Why is Western Science colonial?

Living reciprocally with the land and respecting the agency of all beings is at the heart of Indigenous Ways of Knowing and living and is seen as essential to our well-being and existence. In contrast, Western Science is anthropocentric and hierarchical, as it prioritizes prioritizes human (and Western) knowledge and understanding. This form of knowledge ignores the agency of land and non-human beings, which in turn, undermines the sovereignty of Indigenous Peoples.

Western Science was founded by white European men and was used as a tool to advance and justify colonial practices and policies. Its prominence is deeply linked to the so-called “discovery” of “new plants/organisms” and “new people” in the “New World.” European colonizers were quick to impose their notion of what constitutes knowledge on the lands and peoples they colonized, disregarding the ways of knowing and being of Indigenous Peoples. This often involved extracting knowledge, further marginalizing Indigenous perspectives and practices.

As you start to explore how to create safer spaces for Indigenous students in your classroom setting, it would be useful to explore the colonial aspects of your discipline and how your discipline has benefitted from the historic and continued exploitation of and disregard for Indigenous lands and peoples. You can also research examples of how particular aspects of your field are embracing/weaving Indigenous ways of knowing within their current processes and how/if scientists in your field are collaborating with Indigenous Peoples to better understand the world around us.

• “Jagged Worldviews Colliding” by Little Bear (2000) discusses why Indigenous and Eurocentric worldviews clash and reiterates the need to understand the role of colonialism in the advancement and suppression of particular ways of knowing and being.
• For more information around the history of colonialism as it relates to science, see this article by Adas (2008) in the Encyclopedia of the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine in Non-Western Cultures and the work of Le & Matias (2019) about how whiteness impacts science education.

References

Adas, M. (2008). Colonialism and Science. In: Selin, H. (eds) Encyclopaedia of the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine in Non-Western Cultures. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-4425-0_8518

Le, P.T., Matias, C.E. (2019). Towards a truer multicultural science education: how whiteness impacts science education. Cultural Studies of Science Education, 14, 15–31. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11422-017-9854-9

Little Bear, L. (2000). Jagged worldviews colliding. In WALKING TOGETHER: First Nations, Métis and Inuit Perspectives in Curriculum. Government of Alberta. https://www.learnalberta.ca/content/aswt/worldviews/documents/jagged_worldviews_colliding.pdf