DECOLONIZATION
A Crash Course
This site is intended as an introduction to decolonization as a concept and active process. It is not intended to be utterly comprehensive, but to provide instead a basic outline from which to work. While decolonization projects are undertaken by communities worldwide, this site primarily focuses on efforts and issues within the created borders of the United States. The site creator is non-Native, and does not claim to represent Native communities or individuals.
Getting Started
What does it mean to decolonize? Decolonizing is a process that starts by breaking down internalized colonial discourse that we may not even be aware of.
At its most basic, a decolonizing framework:
•Acknowledges the effects of settler colonialism, and acknowledges that settler colonialism is ongoing today
•Examines paradigms that have emerged from a settler colonial context, and the ways in which these paradigms continue to harm Indigenous communities
•Privileges Indigenous voice, emphasizes Indigenous presence, and centers Indigenous concerns and desires
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One of the first steps to decolonizing is figuring out what colonial-isms we’re carrying with us. Do you know what Indigenous peoples inhabited and continue to inhabit where you live? What Native history do you know besides the myth of the first Thanksgiving? When you think of Native people, do you picture hundreds of distinct communities, each with their own particular cultures? Or do you picture an “Indian” from a Western movie? Do you know of any Indigenous communities that live near you today?
If the answer to any of these was “no,” “nothing,” or “wait, I’m confused,” you’re not alone. The American education system is designed to reinforce stereotypes, myths, and misinformation about Native people that justifies our (that is, people of Euro-American descent) continued occupation of stolen lands. Below are some resources to provide background information; Indigenous perspectives; and get you started in general.
Defining Decolonization
How do we define decolonization? What does it mean to different people? And how can we begin to recognize internalized colonial ideologies?
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Article: "The National History Center's New Teaching Decolonization Resource Collection," Annabel LaBrecque, Perspectives on History, March 19, 2018. While an undergraduate at George Washington University, Annabel LaBrecque found herself asked to explain the term "decolonization" in a class. This article explores different understandings of the term as it is used in different contexts, and discusses the new (as of 2018) Teaching Decolonization Resource Collection at the National History Center. https://www.historians.org/publications-and-directories/perspectives-on-history/march-2018/the-national-history-centers-new-teaching-decolonization-resource-collection
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Article: "White Allies, Let's Be Honest About Decolonization," Kyle Powys Whyte, Yes! Magazine, April 3, 2018. "Whether one participates in settler colonialism is not entirely a matter of when or how one’s ancestors came to the U.S. Having settler privilege means that some combination of one’s economic security, U.S. citizenship, sense of relationship to the land, mental and physical health, cultural integrity, family values, career aspirations, and spiritual lives are not possible—literally!—without the territorial dispossession of Indigenous peoples. 
How then can settler allies move beyond being sympathetic beneficiaries of colonialism? What approach is legitimately decolonizing?" Whyte, a Potawatomi environmental justice advocate, discusses decolonization and white allyship, which can often reinforce settler-colonial mindsets and practices through well-meaning misconceptions. https://www.yesmagazine.org/issues/decolonize/white-allies-lets-be-honest-about-decolonization-20180403
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Video: "Kyla Jenée Lacey - "White Privilege" @WANPOETRY," YouTube video, published August 2, 2017. [CW: Some language] Spoken word artist and performer Kyla Jeneé Lacey performs her poem "White Privilege," defining the multi-faceted term, drawing on history, contemporary happenings, and personal experience. (Nothing I write can truly do this piece justice, so please just watch it.) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qkz5UmXugzk
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Article: “Decolonization is Not a Metaphor,” by Eve Tuck & K. Wayne Yang, Decolonization: Indigeneity, Education & Society 1, no. 1, 2012. “In this article, we analyze multiple settler moves towards innocence in order to forward ‘an ethic of incommensurability’ that recognizes what is distinct and what is sovereign for project(s) of decolonization in relation to human and civil rights based social justice projects.” http://www.latrobe.edu.au/staff-profiles/data/docs/fjcollins.pdf
Some First Steps
Decolonization is not a destination, but a process. And like any process, we all have to start somewhere. A good place to start decolonizing our practices is learning to recognize the colonial ideologies we've internalized, so we can begin to break them down. For example, do you have any idea on whose homelands you live, work, and vacation? Indigenous people have been written out of many town and state histories as a way of claiming their homelands as our own, and the myth of the "vanishing Indian" is one that persists today. The reality is that Indigenous people never left. Native cultures have continued to the present day, each one with its own distinct traditions, histories, and practices. To unravel harmful narratives like these that persist in the present, we must learn the truth of the past.
