Participation, assertion and aspiration-indigenous teacher agency in higher education

ABSTRACT

Educational research often silences teachers’ voices, distorting perspectives. This article delves into the marginalized voices of educators and administrators, focusing on Indigenous agencies within higher education (HE) in the state of Jharkhand, India. Employing the narrative interview method of oral history, it elucidates life stories through lived experiences amidst conflicting educational paradigms. Drawing from the author’s doctoral research, the article provides a historical and socio-political context of colonial legacies and contemporary challenges faced by Indigenous communities in India self-identifying as ‘Adivasi.’ Synthesizing an analytical framework through a ground-up approach, agency theories uncover new themes within HE’s temporal, spatial, and personal-social space. The findings describe counter-strategies against systemic denial of Indigenous agency within HE, contributing to discussions on the requirement of context-specific epistemic frameworks for India’s Tribal communities to assert their voices and choices in HE.

KEYWORDS:

• Indigenous/tribal
• higher education governance
• pedagogy
• community agency
• reduced inequalities

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1 The analytical framework used for the research has been described in section 3 of this article.

2 According to Decolonized research framework (IDIA 2022), for some indigenous peoples maintaining a connection to research about them and to the researchers who undertook it is very important. Indigenous expectations about what good relationships mean and how that might play out differ from project to project. So researchers need to carefully design research with their specific groups in mind.

3 A traditional system of governance amongst Munda Tribes of Jharkhand whereby traditional head of a village is responsible for the local governance and land redistribution, along with resolution/settlement of civil conflicts.

4 A form of rice beer, brewed and fermented underground, using essential forest-based herbs that gives the drink critical medicinal properties when drunk unadulterated.

5 A traditional student dormitory for Oraon Tribes where youth learnt basic life skills, traditions, and Tribal practices as part of their educational journey. Also known by different names such as Ghotul amongst Santhal Tribes. These socio-educational dormitories have now fallen to disuse and overtaken by the modern/western education model of ‘schools’.

6 Tribal festival celebrating the bounties of nature in different seasons.

7 Refer to https://www.idia.nz/toolkit/decolonised-research-framework.