Resources

On this page you’ll find some definitions of key terms and further resources to help you host conversations in your own communities, classrooms and workplaces. We’d love for you to use our film complemented by our survey and discussion guide. Please know our list is evolving and not comprehensive; we welcome suggestions for additional resources. 

Definitions of some Key Terms

Decolonisation 

We understand decolonisation as a commitment and action taken to recognise the marginalisation of Indigenous knowledges and people in and beyond universities, transform relationships in a way that dismantles oppressive relations of power, and reorient our work towards that which honours the sovereignty and deep knowledge of Indigenous people. 

This project discusses calls to ‘decolonise’ academic workplaces, practices and their associated intellectual genealogies. This doesn’t refer to the decolonisation of states from under the rule of colonial occupiers, like what might be discussed in geopolitical and international relations terms. Rather, we’re talking about dismantling of more abstracted and less visible (but all the while just as impactful) processes of coloniality which are embedded in how we learn, behave, and relate to each other.  

For decolonial theorists concerned with how coloniality affects academia, the project of decolonisation requires not just an awareness of colonialism, but a series of fundamental transformations to what academic work is, who it is for, and what it seeks to achieve. In this way, we draw a direct relationship between how we think and how we act.  

Settler colonialism  

A term used to describe the process by which people (settlers) claim other land as their own, displacing Indigenous people, often violently. Indigenous scholars have written about the ways that settler colonialism embeds itself within our societies, making it seem inevitable and without end. 

Academy  

When we talk about the academy, we’re referring to all the things that make up the university system in a broad sense. This includes, for example, research, teaching, service, campus communities, publications, scholarly and professional associations and university systems. 

Trans-Indigenous 

Our film uses a trans-Indigenous frame work. This means that we bring Indigenous people together in conversation and collaboration, finding ways to support each other. We think of this as a potent act of decolonial kin-making, as we link up Indigenous scholars and students across Australia, Asia and the Pacific. If we commit to radically re-centring Indigenous people’s experiences, knowledges and work, this means shifting the way we talk about connections in the academy.