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Uprooting Narratives: Legacies of Colonialism in the Neoliberal University

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 February 2020

Melanie Bowman Open the ORCID record for Melanie Bowman [Opens in a new window]  and
María Rebolleda-Gómez Open the ORCID record for María Rebolleda-Gómez [Opens in a new window]
Melanie Bowman*
Affiliation:
Department of Philosophy, University of Minnesota, 831 Heller Hall, 271 19th Ave. South, Minneapolis, Minnesota55455
María Rebolleda-Gómez*
Affiliation:
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Yale University, 840 West Campus Drive, West Haven, Connecticut06516
*
Corresponding authors. Email: bowma271@umn.edu; rebol004@umn.edu
Corresponding authors. Email: bowma271@umn.edu; rebol004@umn.edu
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Abstract

Two intertwined stories evince the influence of colonialism on Western universities. The first story centers on a conflict about wild rice research between the Anishinaabe people and the University of Minnesota. Underlying this conflict is a genetic notion of biological identity that facilitates the commodification of wild rice. This notion of identity is inextricably linked to agricultural control and expansion. The second story addresses the foundation of Western universities on the goals of civilization and capitalist productivity. These norms persist even in diversity efforts through a focus on individualized notions of difference rather than socially contextualized and politically significant identities. The tendency to produce both knowledge and knowers as commodities results in the alienation, individuation, and abstraction of objects of research and researchers themselves. Decolonial change demands that we learn the specific histories of our universities and disciplines, break disciplinary boundaries, and contest commodification in knowledge production.

Type
Articles
Information
Hypatia , Volume 35 , Special Issue 1: Indigenizing and Decolonizing Feminist Philosophy , Winter 2020 , pp. 18 - 40
Copyright
Copyright © by Hypatia, Inc. 2020

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