Article: Who Can Teach Indigenous Philosophy?

 

Erica Violet Lee of the Nehiyam First Nation, who recently completed an undergraduate degree in philosophy and political science, has an outstanding blog named Moontime Warrior: Fearless Philosophizing, Embodied Resistance (moontimewarrior.com).

In November 2015, Erica Violet Lee wrote a blog-post entitled "'Indigenizing the Academy' Without Indigenous People: Who Can Teach Our Stories?" Here is an excerpt from the post:

 

With the release of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission Report on residential schools in June 2015, “Indigenizing the Academy” is a hot topic in Canadian universities. As institutions explore the introduction of Indigenous content, we have to question what is defined as Indigenous content, who this content serves, and how the pursuit of “indigenizing the academy” can easily become exploitative.

In 2013, I helped put together a new syllabus for an Indigenous Philosophy class at my university. The philosophy department wouldn’t consider allowing someone without a PhD in philosophy teach this course, but pairing an Indigenous undergrad with a white philosophy professor was, apparently, acceptable. (Oh, the power dynamics.) Aware of the limitations of our knowledge, we created a course that was largely guest speakers: a roster of amazing Indigenous scholars and elders. This couldn’t have been done, practically or ethically, without immense support from the Indigenous Studies faculty.

Many canonical European philosophers – Hegel, Kant, Locke, to name a few – saw Indigenous peoples as lacking agency, and incapable of intellectual thought. This is the history that the discipline of philosophy inherits, but far from being a legacy, philosophy is still used as a way to signify whose knowledges are legitimate and whose are invalid.

The portrayal of Indigenous thought as simplistic, primitive, and unarticulated is key in the erasure and justification of genocide.

 

Read this entire post on Erica Violet Lee's blog (and take a look at other posts on the blog) here.

 

posted by Shelley

Comments

[Carl O. Binayao]

Good day. Our school has identified "indigenous philosophy," as one the required subject for Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy. However, we are still in the exploratory stage in the formulation of the syllabus, and so we need the help of others for us to know what are the possible topics that can be discussed. I am humbly asking for your help.