Reframing failure and the Indigenous doctoral journey
Jason De Santolo
Abstract
This chapter reflects on the emotional resonance of failure and champions’ interrelatedness as a sensory Indigenous storywork principle for decolonizing creative Indigenous doctoral journeys in the academy. Of interest are other contexts which explore personal failure as a refusal of modern power in a narrative therapy context where “power relations engage people in the fashioning of their own lives and in the fabrication of their own identities. This power dynamic is an important dimension for Indigenous scholars and practitioners who are embarking on the first phase of the doctoral journey: the dreaded application. As an indication of situational depth, the research can be framed as a redistributor of knowledge for children “that reveals Indigenous, scientific, and children’s weathers are never mutually exclusive,” according to Randerson. In Australia treaty making is still a beacon of hope for many. But for some Indigenous researchers these government-led treaty processes are revealed in a new light.