For Indigenous Eyes Only: A Decolonization Handbook

by Waziyatawin Angela Wilson (Editor)

Recognizing an urgent need for Indigenous liberation strategies, Indigenous intellectuals met to create a book with hands-on suggestions and activities to enable Indigenous communities to decolonize themselves. The authors begin with the belief that Indigenous Peoples have the power, strength, and intelligence to develop culturally specific decolonization strategies for their own communities and thereby systematically pursue their own liberation. These scholars and writers demystify the language of colonization and decolonization to help Indigenous communities identify useful concepts, terms, and intellectual frameworks in their struggles toward liberation and self-determination. This handbook covers a wide range of topics, including Indigenous governance, education, language, oral tradition, repatriation, images and stereotypes, and truth-telling. It aims to facilitate critical thinking while offering recommendations for fostering community discussions and plans for meaningful community action.

Genres: Indigenous, Nonfiction, History, Politics, Native American, Social Justice, Cultural

224 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 2005

About the author

Waziyatawin is Wahpetunwan Dakota from the Pezihutazizi Otunwe (Yellow Medicine Village) in southwestern Minnesota. She received her Ph.D. in American history from Cornell University in 2000 and earned tenure and an associate professorship in the history department at Arizona State University where she taught for seven years. She also held the Indigenous Peoples Research Chair in the Indigenous Governance Program at UVic. Her interests include projects centering on Indigenous decolonization strategies such as truth-telling and reparative justice, Indigenous women and resistance, the recovery of Indigenous knowledge, and the development of liberation ideology in Indigenous communities. She is a compelling speaker and is often invited to give talks and interviews, appearing on many radio and television programs.

Reviews

[are we there yet · Rating 4 out of 5]

Published in 2005, this is the introductory text that I was looking for, although I can be very literal and don't know if I, a non-indigeneous person, was allowed to read it...? Also, the Lucida Handwriting font though.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really interesting to further understand the deep effects of colonization.
It was also very inspiring and empowering.

[Samantha · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really great handbook on how to organize your community with a lot of fantastic resources.