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I worked for a settler prof who commanded millions in Indigenous research funding. What stood out for me was time they locked a fellow student in a room and berated them for 20 minutes, where the student couldnât escape. When we told our chair about concerns, we were brushed off
In research in Canada, itâs almost impossible for Indigenous people to escape settler scholars who have cornered Indigenous research. If you want to make it âbigâ, you have to decide if you are going to work with folks who have long histories of harming vulnerable communities.
My heart is breaking right now at things students are bringing forward about another research situation so similar to that one I faced as a young student years ago. It feels inescapable â folks who get ahead in these existing systems are often quick to put their careers first.
When I feel despondent about how unethical folks all over academe take advantage of marginalized communities through research â and receive praise for doing so â I try to remember that there are folks insistently working to build something else. Something with integrity and magic
I remember, too, that I have been so lucky to be mentored by fierce advocates, rebels, visionaries who know that the work that matters is rooted not in career achievements but in measurable changes to the fabric of this order of existence.
But I really need my colleagues and peers throughout Canada to understand that unless we really dismantle and transform the structures that colonizers installed here in Canada, academia is still, deeply, a site of so much violence. And be suspicious of any claim otherwise.
I hesitated to tweet because thereâs real consequences for Indigenous folks â especially women, nonbinary folks â to speak openly about settler scholars who say theyâre helping communities thru research but in fact do so much harm. But if a tenured prof canât speak up then who?
I hope my tenured colleagues are listening. Especially settler colleagues who have every privilege and capacity to address injustices.
