people pull out “academic” papers and books that have been written by colonists as “sources” for the validity of what they have been interpreting wrong for many MANY generations since the first settlers settled these regions. We know that history is screwed up. Their accounts contradict the way of life that the indigenous actually have. It contradicts it entirely. Now who do you believe, and academic settler, or the actual people who have written it down in their own words through their poetry and through their songs.
There are a lot of contradictions that have been written down through history, from the bearing strait to even the interpretations of indigenous life. Indigenous thought contradicts many “truths” that have been written down by academia. It is not like the dogma of racism is not going to be there. They value the knowledge of past academics and see it as valid. But they have to keep in mind that theories MUST evolve, ideas MUST evolve, and that is where problems start. Their theories and ideas are just as bad as religious fanaticism, because they are deeply convince that THIS IS HOW IT IS, and whatever academia says IS TRUE. Their “evidence” is just misinterpretation, their “evidence” is racist historical accounts, and because of that they refuse to consider the fact that what they ave been saying is WRONG.
It is downright racist, and it follows colonial mentality Hell, academia isn’t safe from that influence either and we all know that. There is a system in academia, exactly like politics, that judges and decides what is true and what is not. They refuse to change and allow new theories and idea to emerge simply because some academic racist said that THIS IS ABSOLUTE FACT. Those who challenge it, well, we all know what happens to those who challenge their dogmatic view.
Colonists always ignore the word of the indigenous people, even if they were to write it down, their word would mean nothing in comparison to what a colonial “scholar” has to say about the people they are studying. Their words mean nothing to them and that is a problem. It is a recurring theme in academia, and it is a problem even today. So to those who love pulling out settler accounts on how the indigenous lived, go ahead, continue with your unevolved ideas of how they lived. Because seriously, pulling that out and considering it a source is just a joke. That is why we need to decolonize academia as well.
