Flows of anti-colonialism: (Re)configurations and emplotments of more-than-witness(es/ing) in the an(thropo/glo)cene

Abstract

This paper leans into alterlife (Murphy, 2017) and connectivity ontologies (Harrison, 2015) to consider the implications of more-than-witness(es/ing) (our term) on social studies education. Taking a narrative approach, we engage with three more-than-human bodies (e.g., Boulder, Forest, Document(s)) in an effort to expand how act(or/ion)s of coloniality are registered, conceptualized, and disrupted. By opening our learning to the agency of more-than-humans and what they have witnessed, we ask: What might social studies be(come) if we (e.g., educators, students, researchers) affirmed the voices of more-than-human bodies in teaching and learning? And, what, if we quieted ourselves and listened, can we learn from more-than-human bodies who bear witness to the actions of humans across time and space?

Keywords:

• More-than-witness(es/ing)
• posthumanism
• Narrative research
• Social studies education
• Indigenous studies

Notes

1 We invite readers to w(o/a)nder about this text. We acknowledge that this may be challenging and perhaps includes pausing, revisiting, re-reading, and meandering between sections, narratives, and endnotes. This organization is purposeful and is our attempt at resisting colonial forms of scholarship (Patel, 2021) as well as settler (reading) time (Bruyneel, 2021; Rifkin, 2017).

2 This term is meant to build upon the notion of human-centeredness (i.e., anthropocentrism) (Minteer, 2008) by drawing specific attention to European influences (e.g., anglos, whites).

3 In an effort to amplify Indigenous ways of be(com)ing within the context of story-telling, each narrative is written in the first person. We acknowledge story-telling is complex and thus, see this work as an attempt to not story-tell from an Indigenous perspective, but rather an effort to work in solidarity with Indigenous onto-epistemologies to disrupt settler myths of terra nullius (Sium & Ritskes, 2013; Tuck & Yang, 2012).

4 Throughout each narrative, we purposefully capitalize the names of all more-than-human bodies in an attempt to foreground the Indigenous perspective that connectivity “of an extended ecological family that shares ancestry and origins” (Salmón, 2000, p. 1332) exists within/across all bodies.

5 We acknowledge the political nature of citations and are attuned to the identities underpinning both of these concepts. While Murphy’s heritage is Métis and French, to our knowledge, Harrison does not identify as being Indigenous. Being said, the foundation of Harrison’s work is composed of collaborations with Indigenous colleagues and takes up anti-colonial lines of inquiry which resonates with our own identities and research.

6 The Nishnaabeg is an Ojibway First Nation on the shores of Lake Superior.

7 The Rarámuri are Indigenous peoples based around the lands of present-day Chihuahua, Mexico.