Foucauldian power/knowledge and episteme framework for situating Indigenous knowledges within Western universities¶

Theory · All theories
Evidence · no claims cited

Description¶

The paper frames its pedagogy using Foucault's account of how institutions sanction knowledge, quoting that "power produces knowledge" and that the episteme separates "what may from what may not be characterised as scientific." This framework is used to explain how Indigenous knowledges have been subjugated within Western universities and to legitimise their reinstatement in the Indigenous Studies program, giving primacy to Indigenous ways of knowing while avoiding an essentialist binary between knowledge systems.

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• Recognition that knowledge systems are positioned within political structures so that "knowledge itself becomes hierarchical"

Constraints¶

• The authors state they do not intend "a binary disti nction between ways of knowing that are mutually exclusive"; all knowledge systems reflect similarities and differences

Target Learners¶

• Undergraduate Indigenous Studies students, Indigenous and non-Indigenous

Target Learning Objectives¶

• Critical thinking about the status and authority of different knowledge systems

Claims¶

Related Theories¶

• Epistemic Injustice

Examples¶

• Embed local Indigenous knowledge and community expertise in curricula, taught by Indigenous people themselves
• Indigenous–non-Indigenous academic collaboration grounded in trust, collegiality and un-learning of Western epistemic authority

Key Sources¶

• McGloin, C., Marshall, A. & Adams, M. (2009). Leading the Way: Indigenous knowledge and collaboration at the Woolyungah Indigenous Centre. Journal of University Teaching and Learning Practice, 6(2), 38–53. https://ro.uow.edu.au/jutlp/ doi:10.53761/1.6.2.4