ERIC Number: EJ1281545
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2020
Pages: 24
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: EISSN-1947-9417
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: N/A
Decolonisation through Poetry: Building First Nations' Voice and Promoting Truth-Telling
Education as Change, v24 Article 7765 2020
The impetus to decolonise high schools and universities has been gaining momentum in Southern locations such as South Africa and Australia. In this article, we use a polyvocal approach, juxtaposing different creative and scholarly voices, to argue that poetry offers a range of generative possibilities for the decolonisation of high school and university curricula. Australian First Nations' poetry has been at the forefront of the Indigenous political protest movement for land rights, recognition, justice and Treaty since the British settlement/invasion. Poetry has provided Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples with a powerful vehicle for speaking back to colonial power. In this article, a team of Indigenous and non-Indigenous researchers argue that poetry can be a powerful vehicle for Indigenous voices and Knowledges. We suggest that poetry can create spaces for deep listening ("dadirri"), and that listening with the heart can promote truth-telling and build connections between First Nations and white settler communities. These decolonising efforts underpin the "Wandiny (gathering together)--Listen with the Heart: Uniting Nations through Poetry" research that we discuss in this article. We model our call-and-response methodology by including the poetry of our co-author and Aboriginal Elder of the Kungarakan people in the Northern Territory, Aunty Sue Stanton, with poetic responses by some of her co-authors.
Descriptors: High School Students, College Students, Indigenous Populations, Indigenous Knowledge, Foreign Countries, Poetry, Resistance (Psychology), Activism, Social Justice, Land Settlement, Cultural Awareness
Education as Change. The Centre for Education Rights and Transformation, Faculty of Education, University of Johannesburg, PO Box 524, Auckland Park, Johannesburg 2000, South Africa. Tel: +27-11-5591148; e-mail: journal-ed@uj.ac.za; Web site: https://upjournals.co.za/
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Evaluative
Education Level: High Schools; Secondary Education; Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: South Africa; Australia
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A