{"id":523,"date":"2022-02-28T12:12:41","date_gmt":"2022-02-28T17:12:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.ryerson.ca\/theunderstory\/?post_type=chapter&#038;p=523"},"modified":"2022-05-18T16:41:29","modified_gmt":"2022-05-18T20:41:29","slug":"module-3-3-knowledge-and-hierarchies-of-worth","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/theunderstory\/chapter\/module-3-3-knowledge-and-hierarchies-of-worth\/","title":{"raw":"Knowledge and Hierarchies of Worth","rendered":"Knowledge and Hierarchies of Worth"},"content":{"raw":"<div class=\"textbox\"><\/div>\r\n<div>\r\n<div class=\"textbox textbox--exercises\"><header class=\"textbox__header\">\r\n<h2 class=\"textbox__title\"><img src=\"http:\/\/pressbooks.library.ryerson.ca\/theunderstory\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/308\/2022\/02\/icon-set_reflection-1-300x300.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"75\" height=\"75\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-292\" \/> Reflection 2<\/h2>\r\n<\/header>\r\n<div class=\"textbox__content\">\r\n\r\nBefore you begin the section \u201cKnowledge and Hierarchies of Worth\u201d respond to the following questions:\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li style=\"font-weight: 400\">What is knowledge? How do you understand and\/or define what is considered knowledge and why?<\/li>\r\n \t<li style=\"font-weight: 400\">What types of knowledge (and whose knowledge) do you think are valued over others (use the example of your courses, if helpful)?<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<strong>Note<\/strong>: to access your reflection journal please review the <a href=\"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.ryerson.ca\/theunderstory\/chapter\/module-3-1-introduction\/\">introduction section<\/a> of the European Superiority Complex module.\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<div class=\"textbox\">\r\n<h2><img src=\"http:\/\/pressbooks.library.ryerson.ca\/theunderstory\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/308\/2022\/02\/icon-set_audio_ver2-300x300.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"80\" height=\"80\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-353\" \/>Audio<\/h2>\r\nTo refresh your memory, listen to the audio clip or read the transcript below from Video 3: The European Superiority Complex.\r\n\r\n\u201cCultural supremacy exists when particular peoples and cultures are perceived to naturally embody authority. They are then able to impose what they believe are objective and universal parameters onto other peoples and cultures.\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cOther cultures were thought to have traditions, values, and beliefs, but they were not considered to have the ability to reason and produce knowledge of universal worth, the way white, Christian, Europeans did. In this logic, Europeans (in particular, upper class, white, cisgendered, straight and able-bodied men) considered themselves the apex of human evolution, and everyone else was inferior.\u201d\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\nOur introductory video to this module explored how European cultural supremacy is tied to specific understandings about what type of knowledge is considered valid and universal. We will not go into depth dissecting eurocentric thinking further, rather our intention here is to <strong>focus on the effects of the imposition of a eurocentric worldview on the rest of the world<\/strong>. These effects have included colonial violence, genocide, and positioning some peoples as superior while others are considered \u201cless developed,\u201d as if their cultures are in need of \u201ccatching up.\u201d\r\n\r\nWestern Europe, and later what became defined as the Global North (or the broader \u201cWestern\u201d world), controls much of the global systems that we depend on today. They control wealth and its movement, as well as the movement of people around the world through nation-states and border regimes. Both of which have huge consequences for people living in the Global South. They present themselves as an authority on the \u201cbest\u201d, most \u201cprogressive\u201d or \u201cadvanced\u201d ways to govern and organize the economy, politics and society.\r\n\r\nThe notion that Western civilization is advanced, and everyone else is lagging behind, is a key part of Western identity. <strong>The \u201cWest\u201d presents its beliefs about the world as being universally true, a progressive blueprint for all humanity.<\/strong> Those who wield and control the systems that organize society based on this particular worldview are then able to position themselves as the arbiters of truth and justice. The dominant culture controls cultural production and history. Their perspectives and experiences are presented as objective and universal truth. This diminishes the contributions and validity of knowledge systems, worldviews and cultures that don\u2019t fit into eurocentric understandings.\r\n\r\nAn example of this can be found in the area of higher education and international engagement. When students and scholars from the Global North travel to the Global South for educational activities they tend to perpetuate these patterns. This belief system reinforces transactional relationships where the \u201cother\u201d to whiteness and Western Europe is expected to offer \u201cculture\u201d to be consumed, such as culinary or dance lessons, in return for receiving knowledge of universal value, such as technology, math or English.\r\n<h1>Epistemicide<\/h1>\r\nLet\u2019s start by exploring some key concepts. <strong>Epistemology<\/strong> is a branch of philosophy that focuses on the study of knowledge. It focuses on questions like what is knowledge? and how is it acquired?