Decolonising methodologies

by Linda Tuhiwai Smith

From the vantage point of the colonized, the term 'research' is inextricably linked with European colonialism; the way in which scientific research has been implicated in the worst excesses of imperialism remains a powerful remembered history for many of the world's colonized peoples. Here, an indigenous researcher issues a clarion call for the decolonization of research methods. In the first part of the book, the author critically examines the historical and philosophical base of Western research. Extending the work of Foucault, she explores the intersections of imperialism, knowledge and research; en route she provides a history of knowledge from the Enlightenment to postcoloniality. The second part of the book meets an urgent demand: people who are carrying out their own research projects need literature which validates their frustrations in dealing with various Western paradigms. In setting an agenda for planning and implementing indigenous research, the author shows how such progr