Elizabeth Erwin and Linda Muzzin
The purpose of this paper is to document experiences of Aboriginal students in community colleges from the perspective of Aboriginal communities rather than policymakers and shows…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to document experiences of Aboriginal students in community colleges from the perspective of Aboriginal communities rather than policymakers and shows how these communities support student persistence in college.
Design/methodology/approach
Interviews with 16 Aboriginal college students, staff and community members were undertaken with Aboriginal guidance, and analysis was undertaken informed by the writings of Aboriginal scholars.
Findings
The major finding was that First Nations students experience a disconnect between the epistemology of Aboriginal peoples and ways of being in community colleges. Most demonstrate bravery and persistence in their studies as well as resistance to assimilation. Understanding and support is provided by surrounding Aboriginal communities, based on their appreciation of the epistemological roots of the problem.
Practical implications
Frequent reference to the absence of Indigenous Knowledges suggests that more must be done to make Aboriginal students feel safe in colleges where they are in the minority. In view of their feeling of “disconnect,” safe Aboriginal centers, or “homes away from home” are one of many ways to support these students.
Originality/value
The research challenges assimilationist approaches to Aboriginal college students, and highlights supporting Indigenous peoples, as described in global terms by Indigenous scholars.
Details
Keywords
Njoki Nathani Wane, Zuhra E. Abawi and Zachary Njagi Ndwiga
The chapter addresses the questions surrounding the politics of the academe as a reflective process. The three authors’ experiences are very different – spanning from tenured…
Abstract
The chapter addresses the questions surrounding the politics of the academe as a reflective process. The three authors’ experiences are very different – spanning from tenured professor to sessional instructor to professor in an African university. The narratives from the authors inform the readers of their goals to join the academy as faculty; their job search; being members of the staff and then; their experiences as members of the teaching force at various universities. The chapter is based on their experiences of navigating the politics of the academe. This chapter provides their narratives of what it means to be a professor, mentor, colleague, and researcher. Each story is told from their particular standpoint: two females and one male teaching in North American universities and Africa, respectively, two Black and one racialized female who can pass, but cannot because of her name. The analysis will address numerous complications involved in addressing expectations, establishing common grounds as educators from an international perspective, and providing narratives of how we have managed to maintain our goals and aspirations as members of the academe. The tensions involved will be problematized and explored from within the context of the academy and the associated constraints therein (Tatum, 1999). The objective of this chapter is to theorize the significance of navigating the politics of the academe to deflate arising tensions that may delay your passion for teaching. The chapter is informed by an anticolonial theoretical framework in light of converges and divergences of varying colonial contexts embedded in colonial Canadian society. The anticolonial framework draws on the specific settler-colonial Canadian context (Tuck & Yang, 2012). The chapter is divided into six parts: (1) introduction that provides a general overview of what it means to be faculty at a university, (2) situating ourselves, (3) theoretical framework, (4) Universities in general and more specifically, Canadian system and Kenyan, (5) discussion that provides an analysis or synthesis of our experiences, and (6) conclusion.