\r\n\r\n<strong>Epistemic privilege<\/strong> describes how a particular knowledge system or worldview is privileged over others. This connects to the idea of <strong>Eurocentrism<\/strong>, the tendency to interpret the world from European or Anglo-American values and experiences, effectively privileging a European worldview over others.\r\n\r\n<strong>Epistemicide<\/strong> refers to the destruction of existing knowledge and is often used in the context of colonization. It connects to the terms genocide, the intentional destruction of a people, and ecocide, the intentional desctruction of ecosystems and ecologies. Not only did colonization murder and harm millions of people, non-human life and the planet, it also sought to destroy non-Western cultures, languages and knowledge systems. This is also often referred to as <strong>cultural genocide<\/strong>.\r\n\r\nBelow is a talk by <strong>Fatima Khemilat<\/strong>, a PhD fellow at the Political Science Institute of Aix-en-Provence, which explores European epistemic privilege and the pervasiveness of epistemicide today (16 minutes).\r\n\r\nhttps:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=zK6hegi_wHE\r\n<h1>The \u2018Danger of a Single Story\u2019<\/h1>\r\nIn her talk \u201cThe danger of a single story\u201d <strong>Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie<\/strong>, reknowned author and feminist, explores how stories shape our perception of others (19 minutes). She considers how those with power to wield and disseminate the narrative shape perception and what is imaginable. Adichie\u2019s talk connects the legacies of European cultural supremacy to the ways that many come to understand the world and one another today. And she points to the power of story not only to harm, but also to empower.\r\n\r\nhttps:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=D9Ihs241zeg\r\n\r\nBelow <strong>Priyamvada Gopal<\/strong>, professor of Postcolonial Studies at the University of Cambridge, discusses her book <em>Insurgent Empire: Anticolonial Resistance and British Dissent<\/em> (2 minutes). She considers the stories that we have inherited from the empire and how we can think about them differently today.\r\n\r\nhttps:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=wOnBiHHPLm4&amp;t=4s\r\n<h1>Ecology of Knowledges<\/h1>\r\nMany scholars and storytellers are challenging the ways Western European cultural supremacy has sought to erase people, cultures and their knowledge systems. Others have pointed out that Western science often declares that it \"discovers\" theories that Indigenous peoples have been discussing long before Westerners did.\r\n\r\nM\u0101ori scholar<strong> Linda Tuhiwai Smith<\/strong> writes about this at length in her classic book, Decolonizing Methodologies: Research and Indigenous Peoples, explaining that Indigenous peoples often came up with concepts \u201cproven\u201d by Western science hundreds of years earlier. Smith also dissects the foundations of research based in Western traditions and the horrific treatment of Indigenous peoples around the world in the name of science. Watch the video below and listen to Linda Tuhiwai Smith describe the relationship between research, science and Indigenous peoples.\r\n\r\nhttps:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=dxoJse2a9NE\r\n\r\n<strong>Boaventura de Sousa Santos<\/strong> talks about the concept of epistemologies of the south, non-eurocentric knowledge systems, cosmovisions, and worldviews that are typically not understood or legible within Western European thought. Watch Santos describe some of these concepts below (6 minutes).\r\n\r\nhttps:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=HN3wkcfkM78\r\n\r\nHowever, as noted above, we are seeing more and more examples where Western knowledge is trying to consume knowledge and perspectives, trying to fit it neatly into its own paradigm of thought. But what may be missing or excluded if knowledge is approached in this way? If it is based on consumption and absorption instead of dialogue and relationship?\r\n\r\n<strong>Sharon Stein<\/strong> describes Santos\u2019 \u2018ecology of knowledges\u2019 as one that would:\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li style=\"font-weight: 400\">Grapple with the diversity of knowledge systems and the reality that all knowledge is not equally valued nor included within educational institutions<\/li>\r\n \t<li style=\"font-weight: 400\">Value a particular knowledge system as it relates to a specific context, as all knowledge is context-specific, partial and provisional<\/li>\r\n \t<li style=\"font-weight: 400\">Create an opportunity for multiple knowledge systems to equitably coexist. It\u2019s not about deciding which is better than the other, or which can be consumed by the other or which can replace the other. How can a multitude of knowledge systems and ways of perceiving and understanding the world enter into conversation?<\/li>\r\n \t<li style=\"font-weight: 400\">Recognize the interdependent nature of all knowledge systems. The idea that any particular knowledge system exists in isolation without interaction with other cultures and knowledges is just not the reality of the world. Just as food and goods have been traded around the world for centuries, so too have ideas.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\nWhat would an approach to contemporary climate and social crisis look like if it took into account, respected and valued the plurality of ways of knowing and being in the world?\r\n<h2 class=\"textbox__title\"><strong><span style=\"color: #000000\"><img src=\"http:\/\/pressbooks.library.ryerson.ca\/theunderstory\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/308\/2022\/01\/icon-set_learning-activites-1-300x300.