Occasional Paper Series

Article Title

“It Feels Fake”: Decolonizing Curriculum and Pedagogy in Predominantly White Institutions

Authors

Hollie A. Kulago, Pennsylvania State UniversityFollow
Paul Guernsey, University of MontanaFollow
Wayne Wapeemukwa, Pennsylvania State UniversityFollow

Abstract

This article describes the processes, tensions, questions, conflicts, and celebrations the three authors experienced while creating and implementing decolonizing and/or Indigenous curriculum and pedagogy for predominantly white university classrooms. The theoretical framework engages Indigenous epistemologies and decolonizing pedagogy to disrupt Western schooling rooted in the ways Indigenous scholars see knowledge as fundamentally relational and community as the primary setting for Indigenous and decolonizing education. Western schooling continues to support the dispossession of Indigenous peoples from their/our lands with a “civilizing agenda” that promotes individualization. We seek to re-connect relationships with the land and Indigenous community in our various disciplines. The authors share their reflections through storywork and describe similarities, differences, and insights based on their positionalities.

Author Biography

Hollie Anderson Kulago



Hollie Anderson Kulago, citizen of the Navajo Nation, is an associate professor in the Curriculum and Instruction Department at Penn State University. Her research interests include decolonizing and Indigenous curriculum and pedagogy, teacher education, and partnering with Indigenous nations/communities.

Paul J. Guernsey



Paul J. Guernsey (European American) is a Visiting Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies at the University of Montana. His academic background spans environmental ethics, philosophy, phenomenology, and policy, focusing on how the material and ideological structures of settler colonialism and capitalism function as root causes of cyclical ecosocial crisis. His work is published in Environment and Planning E: Nature and Space, Ethics, Policy & Environment, Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and Environment, Educational Studies, and elsewhere.

Wayne Wapeemukwa



Wayne Wapeemukwa is a doctoral candidate in philosophy at the Pennsylvania State University. His research reanimates dialogue between Marxism and Indigenous political theories as they engage questions of land, race, capital, and history. He specializes in nineteenth and twentieth century Marxism, its uptake among Indigenous activists, as well as Indigenous-feminist approaches to decolonization. He is a citizen of the Métis Nation of British Columbia and member of the Chartered Métis Community of Waceya.

Recommended Citation

Kulago, H. A., Guernsey, P., & Wapeemukwa, W. (2023). “It feels fake”: Decolonizing curriculum and pedagogy in predominantly white institutions. Occasional Paper Series, (49). DOI: https://doi.org/10.58295/2375-3668.1469