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Native Land, an app that maps Indigenous homelands, can help you find out on whose lands you are living. The creators of the app encourage users to think critically about the maps, and consider that maps are in themselves colonial artifacts intended to indicate ownership and control of a place. https://native-land.ca/
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The Suppressed Speech of Wamsutta (Frank B.) James, Wampanoag. “Three hundred fifty years after the Pilgrims began their invasion of the land of the Wampanoag, their “American” descendants planned an anniversary celebration. Still clinging to the white schoolbook myth of friendly relations between their forefathers and the Wampanoag, the anniversary planners thought it would be nice to have an Indian make an appreciative and complimentary speech at their state dinner. Frank James was asked to speak at the celebration. He accepted. The planners, however, asked to see his speech in advance of the occasion, and it turned out that Frank James’ views—based on history rather than mythology—were not what the Pilgrims’ descendants wanted to hear. Frank James refused to deliver a speech written by a public relations person. Frank James did not speak at the anniversary celebration. If he had spoken, this is what he would have said.” http://www.uaine.org/suppressed_speech.htm
Lesson Plan: "Stereotyping and Racism Curriculum: Current Events in Stereotypes and Racism," Rhonda Frey, 2007. [Grades 8-9]. This piece was written as a lesson plan for middle school students, but reading about Rhonda’s experiences will provide vital perspective to everyone, not just young students. “In 2007, the Abbe Museum and Rhonda Frey (Penobscot/Passamaquoddy) partnered to create two new units for use in the classroom on issues of stereotyping and racism facing Maine’s Native American communities today. The units are meant to build on each other, and can be used in combination with discussions of racism faced by other communities in the United States, or to stand alone, as a means of meeting LD 291 and Maine Learning Results. Each unit is written by Rhonda based on her experiences, and addresses tough issues, yet offers hope and guidance for students today.
The goals of these units is to 1) educate students that prejudice is real and ongoing 2) empower students to recognize their ability to change not only themselves, but our communities and society and 3) to provide materials for use as a guide to further conversations about stereotyping and racism in the classroom and beyond.”
Video: Ware Lecture, Winona LaDuke, 2010. In 2010, Anishinaabekwe scholar, economist, writer, and activist Winona LaDuke addressed the General Assembly of the Unitarian Universalist Association. She spoke, among other things, about the language of empire and the power of “naming and claiming”—renaming an Indigenous place in order to lay claim to it. This lecture runs for just over an hour; there is also a transcript of it available below the video. https://www.uua.org/ga/past/2010/165861.shtml
Video: Winona LaDuke, on Colonialism, to the Council for Indigenous Education in Manitoba, 2017. This is an excerpt of a longer presentation, in which Winona LaDuke addressed “unresolved historic and present grief,” particularly in what is now Canada. “Winona LaDuke points to what she calls historical amnesia. CIEM presents for your consideration, the views of internationally renowned activist Winona LaDuke who shares her thoughts on indigenizing our education system. Winona has the ability to contextualize the far-reaching implications of how we teach, both historically and for the future generations.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vCLhAKSxCsw
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Webpage: "Building a Hopeful Future: The Restoration of Native American Life and Culture," Nativehope.org. Native Hope is a non-profit organization whose goal is to use "storytelling to dismantle barriers, bring healing, and inspire hope for Native people." They partner with tribes as well as other non-profits to help empower Native youth to become leaders in their community. This page explores the stories of Indigenous people who are working to help their communities transcend colonial trauma, pushing back against the myth that Native cultures are gone. https://pages.nativehope.org/building-a-hopeful-future