Who Holds the Power for Change?

Abstract

Is the indigenisation of an organization possible if we have not first acknowledged the machinery that has ensured and sustained indigenous people, their thought, their ways and their world view, subjugated for another and considered less than if not of little or any value, and especially when we consider the realm of academia and education.

Maybe before we consider the opportunity for Indigenisation, we first consider the question as to whether we can have meaningful engagement without first deconstructing the Masters house, but can we effectively do this with the same master’s tools that built it.  Meaning can those that hold power be the ones that determine how and where and with whom this power should then be shared. Should this sharing be initiated by the same system that created disparity or instead by those who were diminished because of it?

Who has the power to inculcate indigenization into a dominant culture; the system and power that created the space between our worlds, or the people who have maintained their existence despite the historical and real power structures that continue to this day to strip self-determination from indigenous communities?