Decolonizing Community Psychology by Supporting Indigenous Knowledge, Projects, and Students: Lessons from Aotearoa New Zealand and Canada

Abstract

Community psychology has long stood as a social justice agitator that encouraged reformation both within and outside of the academy, while keeping a firm goal of building greater well‐being for people in communities. However, community psychology's historically Euro‐centric orientation and applied, interventionist focus may inadvertently promote colonial agendas. In this paper, we focus on the example of Indigenous Pacific peoples, drawing upon experience working among Indigenous iTaukei Fijian communities and with Indigenous frameworks for promoting student success in Aotearoa New Zealand and Canada. We outline how community psychology curricula can strive toward decolonization by (a) teaching students to respectfully navigate complexities of Indigenous knowledge and traditions that contest colonial ways of being and doing, (b) act as facilitators who build toward collaborative community projects and model this research practice to students, and (c) boost Indigenous student success by fostering relationships with instructors and fellow students that are embedded within the relational model of self that is often absent in individualistic‐oriented Western academic settings.

“We Need to Make Action NOW, to Help Keep the Language Alive”: Navigating Tensions of Engaging Indigenous Educational Values in University Education

“…However, a learning environment such as the summer institute is a precious resource for Indigenous university students, particularly for those seeking to become K‐12 teachers. Within such a program, the university may begin to “affirm multiple identities and communities…so that indigenous students and faculty who learn and teach, may see themselves mirrored in institutional structures and cultures” (McNamara & Naepi, , p. 347), and while there is much more work to be done, it is a good start. We engaged in a pilot project to send Indigenous teacher education students to the summer institute as part of their coursework.…”

Decolonization and Restorative Justice: A Proposed Theoretical Framework.

“…The macro aspect of decolonization requires a systemic institutional change of public services, from education to government. McNamara and Naepi (2018) propose indigenization as an important step in changing the system and posit policies and actions adopted by different school districts and universities across Canada as decolonizing indigenization (McNamara and Naepi, 2018). Battiste (2013), in Decolonizing Education: Nourishing the Learning Spirit, argues that "[t]he education system has not yet ensured that non-Indigenous children develop an accurate understanding of the Indigenous peoples in Canada and their knowledge systems" (p. 32), yet this is a critical act of any decolonization.…”

“…The notion of decolonization has been used in numerous disciplines and settings including education (Paris & Winn, 2014), psychology (McNamara & Naepi, 2018), governance and justice (Monchalin, 2016;Stewart, 2018), transitional justice (Matsunaga, 2016), restorative justice (RJ) (Cunneen, 2002;Park, 2016;Tauri & Morris, 1997), criminology (Blagg, 2008;Carrington et al 2016) as well as research methods (Bhattacharya, 2018;Smith, 2012). The concept has generated a plethora of definitions.…”

Teaching toward Decoloniality in Community Psychology and Allied Disciplines: Editorial Introduction

“…McNamara and Naepi () focus on how their teaching of Indigenous students in the Aotearoa New Zealand context, further student success by adopting Indigenous teaching approaches such as the tukana/taciqu model, which increases Māori and Pacific learner success in higher education. These models challenge colonial understandings of Indigenous people, model constructive engagement and collaboration with students and communities, and enact relational models of self in academic settings that typically valorize individualistic pursuit.…”