Unsettling our Classrooms

Abstract:This brief essay argues that it is impossible to decolonize universities and museums. Building on the critical work of Sandy Grande, Amy Lonetree, and Robin D. G. Kelley, it proposes that the academy and museums, as inherently colonial institutions, reproduce the injustices they seek to remedy through neoliberal attempts at reform. Grande, building on the work of Audra Simpson, calls for a "refusal" of the institution. I then turn to Tuck and Yang's notion of "unsettling" to explore how we can resist the appropriation of Indigeneity in settler institutions and instead make room for cultural incommensurability. I explore a range of strategies, including "citational rebellion" and bringing BIPOC scholars, artists, and knowledge-keepers into the classroom (or going to visit them). In addition, collaborative research and assessment can help students with a range of identities consider the most meaningful ways to work with course materials and with each other. The essay seeks to model this approach by grounding its analysis in the words of Indigenous feminist scholars including Zoë Todd, Vanessa Watts, Leanne Betasamosake Simpson, and Linda Tuhiwai Smith.