CJ6: Disrupting my Western Ways

I found throughout this class there were many “decolonizing encounters” but one that stuck to me was the day when we went fishing in class. It was set up so only one of us in the group knew how many fish were essentially in the pond and it was up to us individually to choose how many we were going to ‘fish’ for our make believe families. Me being greedy and all, took the most fish I could at once which was 5. By the last person in the first round the pond had ran out of fishing, meaning one family got nothing not even a fish. By limiting and only taking what we need is an Indigenous way. “Given this reality, it is alarming that our educational system to ignore the cultural roots of environmental and social injustice…” (Ho, pg. 2) I can see here that I am unlearning because I have always just known that I can eat what I want and if I run out of food I can go get more; however, looking from an Indigenous perspective this is devastating. If there are no more fish in the pond, like in class, then they have will not have food. This is definitely an unlearning as it is disrupting my western view because if I run out of food, I just go to the grocery store and get more. However, looking at this fishing example it is not possible to get more once they are all gone. It is important to limit yourself and only take what you need. Overall, it is an unlearning as I am learning these different cultures and seeing how I have to disrupt my ways to see how important it is to limit yourself. It is clear that throughout this class I have a decolonizing encounter.