Decolonising the Coloniser

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Decolonising the Coloniser

• Exploring the links between youth development,
  strength-based practice and a decolonising
  paradigm

Bronwen Olds and David Hanna
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• Kia puawai koe ki te ao
• Ka kitea o painga
• So you shall blossom into the world
• And the world in turn is transformed

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Overview of workshop

• Context Locating ourselves
• Post Colonial Era Growing up in NZ the subtle
  colonising mindset.
• Family, Education, Religion, Media
• Decolonisation co-creating social change - our
  families experience
• Family, Education, Religion, Media
• Conclusions links with strength-based practice
  and social services

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• 1873 Sunday 30th July
• Rose this morning by 7 o clock having slept very
  little. The ship rocked so dreamed i fell over.
  Mr. Pengellys edge backwards and as I fell I woke
  to find myself rolling from side to side in bed.
  No service today. Mr. Young gave no reason for
  discontinuing the service. I fear we shall have
  no more during the voyage. Whilst dressing May
  this morning she talked of the last Sunday we
  were home. She said Auntie Lenny and her went to
  school and afterward to see the gypsies and
  Sautie said not touch the horses. They will bite,
  no one brought forth the subject, spent the
  evening singing a little and then a long talk of
  home. I thought of the time 5 years ago when us
  three sisters went over. Breach (12) my nech love
  I am together for the last time no doubt and at
  that time we knew nothing of each other, one in
  Australia one in dear old England and the other
  (myself) on the mighty deep. I felt so sad but I
  found relief in tears and commending ourselves
  and with all our loved ones good. Went to bed,
  the ship going 9 knots an hour.

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Defining Colonialisation

• Colonisation and imperialism are more than
  tangible acts of land theft or physical genocide.
  They are also an accretion of intangibles which
  in the words of Edward Said.. linger where they
  have always been, in a kind of general cultural
  sphere as well as in specific political
  ideological economic and social practices
• Moana Jackson 1997

• It is as if we grow up in a capsule of sorts.
  We must break out of it, in order to be truly
  educated
• Banks, J. (1997) Educating citizens in a
  Multicultural Society. New York Teachers College
  Press

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• We pay attention to what we expect to see
• We hear what we can place in our understanding
• We act according to our worldview
• (Wenger, E. 1998, Communities of Practice
  Learning, meanigng and Identity. Cambridge
  University Press)

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Dominant messages from our family experiences

• Individual progress is important judged by what
  you do (occupation)
• Experts know best eg medical, educational
• Treat everyone the same ie like us / Pakeha
• Heterosexual marriage
• Parents bring up children (a one way, nuclear
  family process)

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Dominant messages from our Education experiences
60s/70s

• Individual effort / investment
• Clear understanding of what was wrong / right
  (fact)
• Secular / spiritual divide
• Monolingual / monocultural (no attempt at
  learning Maori pronunciation)
• 3 Rs
• Learn the dominant version of history (the
  British Commonwealth the pink bits on the world
  map)

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Dominant messages from our experiences of
religion

• Individual relationship with God important
  (assumed white male)
• Religion is about membership to a wider group
  belonging important
• Experts knew about religion (ministers)
• Contrasting theologies both colonising theology
  and liberating theology
• God came to NZ with the missionaries.

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Dominant messages from media in our up-bringing

• English stories and imagery
• Dominance of whiteness (ads, stories, TV )
• Maori world primarily interpreted from a Pakeha
  perspective
• A comprehensive media / communications package
  that reinforced a Pakeha (single) world view

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Post Colonial Era . On reflection

• The mystifying amnesia of the colonial
  aftermath
• The extraordinary ordinariness of whiteness
• (Glenda McNaughton University of Melbourne,
  Director for Equity and Innovation in Early
  Childhood)
• Question
• what has been the impacts of being raised in
  this post colonial era?
• - What has been the impact on white people of
  placing so much energy into surpressing
  indigenous peoples realities?

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Defining decolonisation

• Has its roots in Paulo Freires practice of
  freedom notion, which is the means, by which
  men and women deal critically and creatively with
  reality and discover how to participate in the
  transformation of their world.
• (Freire, 1972)

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Key intentional narratives - family

• Making the invisible visible telling the
  other histories of the Aotearoa.
• Acknowledging parenting as a 2 way process Ako
• Asserting our participation in systems
• Tuakana / teina
• Whakapapa - who I am

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Telling the other histories of the of NZ
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Asserting our participation in systems
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Tuakana / teina
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Key Intentional Narratives - Education

• Speaking Te Reo Maori is important
• Talking about being fair / just notice and name
  racist (unjust) behaviours
• Encourage childrens sense of vocation what
  they have to offer the world
• Emotional / heart intelligence (acknowledgment
  of multiple intelligences)

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Key Intentional Narratives - Religion

• Spirituality is important (Religion?)
• Deconstructing old rituals and creating rituals
  that reflect our context in Aotearoa and for our
  family
• The natural environment is important to
  sustaining our spirituality

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Deconstructing old rituals and creating rituals
that reflect our context in Aotearoa and for our
family
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The natural environment is important
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Spirituality is important
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Key Intentional Narratives - Media

• Telling stories of struggles for equity and
  justice
• Using imagery and prose that reflects Aotearoa -
  local legends
• Sharing stories which critically reflect on our
  experience of childhood / young adulthood.

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Some reflections links to strength-based
practice

• Putting our ideals / aspirations / values out in
  front of us reflected in our intentional
  narratives language is important.
• Learning to let go of those things we think give
  us power over people (eg as a parent, social
  worker, manager) .constantly need to learn
  this!)
• Understanding that a colonising process is
  scarcity driven and stress inducing (ka mate).
• Appreciating that a decolonising process is life
  giving (ka ora)
• A strength-based approach involves unlearning
  the dominant (colonial) way of seeing / doing
  things.
• This is a collective journey a decolonising /
  strength based approach heightens connections
  between people / land

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• For Pakeha (social worker) to gain legitimacy
  here, it is they who must place their trust in
  Maori (the client), not the other way around.
  They must accept that it is for the Tangata
  whenua (client) to determine their status in this
  land (relationship), and to do so in accordance
  with Tikanga Maori (clients world view). This
  will involve sorting out a process of negotiation
  which is driven by the principles underpinning
  Tikanga (clients world view), a process which
  Pakeha (social workers) do not control .. giving
  up such control requires a leap of faith on the
  part of Pakeha (the social worker).
• (Mikaere, A - NZ Political Review No. 54 Autumn
  2005.)

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• Kia puawai koe ki te ao
• Ka kitea o painga
• So you shall blossom into the world
• And the world in turn is transformed