Ō tātou reo, Na domoda, Kuruwilang birad: Indigenous voices in higher education (original) (raw)

2021, Higher Education Research & Development

As we write this editorial, COVID-19 is still spreading rapidly across the globe. The Black Lives Matter movement has also extended beyond the United States and is motivating people worldwide to challenge racism and discrimination in all its forms. We are regularly told by politicians, news readers and social media that we are living in unprecedented times. But, for some, these times are not so unprecedented. Indigenous peoples across the Pacific, Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand have endured devastating pandemics before. We have also been subjected to over 250 years of colonisation that, at best, sought to assimilate us and, at worst, eradicate us. There is something unprecedented about this small moment, however. This special issue on Indigenous higher education is a first for the HERD Journal in its 39 year, 137 issue history. It presents a unique opportunity to showcase the range and depth of Indigenous voices in higher education in Australia, Aotearoa New Zealand and across the Pacific. It is also the first time that the editorial team for a HERD issue has been made up of Indigenous academics-Meegan is Māori, Sereana is Fijian and Susan is Indigenous Australian. When we agreed back in 2019 to guest edit this special issue, we were excited at the prospect of providing a space to talanoa (be in participatory, inclusive dialogue) about how higher education is, and could be, from Indigenous perspectives. In our call for papers, we said that we wanted this issue to look 'through Indigenous lenses and explore the tensions and complexities of being Indigenous students and staff in these higher education times and places, to offer ways to heal broken systems and structures and be the universities that we imagine'. Little did we know that the emergence of our special issue would coincide with universities being called out for their institutional racism and subsequently admitting their structural bias, and journals being rebuked for their racist editorial processes. (https://thespinoff.co.nz/atea/12-09-2020/ why-waikato-university-is-being-accused-ofstructural-racism/ and https://e-tangata.co.nz/ comment-and-analysis/racism-in-the-academic-editorial-process/) Thus, it feels right (actually, long overdue) to be rethinking how the publication process for scholarly journals can do more to remove obstacles for Indigenous authors and publish more of their work. The editorial process for this special issue was a little unusual. We chose to build a guest editorial team that represented the three geographic areas and cultural groupings that matched the scope of the special issue. We did not want to be in a position of speaking on behalf of another Indigenous group. We co-wrote a call for papers that we hoped would honour our Indigenous traditions of higher education, while also making space for scholarship by and about Indigenous staff and students in contemporary higher education contexts. We shared the call across Indigenous research communities, email lists and newsletters. We got a mix of articles that focused on Indigenous Australians, Indigenous Australians and Māori, Māori, Māori and Pacific peoples, and Pacific peoples, with a mix of Indigenous-led and Indigenous co-authored articles. We are keen to hear from regional Pacific voices in a future issue. We hope that you enjoy reading the work of this rich array of Indigenous voices.