“Indian in the cupboard” lateral violence and indigenization of the academy

Abstract

Over the past several years, universities across Canada have been working toward making post-secondary education a more inclusive environment through Indigenization. This chapter is an explorative work that seeks to point out the realities, issues, and challenges that come with indigenizing the academy so that awareness can be raised to facilitate a more culturally safe environment for teaching and learning. The university, as the water cooler, is a place rife with the poison resulting from lateral violence and intra-professional aggressions rooted squarely in racism, discrimination, and sexism. As an Anishinaabe-kwe academic the author works to stand up and speak out on injustices, but also to educate the university community about the challenges that Indigenous peoples are facing due to entrenched colonialism and intellectual imperialism.