Presenter: Che-Wei Lee Time: 10 AM to 12 PM Location: San Juan, Peurto Rico Event Date: Apr 26, 2012 Organization: Comparative and International Education Society (CIES) Publication Date: Apr 26, 2012 Conference End Date: Apr 27, 2012 Conference Start Date: Apr 22, 2012

1. Institute for International Studies in Education
Academic Colonialism and
Decolonizing Indigenous Research:
Issues and Potential for Indigenous Academia and
Knowledge Systems
Che-Wei Lee & W. James Jacob
Institute for International Studies in Education
University of Pittsburgh, USA
Higher Education in Indigenous and Conflict Contexts
SIG – Higher Education
Thursday, 26 April 2012, at 10:15-11:45 a.m.
Main Building / San Cristobal D
San Juan, Peurto Rico, 56th Annual Conference of Comparative and International Education Society

2. Institute for International Studies in Education
W. James Jacob, PhD
Director, IISE
School of Education
University of Pittsburgh
5714 Wesley W. Posvar Hall
Pittsburgh, PA 15260
United States of America
Email: wjacob@pitt.edu
Website: www.iise.pitt.edu/jacob
Che-Wei Lee, MA
Program Coordinator, IISE
School of Education
University of Pittsburgh
5708 Wesley W. Posvar Hall
Pittsburgh, PA 15260
United States of America
Email: CHL138@pitt.edu
Website: www.iise.pitt.edu/lee
Contact Information
26 April 2012Copyright © 2012 by Che-Wei Lee and W. James Jacob

3. Institute for International Studies in Education
• Background
• Standpoint
• Redefining Academic Colonialism
• Reconceptualization of the Decolonizing
Indigenous Research
• Indigenous Academia
• Paradigms and Theories in Indigenous
Studies
• Conclusion
26 April 2012Copyright © 2012 by Che-Wei Lee and W. James Jacob

4. Institute for International Studies in Education
Background
Deplored state of knowledge in
the Third World
• Critique of Colonialism
• Academic Imperialism
• Decolonization of Knowledge
• Critical Pedagogy
• Imitation and the Captive Mind
• Deschooling
• Academic Dependency
• Orientalism
• Eurocentrism
Alternative discourses in the
social sciences
• Indigenization of the social
sciences
• Endogenous intellectual creativity
• An autonomous social science
tradition
• Postcolonizing knowledge
• Globalization
• Decolonization and
nationalization of the social
sciences
26 April 2012Copyright © 2012 by Che-Wei Lee and W. James Jacob

5. Institute for International Studies in Education
Standpoint
In response to globalizing forces
• Promote universal approaches to knowledge & understanding
Two potential pathways for reactions: Abandoning the old way versus
seeking to re-discover ancient wisdoms. A third way emphasizes the
following:
• Focus on interface between indigenous knowledge and other knowledge
systems (science)
• The interface recognizes different knowledge systems
• To see opportunities for employing aspects of both
26 April 2012Copyright © 2012 by Che-Wei Lee and W. James Jacob

6. Institute for International Studies in Education
Redefining Academic Colonialism
26 April 2012Copyright © 2012 by Che-Wei Lee and W. James Jacob
Center States
(dominant/independent)
Peripheral States
(subordinate/dependent)
= Indirect Control (Imperialism, Colonialism)
• Standardizing
• Institutionalizing
• Socializing academic disciplines
Figure 1. Dynamic Structure of Unfair Academic Division-of-Labor
Sources: Adapted from Alatas (2003) and Shih (2010).

7. Institute for International Studies in Education
Decolonizing Indigenous Research
26 April 2012Copyright © 2012 by Che-Wei Lee and W. James Jacob
Figure 2. The Indigenous Research Agenda
Source: Smith (1999, p. 117).

8. Institute for International Studies in Education
Indigenous Academia:
Challenges, Dilemmas, Limits, and Potential
26 April 2012Copyright © 2012 by Che-Wei Lee and W. James Jacob
• Power Control: Who controls the access to tenure and promotion?
• Circumstance: Hostile Non-Indigenous Academic Society (Dominant academic
professors fail to possess any minimum cultural sensitivity and insist on employing
one-size-fits-all indicators.)
• Colonial Legacy: Academic dependency is gradually consolidated in this asymmetrical
exchange of academic knowledge.
• Politics of Knowledge: The Right of the Cultural Interpretation vs. Knowledge
Sovereignty
• Policy: The Limits of the Affirmative Action Policy
• Curricula: The Potential of Establishing Appropriate Disciplines
• Employment: Mainstream knowledge/value leads the market of the academic
employment.
• Sustainability: Indigenous Higher Education Institutions & Organic Community

9. Institute for International Studies in Education
Paradigms and Theories in Indigenous Studies
C
Bilateral Non-
Indigenous-Oriented
etic-to-emic
B
Unilateral
Indigenous
emic-as-etic
D
Bilateral Indigenous-
Oriented
emic-to-etic
A
Unilateral
Non-
Indigenous
etic-as-emic
26 April 2012Copyright © 2012 by Che-Wei Lee and W. James Jacob
E
Integrated Interface (Equilibrium
and Transformation)
emic-and-etic
Figure 3. A Macromapping of Paradigms and Theories in
Indigenous Research.
Source: Lee and Jacob (2012).

10. Institute for International Studies in Education
Conclusion
• Positive Transcultural (dynamic-hybrid) Identity
• Intercultural Sensitivity, Responsiveness, and Transcultural-Critical Praxis
• Paradigms that encourage and enable interface teaching and research require
balance between indigenous methodologies and conventional academic methods
associated with higher education.
• There is room to explore an interface model as an alternative to the imposition of
a single approach.
• In the longer term an undifferentiated global model could undermine indigenous
contributions to knowledge development.
• A more strategic goal might be to increase capability:
– A critical mass of indigenous scholars.
– The development of academic centers where teaching and research at the
interface can lead to the creation of new knowledge and the advancement of
indigenous peoples and wider society.
26 April 2012Copyright © 2012 by Che-Wei Lee and W. James Jacob