Decolonizing Methodologies

In this book Linda Tuhiwai Smith write about the experience of imperialism / colonialism and how it has become a specific project in the indigenous world. There is also a rupture with European thought. One of the main themes of this book is to contextualize four concepts in relation to this type of writing: imperialism, theory, writing and history. Also, trying to adapt these words from an indigenous prescriptive are problematic because they represent many ways in which the indigenous culture has been silenced, ridiculed and censured. Because decolonization is a process that involves colonization and imperialism on many levels, it is necessary to know the ways in which imperialism is used to know how to fight it. On the other hand, Smith also states that it is important to convince indigenous communities of the importance of research and to convince research institutions of the importance of indigenous participation in such research. In this way, these communities can be part of this decolonization process because their voice and their history is being included as part of the new history and research in the academic field.

On the other hand, I believe that the version of the indigenous people can be seen in the processes of conquest through Nahuatl literature, such as the codices. However, we must bear in mind that many of these indigenous writers, especially those who wrote after the conquest process, were under European-Christian influence. Which leads me to wonder what would be the participation of these indigenous communities in the research processes, because the research approaches these communities with a specific objective, to prove a thesis or validate a theory. Then inevitably a part of the story is lost again. Although, she uses some examples to indicate how these investigations have been done in a real context, there is still much to define in how we should approach "the object of study" and whether we should continue using the term indigenous or not.

Respect to my research I could not establish a clear connection between this reading and my work, but I think that, as proposed by Chela Sandoval in his book Methodology of the Oppressed, it is important to know how these mechanisms work and continue to repress us within structures colonial / imperialist in today's society.

• Smith, Linda T. Decolonizing Methodologies: Research and Indigenous Peoples. London: Zed Books, 2012.Print.