The world of anti-colonialism waffle

I think the Medical Journal of Australia used to run humorous short pieces at Christmas, so I had a look at it today, and instead became depressed while reading this article:

Decolonisation, Indigenous health research and Indigenous authorship: sharing our teams’ principles and practices

It's open access, so you can read it and marvel too at the intensity of what I sometimes describe as "sociology talk":   the use of a terminology invented for their own field and which has gone on to become the navel gazing justification for academic careers:  whole careers devoted to taking to talking to each other about their own terminology and world views, and telling others that they just don't get it like they do.

Now, I know:  you could have the same criticism of philosophy, which is a field I am generally sympathetic to.   But at least philosophers don't turn up at government meetings arguing that their insights are crucial to solving social disadvantage - they by and large have the good sense to let economists worry about economics, and doctors and epidemiologists worry about improving health, and so on.

To clarify:  it's not as if I am one to think you ignore everything (say) a remote indigenous community thinks about their health services if you want to improve it.   But that's the immensely irritating problem I have with the likes of this article:   its insights could be condensed to something like this:  "indigenous people come from a different cultural background, and it pays to try to work with them and take their views into consideration when trying to improve their health services."   

But no, let's spend money on career academics and researchers and their conferences that spin a simple principle into well paying careers of waffle.

Here are some key paragraphs:

Decolonisation

Colonisation stems from, as well as perpetuates racial imbalances of knowledge, knowledge production and knowledge practice. Decolonisation and decoloniality are a few of many tools used in attempts to dismantle, hinder, reverse, stop or remove colonising practices, with the aim of privileging the rights of Indigenous people.13,20,21,22 We acknowledge the various, and sometimes conflicting conceptualisations and applications of decolonising and decolonial practices. These conflicts are influenced by place, people and socio‐political contexts, including the lack of transformative actions that should be of benefit to Indigenous peoples.21,23,24,25,26 Three key features, of the many, relating to decolonial and decolonising practices that we implement in our team are described below.

Establish and understand positionality

Positionality is where one speaks from; it is reflective of values, beliefs and worldviews and how these underpin daily life.1 For Indigenous peoples, positionality is reliant on relationality, whereby relationships to Country, family and community underpin values, beliefs and worldviews.1,3 Positioning includes one's professional context and intentions of research, as much as it is about positioning within the workplace.21 Furthermore, understanding one's workplace and the relationships formed with Indigenous communities, past and present, is essential. Positioning in context of colonisation is also important. Non‐Indigenous people need to understand their own positioning in relation to colonisation, including privileges associated with unearned power.20 Whereas Indigenous peoples' positioning with colonisation is linked with both historical and contemporary forms of oppression, which aims to eradicate Indigenous peoples and knowledges. Indigenous peoples have another link to colonisation; one that is associated with survival, resistance and a reclamation of Indigenous Knowledges and practices

Ugh.