We are living in the midst of environmental challenges around the world specifically in South America where indigenous activists are taking a stand against the neo-colonial regimes and Western interventions. This process has been intensified in the post-Trump-election era of far-right and reactionary nationalism in the West.

In the secularized Christian West, racism (with its tentacle stereotypes) operates in many different ways while targeting the natives (indigenous peoples) compared to other people of color. If we don’t consider the literature, lived-experince, and epistemology from all different positionalities, our decolonial methodology might be a bit one-sided or narrow, especially when our center is in the West. The decolonizing approach might slightly vary from the vantage point of multiple perspectives, for example (1) indigenous peoples (2) first-world racialized minorities (3) People in third-world post-colonial or neo-colonial societies. According to Aníbal Quijano, decoloniality is a response to the relation of direct, political, social and cultural domination established by Europeans. Understanding these differences can help us work toward a mutual goal. There are also a lot of differences between the notions of decoloniality based on geography and community. Previously, I have been introduced to Harsha Walia’s work on Border Imperialism which is written in the context of North America. There is an intersection between different decolonial methodologies. As a Middle Eastern artist working in the West, reading this book is essential. Linda Tuhiwai Smith’s “Decolonizing Methodologies: Research and Indigenous Peoples”Īs a first-generation migrant living between the Western walls of the academy and white walls of the gallery, it is vital for us to understand historical facts and stories from an indigenous perspective which prioritizes indigenous self-determination.

Linda smith indigenous methodologies