Envisioning Indigenous education sovereignty through story: Our education, our way

Abstract

Within an Aboriginal community in so-called Australia, conversations of education sovereignty are being held. These conversations, as part of my doctoral research, are envisioning an educational future outside of colonial-controlled schooling, an educational future grounded in Indigenous knowledges. In recognition that education has been occurring here, very successfully, for tens of thousands of years, community members share their vision for Indigenous futurities, looking at the patterns of the past to prepare for the future. Envisioning education sovereignty creates time and space to think deeply about the future, and to embrace ancient educational practices that our ancestors would recognise. These conversations do not subscribe to Western notions of “progress”, nor start from a premise that colonial rule is ever-lasting. This research contends with Indigenous education sovereignty for our grandchildren’s grandchildren. Some findings from this research are shared here, in the form of a story, as a decolonial approach to centre Indigenous knowledges and methodologies. This story—“Our Education, Our Way”—presents a vision for what education could look and feel like, and has implications for the way formal education currently functions.