Upadhyaya

Decolonizing Canadian Education:

Reclaiming or Continued Colonial Project

Ranju Upadhyaya (7640010)

NATV 7310 Critical Theory and Native Studies
Dr. Peter Kulchyski
University of Manitoba
March 2, 2016

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Proposal
Recently, there has been a move towards decolonizing or
indigenizing education in Canada. For example, the University of Manitoba
(2015) held a two-day event to discuss the move towards decolonizing the
university. But what does it mean to decolonize education? How would this
process of decentering Western ways of knowledge effectively challenge the
effects and processes of racialization especially in the education of
Indigenous peoples of Canada that have historically, legally, and politically
divided many communities and families? In this paper, I will assess the
relevance of theories by Rancire (2004), Althusser (1970), Poulantzas
(2000), and Clifford (1988) to the experience of Indigenous peoples and their
experience with the Canadian governments educational project. I will
interrogate the works of each of these theorists to see how well they can be
used to trace the colonial and racist trajectories present in the creation and
maintenance of residential school and the dangers that are present in
decolonizing education without acknowledging this colonial past. In other
words, I would like to evaluate the process of ensuring education as one of
the main vehicles for reconciliation (as identified by The Truth and
Reconciliation Commission of Canada, 2015) to rectify the role of education
in Canadian history in various settler-colonial projects.

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Outline
1. Introduction
a. This section will quickly summarize the Truth and Reconciliation
Commission of Canadas (2015) statement that education should be
one of the main vehicles of reconciliation to provide context for the
paper.
b. The concept of decolonizing will be defined and explored.
c. Benjamins (1968) Theses on the Philosophy of History will be
explored to argue for the need to decolonize education, especially
history.
2. Historical
a. This section will explore and trace the history of Indigenous
education and de-legitimization of indigenous ways of knowing.
i. The work of Poulantzas (2000) will be used to look at his
definition of genocide (p. 107) to demonstrate how Indigenous
peoples were constructed to be foreign bodies and how they
became excluded from the national space of Canada through
creation of reservation. His work will also be used to
demonstrate how indigenous peoples were considered
obstacle to Canadian history.
ii. Continuing with the theme identified above, the theoretical
work of Althusser (1970) on ideology to examine the ideology
on Indigenous peoples to show the racist ideas were and
continuously reproduced to justify the creation of residential
schools and the exclusion of Indigenous peoples from the
Canadian nationhood.
iii. Rancires (2004) theoretical work on the notion of who
constitutes as the police will be used to demonstrate various
institutions in Canadian society that contributed to the social
inequality by maintaining social order.
3. Contemporary
a. In this section, the contemporary experience of Indigenous peoples
in education will be explored to demonstrate the legacy of
residential school.
i. Althusser (2006) will be used to show the continuing racist of
ideology against Indigenous peoples. Ideologies will be
demonstrated to show how these racist ideologies are political
representation of Aboriginal people that continues to serve
certain population.
ii. Rancires (2004) theoretical work on the notion of who
constitutes as the police once again to show the police nature
of contemporary educational system and agents such as
teachers and social workers.

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iii. Cliffords (1988) essay will be used to demonstrate some

dangers of authenticity when it comes to decolonizing
education, especially as it relates to Indigenous educators.
4. Conclusion/Discussion
a. Unclear, but the section probably will speak about how the
theoretical works of the authors identified above can be utilized by
indigenous scholars in indigenous politics. As well, this section will
look at how contributions of indigenous scholars can elevate the
materials of the theories further.
Bibliography
Althusser, L. (1970). Ideology and ideological state apparatuses: Notes
towards an investigation. Lenin and Philosophy and Other Essays.
Benjamin, W. (1968). Theses on the Philosophy of History.
Clifford, J. (1988). Introduction: the pure products go crazy. The Predicament
of Culture, 1-17.
Poulantzas, N. A. (2000). State, power, socialism (Vol. 29). New York City, NY:
Verso.
Rancire, J. (2004). Disagreement: Politics and philosophy. Minneapolis, MN:
University of Minnesota Press.
Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada. (2015). Truth and
Reconciliation Commission of Canada: Calls to Action. Retrieved from
http://www.trc.ca/websites/trcinstitution/File/2015/Findings/Calls_to_Action_En
glish2.pdf
University of Manitoba. (2015). Decolonizing the University. Retreived from
http://umanitoba.ca/admin/indigenous_connect/5599.html.