Decolonising the curriculum, decolonising ourselves: Experiences of teaching in and from the 'third space'

This paper presents a framework for practice and teaching and learning about becoming an Ally in working with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Two social work educators reflect on their own personal and professional journeys towards becoming Allies and what they have used to construct a teaching and learning framework for use with social work students. Three main works contribute to this framework: Bishop’s (2002) Becoming an Ally, Land’s (2015) Decolonising Solidarity, and Singleton and Hays’ (2008) “Courageous Conversations about Race”. The paper firstly presents the argument for taking an Ally position in decolonising the curriculum, before describing the authors’ own journeys towards being Allies. A critical examination follows in which a framework for Ally work is described and subsequently discussed through illustration of their experiences in the classroom. The paper concludes with some key reflections on the learnings from these processes which re-affirm the underpinning of ethical practice as being both self-rule and self-formation indicating that this work is founded on a critical awareness of self which is essential to the joint relational project of decolonisation.

[1]  D. Bessarab,et al.  Getting it right: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander knowledge and practices in Australian social work education , 2016 .

[2]  M. McKenzie,et al.  Practicing from Theory: Thinking and Knowing to “Do” Child Protection Work , 2014 .

[3]  Priscilla A. Gibson.  Extending the Ally Model of Social Justice to Social Work Pedagogy , 2014 .

[4]  D. Bessarab,et al.  Getting it right: creating partnerships for change. Integrating Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander knowledges in social work education and practice , 2014 .

[5]  S. Walker.  The teaching of Maori social work practice and theory to a predominantly pakeha audience , 2012 .

[6]  J. Zubrzycki,et al.  Educating Australian social workers in the post-Apology era: The potential offered by a ‘Whiteness’ lens , 2011 .

[7]  L. Molloy.  Binan Goonj: Bridging Cultures in Aboriginal Health , 2011 .

[8]  Susan Young.  INDIGENOUS CHILD PROTECTION POLICY IN AUSTRALIA: USING WHITENESS THEORY FOR SOCIAL WORK , 2008 .

[9]  G. Wagner,et al.  Communicating in the third space , 2008 .

[10]  P. Wolfe.  Settler colonialism and the elimination of the native , 2006 .

[11]  Susan Young.  Social Work Theory and Practice: the Invisibility of Whiteness , 2004 .

[12]  Karen L. Martin,et al.  Ways of knowing, being and doing: A theoretical framework and methods for indigenous and indigenist re‐search , 2003 .

[13]  Aileen M. Moreton-Robinson.  Unmasking Whiteness: A Goori Jondal's Look at Some Duggai Business , 1999, Queensland Review.

[14]  A. Memmi.  The Colonizer and the Colonized , 1957 .