UnlearningColonialism: a website by Dr. Dwayne Donald
Exploring University of Alberta professor Dr. Dwayne Donald’s project, Reimagining Teacher Education With Indigenous Wisdom Traditions (unlearningcolonialism.ca), revealed the powerful potential of digital spaces to challenge colonial narratives in education. Donald’s approach uniquely aligns with Tekobbe’s (2024) assertion that Indigenous storytelling serves not merely as a myth but as a legitimate epistemology, rooted in relationality, reciprocity, and lived knowing. The website’s inclusion of the Walking Stories Vodcast effectively utilizes digital media to both preserve and transform Indigenous oral traditions, echoing Hausknecht et al.'s (2021) emphasis on digital storytelling as an intergenerational tool vital for cultural preservation and identity formation.
By positioning educators as active participants in "unlearning colonialism," the project demonstrates digital sovereignty, reclaiming online spaces traditionally dominated by Western epistemologies. This directly addresses Mines’s (2019) call to resist homogenizing narratives by enabling Indigenous voices to lead the reframing of educational practices. The interactive digital format not only democratizes knowledge-sharing but actively embodies the relational worldview Tekobbe describes as foundational to Indigenous ways of being. A strength of Donald’s initiative is its deliberate engagement of multiple generations, mirroring the meaningful community connections highlighted by Hausknecht et al. (2021). Yet, the medium also presents limitations; the complexity of oral storytelling, rooted deeply in context and personal interaction, can be diluted by digital abstraction, leading to a loss of intimacy.
Overall, Donald’s website illustrates a thoughtful use of digital storytelling as a method of decolonization and indigenization, providing educators with an innovative model for integrating Indigenous wisdom into educational practices, while thoughtfully navigating the balance between digital engagement and cultural authenticity.
References
Hausknecht, S., Freeman, S., Martin, J., Nash, C., & Skinner, K. (2021). Sharing Indigenous Knowledge through intergenerational digital storytelling: Design of a workshop engaging Elders and youth. Educational Gerontology, 47(7), 285–296. https://doi.org/10.1080/03601277.2021.1927484
Mines, S. (2019). Storytelling as a method of Indigenization. Abenaki Language and Cultural Preservation, Middlebury College. https://sites.middlebury.edu/abenaki/storytelling-as-a-method-of-indigenization
Tekobbe, C. (2024). Indigenous storytelling and ways of thinking and being. In Indigenous Voices in Digital Spaces (pp. 32–51). University Press of Colorado. http://www.jstor.org/stable/jj.19307138.7
Donald, D. (n.d.). Reimagining Teacher Education With Indigenous Wisdom Traditions. Retrieved from https://www.unlearningcolonialism.ca/
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