Decolonizing epistemologies of the global South: Perspectives from Canada

ABSTRACT

Decolonization has multiple meanings and interpretations which reflect not necessarily the arbitrariness of the concept but the complex history of colonialism and the struggles that colonized people have endeavoured to carry on. The level of oppression and subjugation may vary, but there is hardly any one living in the global South (i.e., marginalized communities of both developed and developing countries around the world) who are not affected by colonialism. In the last few years, coloniality and its effects on education are critiqued by scholarly community. In this paper, with an in-depth exploration of the colonial history of Canada, I explore how the epistemologies of the global South were colonized, what decolonization efforts are made by indigenous scholars, and what challenges remain ahead.

KEYWORDS:

• Indigenous epistemologies
• non-Western education
• decolonization
• Canada
• colonial history
• residential school

Notes on Contributor

I was born and raised in a remote village of Nepal. I have worked in Tribhuvan University (Nepal), South Asian University (India), University of Melbourne (Australia) and University of British Columbia (Canada). When I heard the word ‘Indians’ in the class discussion of Foundation of Adult Education course, which I took in UBC in 2011, I thought that the word referred to the people like me who came from Indian subcontinent that includes Nepal. Once I started reading about the colonial history of Canada, I started growing emotional attachment with some of my classmates who had Indigenous and racialized backgrounds. Now I deeply feel that I am an ally, accomplice, and activist because I share empathy with Indigenous people for the oppression and marginalization, they have endured. I have experienced intimidation, harassment, bullying, and emotional violence from a few individuals who are in power in institutions I have worked. A transformative learning that has occurred in my life is that, unlike what I used to think about colonialism as a history just to be studied, we should not dismiss it as a past mistake because colonial practices are still oppressive, exclusionary, and racist.

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank all three anonymous reviewers of this paper for providing some really valuable suggestions. I am glad to get those intelligent scholars as my peer-reviewers which, in my experience of academic publishing, is very rare.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Correction Statement

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.