to accepting fault. It asks us to think about our relationship with Indigenous lands that colonizers have unjustly claimed, re-defined and repurposed all over the world. Across the globe, Indigenous communities are fighting to regain access to their land, grappling with the consequences of borders drawn through the colonial project, or fighting to protect land that is constantly threatened by forces looking to profit off of natural resources.ĭecolonization is work that belongs to all of us, everywhere. The colonial project, ongoing and worldwide in its scope, affects communities far and wide. Interdependence challenges us to recognize our embeddedness in relationships to acknowledge the way that we are inherently part of communities, networks and systems and to question how we know what we know, fostering our capacity to operate ethically within the communities and systems of which we are part and which support us. The introductory page of this toolkit states that we all have a responsibility to each other. ![]()
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