I've been listening to Nicola Campbell's audiobook version of Spíləx̣m: A Weaving of Recovery, Resilience, and Resurgence. I read the hard copy as soon as it was released and I thought it was a beautiful book. I particularly loved how it was a celebration of Indigenous place in south-western British Columbia. I thought that she was really brave in sharing personal experiences, some of which were part of the ongoing legacy of colonialism. And I really respected the way that she illustrated how Indigenous identity, language, and culture is a source of strength. It is truly a strengths based approach to intergenerational Indigenous trauma. When I first read the hardcopy of the book, I was at a different place in my life with respect to grief. Between reading the book the first time and the second time, I lost my aunt and uncle who I was very close to. Before I lost them, I understood the idea of death, but I had no understanding of the visceral experience of grief. So when I read the book the first time, I understood the idea of grief, but I had never experienced it in a life-altering way. This time around, while listenng to the book, I understand the sections on grief differently. I might post more about the book later so I won't say too much here, except I recommend listening to her book.
I have also been reading this random book on ecology. It falls into the category of "books I picked up because I thought they would be relevant to my dissertation but then I started reading them and realized they were not relevant to my topic so I abandoned them, and am picking them up again now." This one's central thesis is that we as humans are interconnected to the world in a corporeal way (erotic) and if we acknowledge that then we will learn to love the world as part of ourselves, and as a result we will be more motivated to stave off self-destruction through environmental collapse. Refences to Indigenous in the book are in the style of or directly through Hyde... and I find Hyde's approach to Indigenous content somewhat colonial-adventurer... there are weird tensions between some schools of environmental writing/theorizing and Indigenous thought/Indigenous people. That being said, the book is aesthetically well written. If you like John Muir, Robin Wall Kimmerer, and other types of artistic expression of natural science, then you will like this book. There was one weird line which put decolonization under the umbrella of the romantic movement. I do not think that decolonization falls under the umbrella of the romantic movement. The romantics challenge the idea that science and rationalism are the cure to all the problems of the world. Decolonization challenges the idea that imperial forces have the right to dominate Indigenous people (individually and collectively) on their own territories while also extracting value out of said territories in order to enrich the position of the imperial power. These are quite different things. They have some common goals (challenge the status quo, question taken for granted truths about the goals of society and life, asserting the validity of diverse intellectual traditions) so in some ways there is overlap in aspirations and methods, but one does not fall under the umbrella of the other. Anyhow, in spite of this detail, I do think that this is a nice book to read while sitting in the woods.
The book that I want to talk about in depth today is Unsettling Settler-Colonial Education: The Transformational Indigenous Praxis Model which is edited by Cornel Pewewardy, Anna Lees, and Robin Zabe-Tah-Hol-Ah Minthorn, with a forward by Tiffany S. Lee and afterword by Michael Yellow Bird. I picked this up because it was part of the same series as Native Presence and Sovereignty in College, which I enjoyed. There are quite a few interesting titles in the series.
Something that I have noticed that Indigenous scholars do well is demystifying the process of creating community in scholarship. For example, in this book, they talk about the process that led to the creation of this theoretical model. One of the authors created the Transformative Indigenous Praxis Model (TIPM) many years ago, and shared it with others in order to further develop it. In 2018 the editors published an article which explained the model. Then, they spent over a decade of workshopping and refining it at various events, in conversation with various colleagues over time. Finally, they asked colleagues who they had been in conversation with to write chapters explaining how they use this model in their program design and pedagogy. In the final chapter, the editors explain that they had a closing event after the authors had submitted their chapters, and then there is a QR code that goes to a closing song. This book is a great example of creating community inside of academia. Also, Ryan Red Corn, from the comedy troop the 1491s, is included in the acknowledgements.
This social approach to creating the book has resulted in a book which is written by various contributors, but cohesive in its tone and approach. The book models diverse application of the model while staying in the bounds of critical theory, with a particular emphasis on critical consciousness. If one were looking for an example of critical consciousness in education, this could make a nice jigsaw.