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"80\" height=\"80\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-320\" \/>Check Your Understanding<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\r\n<div class=\"postbox h5p-sidebar\">\r\n<div class=\"h5p-action-bar-settings h5p-panel\"><code>[h5p id=\"16\"]<\/code><\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<div class=\"textbox\">\r\n<h2>Recommended Reading<\/h2>\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li style=\"font-weight: 400\">George Nicholas, \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/perma.cc\/2AWX-F99J\">It\u2019s taken thousands of years, but Western science is finally catching up to Traditional Knowledge<\/a>,\u201d The Conversation, February 2018<\/li>\r\n \t<li style=\"font-weight: 400\">Stein, Andreotti, Susa, Ahenakew &amp; Mario de Souza. \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.oneducation.net\/no-07_april-2020\/article-vanessa-andreotti\/\">Who decides? In whose name? For whose benefit? Decoloniality and its discontents<\/a>.\u201d on_education Journal for Research and Debate. No. 07, April 2020.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Ahenakew C. <a href=\"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/10.1525\/irqr.2016.9.3.323\">Grafting Indigenous Ways of Knowing onto Non-Indigenous Ways of Being: The (Underestimated) Challenges of a Decolonial Imagination<\/a>. International Review of Qualitative Research. 2016;9(3):323-340.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Simpson, L.B. <a href=\"https:\/\/jps.library.utoronto.ca\/index.php\/des\/article\/view\/22170\">Land as pedagogy: Nishnaabeg intelligence and rebellious transformation<\/a>. Decolonization, Indigeneity, Education and Society. Vol. 3. No. 3 (2014).<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Stein, Sharon. \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.academia.edu\/32155349\/The_persistent_challenges_of_addressing_epistemic_dominance_in_higher_education_Considering_the_case_of_curriculum_internationalization_2017_?auto=download\">The Persistent Challenges of Addressing Epistemic Dominance in Higher Education: Considering the Case of Curriculum Internationalization<\/a>.\u201d Comparative Education Review 61, no. S1 (2017)<\/li>\r\n \t<li><a href=\"https:\/\/greendreamer.com\/podcast\/vanessa-andreotti-hospicing-modernity\">Vanessa Andreotti: Allowing Earth to dream through us<\/a>. Green Dreamer podcast ep. 338. (audio + transcript)<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/div>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<div class=\"textbox textbox--exercises\"><header class=\"textbox__header\">\r\n<h2 class=\"textbox__title\"><img src=\"http:\/\/pressbooks.library.ryerson.ca\/theunderstory\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/308\/2022\/02\/icon-set_reflection-1-300x300.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"75\" height=\"75\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-292\" \/> Reflection 3<\/h2>\r\n<\/header>\r\n<div class=\"textbox__content\">\r\n\r\nAfter completing the section \u201cKnowledge and Hierarchies of Worth\u201d consider:\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li style=\"font-weight: 400\">How has Eurocentrism (or European superiority\/supremacy) shaped what you have learned in school (consider primary, middle and higher education)?<\/li>\r\n \t<li style=\"font-weight: 400\">Have you experienced a learning environment that incorporates any of the ideas of an \u2018ecology of knowledges\u2019?<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<strong>Note<\/strong>: to access your reflection journal please review the <a href=\"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.ryerson.ca\/theunderstory\/chapter\/module-3-1-introduction\/\">introduction section<\/a> of the European Superiority Complex module.\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>","rendered":"<div class=\"textbox\"><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"textbox textbox--exercises\">\n<header class=\"textbox__header\">\n<h2 class=\"textbox__title\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/pressbooks.library.ryerson.ca\/theunderstory\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/308\/2022\/02\/icon-set_reflection-1-300x300.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"75\" height=\"75\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-292\" srcset=\"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/theunderstory\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/308\/2022\/02\/icon-set_reflection-1-300x300.png 300w, https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/theunderstory\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/308\/2022\/02\/icon-set_reflection-1-1024x1024.png 1024w, https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/theunderstory\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/308\/2022\/02\/icon-set_reflection-1-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/theunderstory\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/308\/2022\/02\/icon-set_reflection-1-768x768.png 768w, https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/theunderstory\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/308\/2022\/02\/icon-set_reflection-1-1536x1536.png 1536w, https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/theunderstory\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/308\/2022\/02\/icon-set_reflection-1-2048x2048.png 2048w, https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/theunderstory\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/308\/2022\/02\/icon-set_reflection-1-65x65.png 65w, https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/theunderstory\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/308\/2022\/02\/icon-set_reflection-1-225x225.png 225w, https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/theunderstory\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/308\/2022\/02\/icon-set_reflection-1-350x350.png 350w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 75px) 100vw, 75px\" \/> Reflection 2<\/h2>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"textbox__content\">\n<p>Before you begin the section \u201cKnowledge and Hierarchies of Worth\u201d respond to the following questions:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\">What is knowledge? How do you understand and\/or define what is considered knowledge and why?