Cognitive Justice, Indigenisation, and Educational Transformation

Abstract

This chapter draws on cognitive justice, Indigenous worldviews, and Kaupapa Māori (Māori approach), which challenge the dominant Western scientific paradigm. It recognises the need for discourses that include alternative non-Western ontologies and epistemologies that are equal to those of their Western counterparts. Ethnically discriminatory colonial ideologies are now embedded in artificial intelligence algorithms, surveillance capitalism, and techno-authoritarianism. Decolonisation of academia requires balancing worldviews, questioning epistemological imperialism,and identifying the creeping influence of ethnonationalism in higher education.Liberating democratic discourses through indigenised and minority-inclusive spaces is vital for cognitively just higher education; many institutions are struggling to cope with tensions between conservative elites and academics and teachers. Some academies are applying illiberal measures to curtail freedom of thought and conscience, which diminishes intellectual integrity and academic progress.