Cognitive Imperialism in the Education of Aboriginal Students
Cognitive imperialism is a form of cognitive manipulation used to discredit other knowledge bases and values and seeks to validate one source of knowledge and empower it through public education (Battiste, 1986). For centuries, it is the means by which the Aboriginal peoples have been denied inclusion in the public education system while the privilege group has defined itself as the inclusive, ideal, and normative. Cognitive imperialism denies Aboriginal peoples their language and cultural integrity by only including one culture, one language, and one frame of reference. Minnick (1990) notes “It is in and through education that a culture and polity, not only tries to perpetuate but enacts the kinds of …show more content…
Ultimately, they are forced to believe that their difference is the cause of their impoverished state. As Memmi (1969) explains, “Racism is the generalized and final assigning of values to real or imaginary differences, to the accuser’s benefit and at his victim’s expense, in order to justify the former’s own privileges or aggression” (p.185). Memmi has identified four related racist strategies used to maintain colonial power over Indigenous people: (a) stressing real or imaginary differences between the racist and the victim (b) assigning values to these differences to the advantage of the racist and the detriment of the victim (c) trying to make these values absolutes by generalizing from them and claiming that they are final; and (d) using these values to justify any present or possible aggression or privileges (p.186). I would argue that through theses strategies Eurocentric research has manufactured the physical and cultural inferiority of Indigenous
Cognitive imperialism is a form of cognitive manipulation used to discredit other knowledge bases and values and seeks to validate one source of knowledge and empower it through public education (Battiste, 1986). For centuries, it is the means by which the Aboriginal peoples have been denied inclusion in the public education system while the privilege group has defined itself as the inclusive, ideal, and normative. Cognitive imperialism denies Aboriginal peoples their language and cultural integrity by only including one culture, one language, and one frame of reference. Minnick (1990) notes “It is in and through education that a culture and polity, not only tries to perpetuate but enacts the kinds of …show more content…
Ultimately, they are forced to believe that their difference is the cause of their impoverished state. As Memmi (1969) explains, “Racism is the generalized and final assigning of values to real or imaginary differences, to the accuser’s benefit and at his victim’s expense, in order to justify the former’s own privileges or aggression” (p.185). Memmi has identified four related racist strategies used to maintain colonial power over Indigenous people: (a) stressing real or imaginary differences between the racist and the victim (b) assigning values to these differences to the advantage of the racist and the detriment of the victim (c) trying to make these values absolutes by generalizing from them and claiming that they are final; and (d) using these values to justify any present or possible aggression or privileges (p.186). I would argue that through theses strategies Eurocentric research has manufactured the physical and cultural inferiority of Indigenous