Anti-Colonial Research Praxis

How can anti-colonial research methodologies be transformative and achieve knowledge justice? This book brings together leading scholars from around the world to share methodological knowledge grounded in First Nations and majority-world expertise and wisdom. The authors challenge western-centric and colonial approaches to knowledge production, redefining the possibilities of what we can achieve through social research.

The First Nations and majority-world perspectives highlighted here share a common aim of disrupting established beliefs about research methodologies and unquestioned norms in the academy. Authors in this edited collection describe how they draw on Indigenous knowledge systems, feminist frameworks and creative methodologies as forms of anti-colonial research praxis. Spanning development studies, geography, education, sexual and reproductive health, humanitarian studies and social work, the authors reflexively discuss the specific factors shaping how they engage in research ethically. The book reimagines social research through an anti-colonial lens, concluding with a set of provocations for anti-colonial research praxis that situate this important work in the context of ongoing colonial violence and institutional constraints.

This book is an essential guide for researchers and scholars within and beyond the academy on how anti-colonial research praxis can produce meaningful outcomes, especially in violent and troubled times.
Cover art courtesy of Tawny Chatmon