Although I am not Indigenous to this land, I live, work, and learn on the unceded territories of the Musqueam, Tsleil-Waututh, and Squamish nations. “Warrior Scholarship: Seeing the University as a Ground of Contention” by Taiaiake Alfred addresses how Indigenous academics have a responsibility to ensure the survival of their culture and nations, to defeat colonialism within university and become a warrior. Although I am not an Indigenous student, I to play a role in colonialism and need to support my fellow Indigenous peers in becoming a warrior. According to Alfred, to become a warrior and for reconciliation to occur, Indigenous academics must understand and recognize colonialism, remember the Indigenous vision of the future and to practice
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89). Everyone has a different definition of colonialism; in class we defined it to be domination of land and to assimilate everything and everyone. Essentially, Indigenous people have lost themselves because the experience of colonization has emotionally and psychologically broken them as they attempt to understand and reconcile what has happened. Colonialism has become the way of thinking, and has created hatred, violence and fear for each other and the future. The government and laws live off these fears; they steal a country and deny the crimes they have done. A perfect example of this is the Indian residential schools system and Stephen Harper’s apology. Harper denied the fact that it was a genocide and in the late 1990’s, and Canada removed genocides as a chargeable offence from the criminal code (J. Schneider, Class Lecture, Mar. 2, 2017). Alfred describes university as a battlefield and Indigenous scholars are running straight into the enemy’s campground – meaning they are becoming colonized. However, Indigenous scholars need to resist colonization and fight for the Indigenous visions of the future and be on the front …show more content…
As for teachers, they play an important role in empowering and truth-telling of the past history; Alfred states, “[Indigenous academics] need to turn away from defining [their] purpose and methods by western academic standards and be accountable to [their] cultural heritage and to [their people]” (Alfred, p. 96). The western academic standards follow the “banking” concept of education (Freire, p. 72). The teacher ‘deposits’ knowledge into the students for them to receive and memorize. While Indigenous Knowledge System is experiential learning and develops a whole person (J. Schneider, Class Lecture, Feb. 9, 2017). Alfred compares it to being a warrior who places themselves between danger and the people, danger being the simulation. Ethics warriors should live by is to honour knowledge from Indigenous traditional cultures, fight for political independence, and confront false claims of authority and legitimacy. The cause of a Warrior Scholar is the freedom to exist as an Indigenous person and within an indigenous community, opposite of colonialism. Indigenous academics are full of knowledge, but action is key and they need to act in cultural and political forms in solidarity, organization and empowerment. Meaningful change will come to people as a whole when we first focus on making change in the lives of Indigenous people
89). Everyone has a different definition of colonialism; in class we defined it to be domination of land and to assimilate everything and everyone. Essentially, Indigenous people have lost themselves because the experience of colonization has emotionally and psychologically broken them as they attempt to understand and reconcile what has happened. Colonialism has become the way of thinking, and has created hatred, violence and fear for each other and the future. The government and laws live off these fears; they steal a country and deny the crimes they have done. A perfect example of this is the Indian residential schools system and Stephen Harper’s apology. Harper denied the fact that it was a genocide and in the late 1990’s, and Canada removed genocides as a chargeable offence from the criminal code (J. Schneider, Class Lecture, Mar. 2, 2017). Alfred describes university as a battlefield and Indigenous scholars are running straight into the enemy’s campground – meaning they are becoming colonized. However, Indigenous scholars need to resist colonization and fight for the Indigenous visions of the future and be on the front …show more content…
As for teachers, they play an important role in empowering and truth-telling of the past history; Alfred states, “[Indigenous academics] need to turn away from defining [their] purpose and methods by western academic standards and be accountable to [their] cultural heritage and to [their people]” (Alfred, p. 96). The western academic standards follow the “banking” concept of education (Freire, p. 72). The teacher ‘deposits’ knowledge into the students for them to receive and memorize. While Indigenous Knowledge System is experiential learning and develops a whole person (J. Schneider, Class Lecture, Feb. 9, 2017). Alfred compares it to being a warrior who places themselves between danger and the people, danger being the simulation. Ethics warriors should live by is to honour knowledge from Indigenous traditional cultures, fight for political independence, and confront false claims of authority and legitimacy. The cause of a Warrior Scholar is the freedom to exist as an Indigenous person and within an indigenous community, opposite of colonialism. Indigenous academics are full of knowledge, but action is key and they need to act in cultural and political forms in solidarity, organization and empowerment. Meaningful change will come to people as a whole when we first focus on making change in the lives of Indigenous people