I did look up the 2018 article, The Transformational Indigenous Praxis Model: Stages for Developing Critical Consciousness in Indigenous Education. The introduction to this book is a truncated version of the article, and the vast majority of the contributors cite this article in their chapters. Here is a rough outline of the article:
- Whitestream education hurts Indigenous students
- TIPM promotes radical consciousness among educators in order to help them transform their practice so that they can better serve Indigenous children
- Why and how we introduce ourselves, author introductions
- Walking in one world with multiple lenses
- Decolonize and indigenize, as per Deloria and Wildcat
- US sought to destroy Indigenous knowledge and epistemology as part of a larger program to exert power and control over Indigenous lives
- White teachers need to spend more time in Indigenous communities
- Introducing concept of settler replacement and settler futurity
- Multiculturalism: does not address colonialism, does not address structural inequality and derails self-determination, takes add and stir approach to Indigenous knowledge
- Indigenous resistance to colonialism is ongoing
- Tribal sovereignty includes educational sovereignty
- Reject ideologies which promote Indigenous inferiority, embrace Indigenous ideologies grounded in decolonization
- Indigenous consciousness disrupts colonial narratives
- This critical thinking framework arises from decolonial theory, post colonial theory, tribal critical race theory, and insurgent theory
- Decolonization as defined by Linda Tuhiwai Smith
- Postcolonial, as defined by Marie Battiste
- Tribal Critical Race Theory as defined by Brayboy
- Insurgent as defined by Adam Gaudry
- "tell our tribal stories of who we are on our own terms as cultural beings"
- educational pedagogy is congruent with worldviews
- Not just critique colonization, move to strengths based approach
- White stream rejects Indigenous education in many ways including deficit based approach
- This model involves critical thinking, as defined by Michal Yellow Bird
- Divest from colonialism, and insert tribal culture into the curriculum
- Heal and rebuild Indigenous education, holistic remedy and antinode to colonialism
- Consciousness to action, personal change first
- Moving to higher levels of decolonial thought in order to achieve postcolonial future
- TIPM is not linear, static, absolute - it involves stages
- Antidotes to resistance - Waziyatawin Angela Wilson and Michael Yellow Bird's critically conscious study groups
- Antidote to resistance - publicly center the strength of Indigenous culture and community
One thing that I stumbled on a lot as a reader was the use of terms like post-colonial and decolonization. I wished that the authors had created their own working definition at the outset of the article (and book) because those words can mean a lot of different things to different people, and as I was reading, I was searching through my own internal database of "different ways that different people use these words" in order to try to locate this scholarship within the larger fields of Indigenous education and Indigenous studies. I wanted to know how the authors themselves defined these words. Perhaps in their TIPM, the definitions themselves being not tied down is part of the approach. Perhaps it is overly linear of me to want these words to be tidy. I think that the model itself could be accessible to a general audience, but I think that the a lot of prior foundational knowledge is required to engage in the theoretical explanation of the model. Perhaps that is why the introduction to the book kept the model, but cut out a lot of the explanation of the theoretical foundations of the model. I actually don't know if I agree with this decision. Perhaps they made this decision because the book is aimed at practitioners, and so they assumed that they should focus on practice/the model. Yet, it seems to me that a book would be the perfect place to expand on the theoretical framework and go deeper into the premises behind the model. If there is a second edition of this book, I would love it if there were more elaboration on the underlying theories.
Anyhow, having discussed the article, let us return to the book. In the introduction, the authors introduce the model. TIMP has four waves/dimensions, which go from one to four. One is a small wave/dimension, four is the biggest wave/dimension. Educators move along the waves/dimensions, from one to four. But there is resistance trying to pull them back to the previous wave/dimension. In one, educators do not yet have critical consciousness but do integrate pieces of multicultural education (Pewewardy, Lees, Minthorn, 2022, p.4). In two, teachers begin to develop critical awareness. In three, teachers move toward social transformation and have deep awareness. They mentor, collaborate, and “begin to imagine a post-colonial future” (Pewewardy, Lees, Minthorn, 2022, p.6). And finally, stage four is the pinnacle. In this stage:
“At the most advanced dimension, educators demonstrate a deep embodiment of critical consciousness and consistently take active efforts in social justice. Educators enact transformational praxis in both theoretical and concrete ways to make change in the educational experiences of Black and Indigenous communities and other Communities of Color. They engage so consistently that Indigenous and decolonizing pedagogies are embedded in their daily work. They transcend the waves at a steady pace, moving through the resistance fluidly with focused time and energy. Educators in the cultural and social justice action dimension find themselves in leadership roles where they mentor others and are recognized as knowledge holders. These educators advance efforts of radical resurgence (Simpson, 2017) within their Tribal Nation communities and across educational settings. They clearly see a postcolonial future, while still working to uncover the path through decolonization. Centering Indigenous knowledges in their teaching, they resist neoliberal and settler-colonial narratives in school policy and curriculum. It can be difficult to remain in this dimension and event the most critically conscious educators may retreat from leadership roles and move between dimensions to find sustainability in the work." (Pewewardy, Lees, Minthorn, 2022, p.7).
The article contains an illustration of the model. It uses a pyramid to illustrate the model, and stage one is at the bottom of the pyramid and stage four is at the top. The article is posted without a paywall here, and the illustration is on page 17. Personally, I found looking at the model was helpful in understanding the model. The introduction to the book does not include the pyramid illustration, but it does include a diagram of the model illustrated as waves, with stage one being small and on the left, and the waves are progressing to the right, and stage four is the largest wave and on the right. Thus, moving through the stages represents forward progression. Below the surface, however, is resistance to Indigenous education, and so moving through the waves requires overcoming resistance on an ongoing basis.
As antidotes to resistance, the authors recommend critical conscious study groups:
“These spaces allow for mentorship, comradery, and restoration with others who share the same goals and help beginning educators build their awareness around the need for decolonization. Educators cannot sustain aspirations for change alone and must find spaces of interdependence to nurture each others’ efforts across institutional settings in what we name critical conscious study groups. Having like-minded colleagues within and outside of one’s own institution is invaluable to make sense of experiences that are both successful and challenging. Holding regular critical conscious study groups with educators across contexts and with varying levels of experience creates space to foster continued critical thinking toward transformation. Th examples of pathway -making in this text portray work across the TIPM and depict how the work took form in spite of institutional and societal resistance.” (Pewewardy, Lees, Minthorn, 2022, p.7).
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