Indigenous World-Views: Imposition of Western Knowledge on Indigenous Education System

The article discusses the integration of Western education in the indigenous academic process and its implications on the cultural aspect of the indigenous people of Australia. It also talks about the reaction of the indigenous countries towards such imposition and the stages of cultural integration. The article concludes with a debate on whether the western education system has contributed to the lives of the indigenous people or destroyed their ancient culture.

Running head: INDIGENOUS WORLD-VIEWS
INDIGENOUS WORLD-VIEWS
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author note:

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The aboriginals are considered to be the indigenous people of Australia, there are
other tribes as well who inhabited the land before the British conquest happened in the land
of Australia. Recently there are considerable researches surrounding the appearance of the
indigenous Australians. It is estimated that before the settlement of the Europeans in
Australia there were more than 250 languages which were spoken in the country. Presently
many of these languages are obsolete and among the 150 still spoken most of them are
endangered. English is used by most of the Aboriginals with usage of aboriginal terms
(Nakata, 2002). There were technological knowhow of making weapons, water transports,
tools, fishing tools etc. After the European settlement and British conquest systematic force
imposition of knowledge took place.
The scope of the term indigenous knowledge is broad and it does not only include the
idea of indigenous people’s knowledge but beyond that. Presently there are political usage of
the term and more or less the interests of the indigenous people whose interests are at the
largest stake in these cases, are ignored, for political reasons. The process of knowledge
imposition on the indigenous countries started happening with the idea of the western
colonists that the indigenous knowledge was “primitive” and needs to be replaced by western
knowledge which was scientific and up to date (Ray & Poonwassie, 2017). The indigenous
knowledge not only of the people of Australia but all people in general was considered to be
hindrance to advancement along the pathway to “modern civilization”.
The understanding and scholarly study about how the imposition of western
knowledge happened systematically and the way in which the indigenous people reacted or
adjusted with the impositions is a very recent phenomenon and previously such studies were
mostly confined in the space of human studies and not much scientific and systematic
researches were carried out (Rigney, 2017).

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As has been already mentioned that presently it is seen that most of the indigenous
tribes now speak English language with sparse usage of indigenous terms or evolved English
words that had its roots in the indigenous language. The integration of the knowledge
happened in cooperation with the western educators and the indigenous residents. The
aboriginals for example are in large numbers keen to be a part of the main stream Australian
education system and professional realm. The new concept that has penetrated in the fields of
knowledge and profession is “sustainability”.
“Sustainable development”, “Sustainability” and “Sustainable profession”, are the
ideas that have affected the realm of western education. These have also affected the
integration of Western education in the indigenous academic process. The beginning was
with the idea that indigenous education is detrimental. Post this there was endeavour in
imposition of the western knowledge with the indigenous knowledge and the process was
named as integration of the western knowledge. The process of such integration has various
fields such as language, technology, scientific education, and other fields of knowledge
system (Kitchen & Hodson, 2013). It was obvious that such integration will also have direct
implications on the cultural aspect of the indigenous people of the country. It is preferable to
say that the ideation of the Indigenous education system and knowledge is presently more
inclined towards the idea of sticking with the traditional knowledge base, however because of
the associated benefits of the western education system the members of the indigenous
countries are inclined towards the western lifestyle and the knowledge structure. It is an
obvious phenomenon that the process of cultural integration goes through stages such as
introduction to culture, assimilation and exchange of cultural elements, learning and
transformation.
It is a fact however that in many countries which were later colonialized and then de-
colonialized, the importance of imparting education in indigenous languages have been

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increased and there are imparting of knowledge in the indigenous languages. In the
indigenous countries in Australia however this is ideally not seen to be followed, rather the
indigenous tribes are adopting English language and the usage of the indigenous languages is
decreasing. This is one of the features which is seen in the case of the indigenous countries in
Australia. In the system there are various affects that are created including the problem of
cultural loss and the indigenous people losing their own life style and language. The reaction
of the indigenous countries in this regard has been seen to be systematic in the following
form- Opposition, Contemplation, Adjustment and Assimilation. The system begins with the
opposition towards such imposition on foreign culture. Such opposition is usually seen to be
dealt with ignorance or forced imposition (Beresford, 2012). Then the indigenous people are
seen to be contemplating or finding out ways of adjusting with the new education system that
is to be imposed. The contemplation stage often features the indigenous people avoiding
conflict and trying to find out ways of adjustment. The adjustment stage is the process in
which the system of the imposition and integration happens. Whether or not the integration
happens by choice of the indigenous community or it is forced is not considered in the overall
scenario. The assimilation stage completes the process by finally ensuring that the process of
imposition and assimilation is over and complete (Beresford, Partington & Gower, 2012).
The reaction of the indigenous countries can be understood by the present situation of
them where most of these people are now becoming a part of the main stream Australian
lifestyle. However, there are many tribes that are still not disturbed and has not been affected
by the western civilisation. Many of these tribes are still living in secluded conditions within
the forests of Africa. These people can be contrasted with the indigenous people who have
been affected by the western education to understand the effects of westernisation. Whether
or not the western education system has contributed to the lives of the indigenous people or

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they have established a new cultural phenomenon destroying the ancient culture of the
aboriginals and other tribes, is a matter of debate.
Reference:
Beresford, Q. (2012). Separate and equal an outline of Aboriginal education 1900-1996.
Beresford, Q., Partington, G., & Gower, G. (2012). Reform and resistance in Aboriginal
education. Reform and Resistance in Aboriginal Education, 498.
Kitchen, J., & Hodson, J. (2013). Living Alongside: Teacher Educator Experiences Working
in a Community-Based Aboriginal Teacher Education Program. Canadian Journal of
Education, 36(2), 144-175.
Nakata, M. (2002). Indigenous knowledge and the cultural interface: Underlying issues at the
intersection of knowledge and information systems. IFLA journal, 28(5-6), 281-291.
Ray, D., & Poonwassie, D. (2017). Education and cultural differences: New perspectives.
Routledge.
Rigney, L. I. (2017). Indigenist research and aboriginal Australia. In Indigenous Peoples'
Wisdom and Power (pp. 61-77). Routledge.