Kia Tu Ki te Tahi.  When we stand, we stand as one. 

Across the globe, Indigenous and First Nations peoples have largely been left out of conversations regarding education policy and practice.  Many diverse groups and nations share a similar history of colonisation, resulting in them being passive acceptors rather than active participants in education.

Emanating from social justice through inclusion, equity and power sharing, indigenisation is not merely an add-on deriving from another world perspective: it presents opportunities to challenge cultural preconceptions and the way we order the world.

By enacting indigenisation, we partake in the transformation of some service or idea, embracing key values and practices that may formerly have been overshadowed by colonization.  Reclaiming voice and increasing the influence of Indigenous people in education, employment and governance is a key outcome from indigenisation.

Indigenisation encourages Indigenous peoples to embrace authentic cultures and values and share their knowledge with non-Indigenous peoples, creating pathways for adaption to local ways, and fostering the adoption of indigenous values and practices in our work and daily lives.

Where collaboration and cohabitation lead to a genuinely co-created culture with the best of both worldviews and technologies, the integration of the Other shapes a new ‘normal’.

In issue 20 Junctures invited submissions from authors on the theme of Indigenisation, whether from the hard sciences, humanities, visual, sonic and performing arts, social sciences, law, education or medicine.

 

Published: 2019-11-26