Indigenous decolonization
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Indigenous Decolonization is a process that Indigenous people whose communities were grossly affected by colonial expansion, genocide and cultural assimilation may go through in understanding the history of their colonization and rediscovering their ancestral traditions and cultural values. A contemporary concept in Indigenous health and healing studies, decolonization (Indigenous) is a healing journey that may involve grief, anger, rage, growth and empowerment. It is related to post-traumatic stress syndrome and shares counselling tools that may help with movement on the journey, such as art therapy. There is also an intergenerational component as trauma may have been accumulating in Indigenous familes over the decades or centuries of intense struggle against assimilation or extinction.
It has been said that when you take an elephant out of the wild you may need four thick chains to restrain it. After a few years you may only need a cotton string to restrain the same elephant. The elephant has learned to be different and it no longer believes in its own power or has no will for freedom. To an Indigenous person this story may be more easily understood or have more of an impact than the paragraph above, which is written with a set of symbols that presupposes a Eurocentric world view. An Indigenous world view is still present to a greater or lesser degree in perhaps 750 million people worldwide.
An example of a tool for personal decolonization is the medicine wheel healing concept. This concept helps people whose will has been damaged by colonization to balance the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual aspects of their self. By creating balance in all these areas of the self a person can find movement on the journey of decolonization and healing from intergenerational trauma. This tool links to the sacred medicine wheel circles created by the aboriginal inhabitants of Western North America.
