Journeying Towards Decolonization and Allyship Through Un-Learning and Re-Learning

Abstract

This study’s purpose is to document and share my learning journey in the process of decolonization, as a non-Indigenous administrator pursuing un-learning and re-learning, while working in a high school that has a dormitory for Indigenous students to reside. This self-study is shaped by the work of Marie Battiste (2010) who speaks to decolonizing the mind. I share my experiences primarily for an audience of non-Indigenous educators and administrators who may view my pursuit of allyship and relational living, in a Northern community. This study reflects the many feelings and insights I gained as I sought connections and relationships in a school that is working to actively support, facilitate, promote, and make space for Indigenous ways of knowing and being. Through a process of reflecting on storied moments over the course of one year, the educational problem being addressed here is: How does a non-Indigenous educator inhabit a leadership role in a school dormitory for Indigenous students that meets the needs of students, such as protecting them and keeping them safe, while not reproducing the overreach of the residential schools’ approach to relating to children and youth? My research questions focused on what I needed to learn, and how I experienced that learning, in relation to 1) the students; 2) the staff; and 3) the greater community surrounding the school. My findings include the following themes: facilitating student opportunities to create and develop their cultural identity; advocating for students’ safety and well-being, while confronting racism; supporting students by creating opportunities for them to “see themselves” in the dorms; it is a continuous journey in personal decolonization to be good ally; listening to hear – the dormitory staff as my guide; staff support through mental health “triggers”; developing relationships I was unaware I would need; acting to shift power and avoid perpetuating the colonial legacies of residential schools; and, the importance of community relationships to ground myself (and my family) in the North.