1. Acknowledgement of Country
I thank the First Nations owners of the First Treaty lands where I am speaking
I give my respect to the Elders past, Elders present and Elders of the future.
I undertake to speak respectfully and responsibly on this Country.

2. Decolonising Philosophy: Discussing Strategies to Position Indigenous knowledge in the Academy.
Overview of presentation
Australian history of colonisation and the influence it has on education/philosophy
2 examples of my research using decolonisation as a framework,
Open discussion on strategies to better position Indigenous philosophy in academia.
Dr Lorraine Muller

3. Australia before Colonisation
Occupied 40, ,000 years,
Our social organisation was highly complicated,
Men and women have equal, but different, roles in Indigenous Australian culture (Atkinson, 2002 )
Children were protected, punishment for offences against them was harsh.
Cross-continent trading,
Stone houses – villages,
Farming, Grain stores of up to a ton – that the settlers raided (Gammage, 2011)

4. Colonisation in Australia
British colonisation began in 1788
No treaties
Australia’s Indigenous peoples, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders, were depopulated by standard tools of colonisers
Disease,
Violence, slavery, and
Eugenics (designed to breed out the colour and form a servant class).
Underpinned by racism.

5. Coloniser Myths and Legends
They brought Civilisation because they said there was,
- No civilisation
- No formal knowledge system

6. Colonisation of Knowledge
Controlled the production and authentication of knowledge
What the settlers did not, or would not, understand is that…
Colonisation impacted on our knowledge system but did not destroy it.
Our knowledge has no beginning and no ending, “it is not alpha and omega but Circular and Reformative.” (in Muller, 2010, p. 133)
Our knowledge is a significant body of knowledge that runs parallel to, independent of, but selectively informed by, Western academic knowledge. (Muller, 2010)

7. Education is not benign
Education remains stubbornly Eurocentric – our voices are muted.
When curricula represents only one worldview, it can be used as a tool of oppression and assimilation – colonisation.
Success = being adept in the cultural traditions and knowledge of the non-Indigenous colonial culture (Ford, 2005; Sonn, et al., 2000; S. Williams, 2011).
Eurocentric assumption that ‘education’ refers only to Western education – ignores the “extensive, formalised educational practices still prevalent in Indigenous communities” (Dunbar & Scrimgeour, 2007, p. 136).
Eurocentric education has been “heavily implicated in the process of dispossession and cultural genocide” (Boughton, 2000, p. 14).
Indigenous knowledges must be incorporated into the curriculum.
Our wellbeing hinges on it.
We, Indigenous peoples, are collating Indigenous knowledge and sharing our knowledge through research.

8. Indigenous Research
Research as Pedagogy: a way of teaching and learning. (Payi-Linda Ford, 2005)
Research is a Political process of survival and protection; endorse or challenge a particular point of view; occurs within a political and social environment (Tuhiwai-Smith, 1999).
The richness and depth of Indigenous dissertations methodologies is striking; diverse but with astounding similarities.
Our research can position our knowledges, our philosophy, within the academy.
I share two examples of my use of research:
Indigenous Australian Social-Health Theory
Shifting the Lens: Indigenous research into mainstream Australian culture.

9. Indigenous Australian Social-Health Theory
1st PhD
The theory used by Indigenous Australians in the helping professions:
Social-Health workers: those for whom the social, emotional (including spiritual) and physical wellbeing of our people is central to their practice.
Identified need for our theory to be in a usable format.
Use of ‘othering’, naming non-Indigenous.
Metatheory informs what is appropriate methodology – like others my thesis had a focus on methodology
Colonisation/decolonisation stages (Printout) 1st International Voices conference in Hawaii – Poka Laenui
Decolonisation as framework for Indigenous research
Major findings
We have a distinct and rigorous theoretic base to our practice
Identified a new stage of decolonisation to Laenui’s 5 stages
Questions about mainstream Australia

10. 5 Stages of Colonisation (Laenui, 2000).
Handout
5 Stages of Colonisation (Laenui, 2000).
Denial and Withdrawal.
Destruction/Eradication.
Denigration/Belittlement/ Insult.
Surface Accommodation/Tokenism.
Transformation/Exploitation.
6 Stages of Decolonisation
Rediscovery and Recovery (Laenui, 2000).
Mourning (Laenui, 2000).
Healing/Forgiveness – reclaiming wellbeing and harmony. (Muller, 2010)
Dreaming (Laenui, 2000) and ‘The Dreaming’
Commitment (Laenui, 2000).
Action (Laenui, 2000).