<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\">What types of knowledge (and whose knowledge) do you think are valued over others (use the example of your courses, if helpful)?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Note<\/strong>: to access your reflection journal please review the <a href=\"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.ryerson.ca\/theunderstory\/chapter\/module-3-1-introduction\/\">introduction section<\/a> of the European Superiority Complex module.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"textbox\">\n<h2><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/pressbooks.library.ryerson.ca\/theunderstory\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/308\/2022\/02\/icon-set_audio_ver2-300x300.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"80\" height=\"80\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-353\" srcset=\"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/theunderstory\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/308\/2022\/02\/icon-set_audio_ver2-300x300.png 300w, https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/theunderstory\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/308\/2022\/02\/icon-set_audio_ver2-1024x1024.png 1024w, https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/theunderstory\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/308\/2022\/02\/icon-set_audio_ver2-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/theunderstory\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/308\/2022\/02\/icon-set_audio_ver2-768x768.png 768w, https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/theunderstory\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/308\/2022\/02\/icon-set_audio_ver2-1536x1536.png 1536w, https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/theunderstory\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/308\/2022\/02\/icon-set_audio_ver2-2048x2048.png 2048w, https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/theunderstory\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/308\/2022\/02\/icon-set_audio_ver2-65x65.png 65w, https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/theunderstory\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/308\/2022\/02\/icon-set_audio_ver2-225x225.png 225w, https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/theunderstory\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/308\/2022\/02\/icon-set_audio_ver2-350x350.png 350w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 80px) 100vw, 80px\" \/>Audio<\/h2>\n<p>To refresh your memory, listen to the audio clip or read the transcript below from Video 3: The European Superiority Complex.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCultural supremacy exists when particular peoples and cultures are perceived to naturally embody authority. They are then able to impose what they believe are objective and universal parameters onto other peoples and cultures.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOther cultures were thought to have traditions, values, and beliefs, but they were not considered to have the ability to reason and produce knowledge of universal worth, the way white, Christian, Europeans did. In this logic, Europeans (in particular, upper class, white, cisgendered, straight and able-bodied men) considered themselves the apex of human evolution, and everyone else was inferior.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Our introductory video to this module explored how European cultural supremacy is tied to specific understandings about what type of knowledge is considered valid and universal. We will not go into depth dissecting eurocentric thinking further, rather our intention here is to <strong>focus on the effects of the imposition of a eurocentric worldview on the rest of the world<\/strong>. These effects have included colonial violence, genocide, and positioning some peoples as superior while others are considered \u201cless developed,\u201d as if their cultures are in need of \u201ccatching up.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Western Europe, and later what became defined as the Global North (or the broader \u201cWestern\u201d world), controls much of the global systems that we depend on today. They control wealth and its movement, as well as the movement of people around the world through nation-states and border regimes. Both of which have huge consequences for people living in the Global South. They present themselves as an authority on the \u201cbest\u201d, most \u201cprogressive\u201d or \u201cadvanced\u201d ways to govern and organize the economy, politics and society.<\/p>\n<p>The notion that Western civilization is advanced, and everyone else is lagging behind, is a key part of Western identity. <strong>The \u201cWest\u201d presents its beliefs about the world as being universally true, a progressive blueprint for all humanity.<\/strong> Those who wield and control the systems that organize society based on this particular worldview are then able to position themselves as the arbiters of truth and justice. The dominant culture controls cultural production and history. Their perspectives and experiences are presented as objective and universal truth. This diminishes the contributions and validity of knowledge systems, worldviews and cultures that don\u2019t fit into eurocentric understandings.