From Monmouth to Madoc to Māori: The Myth of Medieval Colonization and an Indigenous Alternative

Abstract:This essay examines how Indigenous research methodologies can be usefully applied to medieval texts. It does this by recounting and engaging with personal experience and by interrogating how research is deployed for colonial purpose. The use of medieval English texts by early modern and later colonial proponents and apologists, particularly John Dee, emphasize the inherent colonial purpose of traditional research methodologies. These processes are contrasted with Indigenous research methodologies, particularly those proposed by Linda Tuhiwai Smith, and the author’s own personal experience and that of his tribal nation of how Indigenous memory and inquiry can inform research practices that are relational and not exploitive.