11. Shifting the Lens: researching mainstream Australian society.
2nd PhD
Indigenous research into mainstream Australian culture
Research questions identified by us, for our purpose.
Provide cultural insight to assist our students engage with mainstream education or workplaces.
Unintentional Bonus – for new settlers
Participants response
humour, difficulty accepting research focus,
best foot forward
unconscious stereotyping/racism
desire to help
Outcomes to date
social script of racism is endemic, but not necessarily wanted
social rituals like, hierarchy, patriarchy and flirting, have unwritten rules
Time
Observation – listening

12. Indigenous Philosophy
Indigenous philosophy is a reality.
Through research we have significant literature on Indigenous philosophy, locally and internationally.
We have documented our
- Knowledge, Reality, and Existence; our
-Theories,
- Meta-Theories and
- Research Methodologies.
However, our philosophy is not part of the Eurocentric education systems.
In Australia, employment of Indigenous scholars is falling (IHER, Australian Government, 2012).
Indigenous knowledge and knowledge holders are not valued.
Entry and acceptance is at the whim of the, Eurocentric schooled, academic class –
who are blind to how mainstream knowledge can be informed by Indigenous philosophy

13. Decolonising Philosophy: Insisting on Change
We are philosophers and wordsmiths, recuperating ancient knowledges and translating them into modern context.
It is time we use our skills gained within the academy to insist that our knowledge is included in the curricula.
Indigenous knowledge is already trending upwards, it is up to us to control content and format.
I have used examples of othering, and research.
Discussion is needed on ways to position Indigenous knowledges in our academies.
What other strategies can we use to position our knowledges so they can sit alongside Western based knowledge as equal?

14. Conversation starters
The following are some strategies to stimulate discussion on how we can best position Indigenous knowledges within the academy.
Research
Mentoring Young/New researchers
Name and claim the space – insist on inclusion via books, articles, reviews and speaking engagements.
Cast those who fail to embrace Indigenous inclusive curriculum as out-of-touch or ill-informed.
Collaboration
????

15. References
Australian Government. (2012). Review of Higher Education Access and Outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People: Final Report Retrieved from
Atkinson, J. (2002). Trauma Trails: Recreating Song Lines - The Trans-generational Effects of Trauma in Indigenous Australia. North Melbourne: Spinifex Press.
Boughton, B. (2000) What is the Connection Between Aboriginal Education and Aboriginal Health? . Occasional Paper Series: Issue 2 (pp. 1-39). Darwin.
Dunbar, T., & Scrimgeour, M. (2007). Education. In B. Carson, T. Dunbar, R. D. Chenhall & R. Baillie (Eds.), social determinants of INDIGENOUS HEALTH (pp ). Crows Nest, NSW: Allen & Unwin.
Ford, L. M. (2005). ‘Narratives and landscapes: their capacity to serve indigenous knowledge interests’. Unpublished PhD Deakin University.
Gammage, B. (2011). The Biggest Estate on Earth : How Aborigines made Australia. Sydney: Allen & Unwin.
Laenui, P., ( Hayden, Burgess). (2007). Welcome Remarks. Paper presented at the Indigenous Voices in Social Work: Not Lost in Translation, Makaha, Oahu, Hawaii.
Muller, L. (2010). Indigenous Australian Social-Health Theory. James Cook University, Townsville.
Sonn, C., Bishop, B., & Humphries, R. (2000). Encounters with the dominant culture: Voices of indigenous students in mainstream higher education. Australian Psychologist, 35(2),
Tuhiwai-Smith, L. (1999). Decolonizing methodologies : research and indigenous peoples. London ; New York; Dunedin, N.Z.: Zed Books ; University of Otago Press.
Williams, S. (2011). Indigenous values informing curriculum and pedagogical praxis. Unpublished PhD, Deakin University.