To counter the tendency of Orientalism to support colonialism, Tuhiwai Smith makes two suggestions. First, she argues that researchers working in this area sharply consider their own work. They can try and ensure that their work is not presented or accepted as a singular truth that undermines the understandings of others. Instead, researchers can situate their work in recognition of the particular cultural and social systems it is embedded in. This involves recognizing that colonialism continues to have an impact on Indigenous peoples today, including through the reproduction of incorrect assumptions presented as truth.
Second, she presents a new agenda for Indigenous research. This is her contribution to the process of decolonizing methodologies, a way of countering colonial research methods. Tuhiwai Smith recognizes that research holds value for Indigenous peoples. It is a space where they can develop and carry out their own research agendas. It can include research that is grounded in and validates Indigenous knowledges and ways of knowing.
While Tuhiwai Smith’s book does not discuss much about the role of non-Indigenous people, they can work as allies and supporters in this work.
Watch the video below – and particularly the segment from 24:30 to 29:30 – for an introduction to Tuhiwai Smith’s work.
(Lecture at The Graduate Centre, City University of New York, 2014)
Eve Tuck, who introduces Linda Tuhiwai Smith in this video, is another person working in the area of Indigenous research. Click here to read an article she wrote with K. Wayne Yang in 2012 called “Decolonization is not a metaphor“, which appeared in the first issue of the journal Decolonization: Indigeneity, Education & Society. Tuck and Yang offer an invitation and a challenge to examine the assumptions that are inherent in a settler society and cut through any hazy interpretations of what decolonization is that may only serve to perpetuate it or excuse lack of action on the part of settlers. As such it provides a solid basis for a critical exploration of the concept of decolonization in its current context.