Decolonizing Eighteenth-Century Studies: An Indigenous Perspective

Abstract:This essay considers the limitations of recent attempts to "decolonize" universities and academic disciplines through gestures such as land acknowledgements. It argues that such superficial engagements with Indigenous history and presence are easily appropriated by the neoliberal university and corporate world and do little for Indigenous communities. Further, academics, both Indigenous and otherwise, can potentially individualize critique to further their careers, while communities continue to struggle. Ultimately academics who are seriously interested in decolonization, whatever that ultimately means, must engage with Indigenous thought, living communities, and material political commitments.