<\/p>\n<p>An example of this can be found in the area of higher education and international engagement. When students and scholars from the Global North travel to the Global South for educational activities they tend to perpetuate these patterns. This belief system reinforces transactional relationships where the \u201cother\u201d to whiteness and Western Europe is expected to offer \u201cculture\u201d to be consumed, such as culinary or dance lessons, in return for receiving knowledge of universal value, such as technology, math or English.<\/p>\n<h1>Epistemicide<\/h1>\n<p>Let\u2019s start by exploring some key concepts. <strong>Epistemology<\/strong> is a branch of philosophy that focuses on the study of knowledge. It focuses on questions like what is knowledge? and how is it acquired?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Epistemic privilege<\/strong> describes how a particular knowledge system or worldview is privileged over others. This connects to the idea of <strong>Eurocentrism<\/strong>, the tendency to interpret the world from European or Anglo-American values and experiences, effectively privileging a European worldview over others.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Epistemicide<\/strong> refers to the destruction of existing knowledge and is often used in the context of colonization. It connects to the terms genocide, the intentional destruction of a people, and ecocide, the intentional desctruction of ecosystems and ecologies. Not only did colonization murder and harm millions of people, non-human life and the planet, it also sought to destroy non-Western cultures, languages and knowledge systems. This is also often referred to as <strong>cultural genocide<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>Below is a talk by <strong>Fatima Khemilat<\/strong>, a PhD fellow at the Political Science Institute of Aix-en-Provence, which explores European epistemic privilege and the pervasiveness of epistemicide today (16 minutes).<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" id=\"oembed-1\" title=\"\u00c9pist\u00e9micides. L&#39;imp\u00e9rialisme m&#39;a TueR | Fatima Khemilat | TMTT Talks\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/zK6hegi_wHE?feature=oembed&#38;rel=0\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h1>The \u2018Danger of a Single Story\u2019<\/h1>\n<p>In her talk \u201cThe danger of a single story\u201d <strong>Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie<\/strong>, reknowned author and feminist, explores how stories shape our perception of others (19 minutes). She considers how those with power to wield and disseminate the narrative shape perception and what is imaginable. Adichie\u2019s talk connects the legacies of European cultural supremacy to the ways that many come to understand the world and one another today. And she points to the power of story not only to harm, but also to empower.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" id=\"oembed-2\" title=\"Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie: The danger of a single story | TED\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/D9Ihs241zeg?feature=oembed&#38;rel=0\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Below <strong>Priyamvada Gopal<\/strong>, professor of Postcolonial Studies at the University of Cambridge, discusses her book <em>Insurgent Empire: Anticolonial Resistance and British Dissent<\/em> (2 minutes). She considers the stories that we have inherited from the empire and how we can think about them differently today.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" id=\"oembed-3\" title=\"Changing the stories we have inherited from colonialism | Priyamvada Gopal\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/wOnBiHHPLm4?start=4&#38;feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h1>Ecology of Knowledges<\/h1>\n<p>Many scholars and storytellers are challenging the ways Western European cultural supremacy has sought to erase people, cultures and their knowledge systems. Others have pointed out that Western science often declares that it &#8220;discovers&#8221; theories that Indigenous peoples have been discussing long before Westerners did.<\/p>\n<p>M\u0101ori scholar<strong> Linda Tuhiwai Smith<\/strong> writes about this at length in her classic book, Decolonizing Methodologies: Research and Indigenous Peoples, explaining that Indigenous peoples often came up with concepts \u201cproven\u201d by Western science hundreds of years earlier. Smith also dissects the foundations of research based in Western traditions and the horrific treatment of Indigenous peoples around the world in the name of science. Watch the video below and listen to Linda Tuhiwai Smith describe the relationship between research, science and Indigenous peoples.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" id=\"oembed-4\" title=\"Research Ethics and Indigenous Peoples 101 | Linda Tuhiwai Smith\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/dxoJse2a9NE?feature=oembed&#38;rel=0\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>Boaventura de Sousa Santos<\/strong> talks about the concept of epistemologies of the south, non-eurocentric knowledge systems, cosmovisions, and worldviews that are typically not understood or legible within Western European thought. Watch Santos describe some of these concepts below (6 minutes).