Decolonizing Methodologies - Shannon Moutinho

Shannon Moutinho

GWS 502.01 – Feminist Knowledge Production

Professor Naber

Blog 1 – Decolonizing Methodologies

Throughout Decolonizing Methodologies Tuihwai Smith establishes a supports the notion that research and the want of knowledge has traditionally conducted and controlled in an imperialist fashion.  The a framework of research was developed and then applied to whatever topic and group of people at which the researcher aim.  Later Smith gives a variety of examples of other possible approaches in research.  Though these ideas are presented are not the answer, they do expand on the potential for a vision beyond the systems and structures that are not actually moving scholarship forward but rather keeping it as the status quo.  I really appreciated these examples and ideas as I prepare to approach my own research with (not on) the Deaf community, think about my role as the researcher and what I hope to contribute through my work.

Personally (before I even approach the role of researcher) I often struggle with my role on the perifery of a community I genuinely feel membership of even though my neurological status as a hearing person with hearing privilege keeps me set apart from this community.  I do not wish for any actions I take as a researcher to further set me apart from the community I love.

Many of the issues I see as “needed to be studied so that solutions can be found” are perhaps even only “issues” if seen from an outsider's point of view.  So to be conscious of that and to make sure that what I aim to study is actually something that the Deaf community also feels is something of value.  After reading a book on cochlear implantation that had a clear anti-implant message and a strong support of the Deaf community I asked a Deaf activist what she thought of the book, expecting that she would praise its work.  Her response was that she “I'm really tired of people writing about intersections they don't live in.  Both the author and the systems I mean there's a lot of truth in there but at the same time I don't see how she can separate out being hearing, being an interpreter, and assuming she understands the complexity of the issue.”  I value this Deaf woman’s opinion and want to generate work that she feels is more “indigenous truth” rather than the colonialists’ lens and explanation.  At the same time, I want to be able to interpret and communicate the information generated to the hearing masses since they have so much power over policy and practices that directly control (not influence) the lives of d/Deaf people.  

Discussion Questions:

Does knowledge translation inevitably take the shape of imperialism?

Is it the researcher's responsibility to communicate of the research and findings in the imperialists’ language in order to so that understanding can reach beyond membership borders?