<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" id=\"oembed-5\" title=\"Boaventura de Sousa Santos - Epistemologies of the South (ALICE Interview 5\/9)\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/HN3wkcfkM78?feature=oembed&#38;rel=0\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>However, as noted above, we are seeing more and more examples where Western knowledge is trying to consume knowledge and perspectives, trying to fit it neatly into its own paradigm of thought. But what may be missing or excluded if knowledge is approached in this way? If it is based on consumption and absorption instead of dialogue and relationship?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Sharon Stein<\/strong> describes Santos\u2019 \u2018ecology of knowledges\u2019 as one that would:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\">Grapple with the diversity of knowledge systems and the reality that all knowledge is not equally valued nor included within educational institutions<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\">Value a particular knowledge system as it relates to a specific context, as all knowledge is context-specific, partial and provisional<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\">Create an opportunity for multiple knowledge systems to equitably coexist. It\u2019s not about deciding which is better than the other, or which can be consumed by the other or which can replace the other. How can a multitude of knowledge systems and ways of perceiving and understanding the world enter into conversation?<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\">Recognize the interdependent nature of all knowledge systems. The idea that any particular knowledge system exists in isolation without interaction with other cultures and knowledges is just not the reality of the world. Just as food and goods have been traded around the world for centuries, so too have ideas.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>What would an approach to contemporary climate and social crisis look like if it took into account, respected and valued the plurality of ways of knowing and being in the world?<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"textbox__title\"><strong><span style=\"color: #000000\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/pressbooks.library.ryerson.ca\/theunderstory\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/308\/2022\/01\/icon-set_learning-activites-1-300x300.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"80\" height=\"80\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-320\" srcset=\"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/theunderstory\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/308\/2022\/01\/icon-set_learning-activites-1-300x300.png 300w, https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/theunderstory\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/308\/2022\/01\/icon-set_learning-activites-1-1024x1024.png 1024w, https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/theunderstory\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/308\/2022\/01\/icon-set_learning-activites-1-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/theunderstory\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/308\/2022\/01\/icon-set_learning-activites-1-768x768.png 768w, https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/theunderstory\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/308\/2022\/01\/icon-set_learning-activites-1-1536x1536.png 1536w, https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/theunderstory\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/308\/2022\/01\/icon-set_learning-activites-1-2048x2048.png 2048w, https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/theunderstory\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/308\/2022\/01\/icon-set_learning-activites-1-65x65.png 65w, https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/theunderstory\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/308\/2022\/01\/icon-set_learning-activites-1-225x225.png 225w, https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/theunderstory\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/308\/2022\/01\/icon-set_learning-activites-1-350x350.png 350w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 80px) 100vw, 80px\" \/>Check Your Understanding<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n<div class=\"postbox h5p-sidebar\">\n<div class=\"h5p-action-bar-settings h5p-panel\"><code><\/p>\n<div id=\"h5p-16\">\n<div class=\"h5p-iframe-wrapper\"><iframe id=\"h5p-iframe-16\" class=\"h5p-iframe\" data-content-id=\"16\" style=\"height:1px\" src=\"about:blank\" frameBorder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" title=\"Knowledge and Hierarchies of Worth\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/code><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"textbox\">\n<h2>Recommended Reading<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\">George Nicholas, \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/perma.cc\/2AWX-F99J\">It\u2019s taken thousands of years, but Western science is finally catching up to Traditional Knowledge<\/a>,\u201d The Conversation, February 2018<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\">Stein, Andreotti, Susa, Ahenakew &amp; Mario de Souza. \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.oneducation.net\/no-07_april-2020\/article-vanessa-andreotti\/\">Who decides? In whose name? For whose benefit? Decoloniality and its discontents<\/a>.\u201d on_education Journal for Research and Debate. No. 07, April 2020.<\/li>\n<li>Ahenakew C. <a href=\"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/10.1525\/irqr.2016.9.3.323\">Grafting Indigenous Ways of Knowing onto Non-Indigenous Ways of Being: The (Underestimated) Challenges of a Decolonial Imagination<\/a>. International Review of Qualitative Research. 2016;9(3):323-340.<\/li>\n<li>Simpson, L.B. <a href=\"https:\/\/jps.library.utoronto.ca\/index.php\/des\/article\/view\/22170\">Land as pedagogy: Nishnaabeg intelligence and rebellious transformation<\/a>. Decolonization, Indigeneity, Education and Society. Vol. 3. No. 3 (2014).<\/li>\n<li>Stein, Sharon. \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.academia.edu\/32155349\/The_persistent_challenges_of_addressing_epistemic_dominance_in_higher_education_Considering_the_case_of_curriculum_internationalization_2017_?auto=download\">The Persistent Challenges of Addressing Epistemic Dominance in Higher Education: Considering the Case of Curriculum Internationalization<\/a>.\u201d Comparative Education Review 61, no. S1 (2017)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/greendreamer.com\/podcast\/vanessa-andreotti-hospicing-modernity\">Vanessa Andreotti: Allowing Earth to dream through us<\/a>. Green Dreamer podcast ep. 338. (audio + transcript)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div class=\"textbox textbox--exercises\">\n<header class=\"textbox__header\">\n<h2 class=\"textbox__title\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/pressbooks.library.ryerson.ca\/theunderstory\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/308\/2022\/02\/icon-set_reflection-1-300x300.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"75\" height=\"75\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-292\" srcset=\"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/theunderstory\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/308\/2022\/02\/icon-set_reflection-1-300x300.png 300w, https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/theunderstory\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/308\/2022\/02\/icon-set_reflection-1-1024x1024.png 1024w, https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/theunderstory\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/308\/2022\/02\/icon-set_reflection-1-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/theunderstory\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/308\/2022\/02\/icon-set_reflection-1-768x768.png 768w, https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/theunderstory\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/308\/2022\/02\/icon-set_reflection-1-1536x1536.png 1536w, https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/theunderstory\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/308\/2022\/02\/icon-set_reflection-1-2048x2048.png 2048w, https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/theunderstory\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/308\/2022\/02\/icon-set_reflection-1-65x65.png 65w, https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/theunderstory\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/308\/2022\/02\/icon-set_reflection-1-225x225.png 225w, https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/theunderstory\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/308\/2022\/02\/icon-set_reflection-1-350x350.png 350w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 75px) 100vw, 75px\" \/> Reflection 3<\/h2>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"textbox__content\">\n<p>After completing the section \u201cKnowledge and Hierarchies of Worth\u201d consider:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\">How has Eurocentrism (or European superiority\/supremacy) shaped what you have learned in school (consider primary, middle and higher education)?<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\">Have you experienced a learning environment that incorporates any of the ideas of an \u2018ecology of knowledges\u2019?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Note<\/strong>: to access your reflection journal please review the <a href=\"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.ryerson.ca\/theunderstory\/chapter\/module-3-1-introduction\/\">introduction section<\/a> of the European Superiority Complex module.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":401,"menu_order":3,"template":"","meta":{"pb_show_title":"on","pb_short_title":"","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":[],"pb_section_license":""},"chapter-type":[],"contributor":[],"license":[],"class_list":["post-523","chapter","type-chapter","status-publish","hentry"],"part":519,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/theunderstory\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/523","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/theunderstory\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/theunderstory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/chapter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/theunderstory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/401"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/theunderstory\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/523\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":900,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/theunderstory\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/523\/revisions\/900"}],"part":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/theunderstory\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/parts\/519"}],"metadata":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/theunderstory\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/523\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/theunderstory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=523"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"chapter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/theunderstory\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapter-type?post=523"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/theunderstory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=523"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/theunderstory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=523"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}