This issue of the Peace Chronicle magazine takes a deep dive into timely questions and topics under the theme: decolonization. In this issue decolonization is defined and examined for different purposes, contexts, and locations through a diverse collection of expert voices—expertise representing birth, lived experience, and rigorous scholarship. This reassessment is sometimes a condemnation of exploitation and inhumane treatment, but it is also frequently an opportunity for dynamic problem solving and imagining new ways of thinking about Indigenous jurisdiction and the safety and security of the rights and personhood of vulnerable populations in the wake of colonial genocide.
Our pieces cover a range of themes and locations for thinking about how we can decolonize the world, our research, and our classrooms. Kelli Te Maihāroa presents Indigenous ways of knowing and being as a mechanism for decolonizing Peace, Conflict, and Justice Studies. Michael Loadenthal examines the project of decolonization with the question: Why Miami University is Not in Florida? Polly Walker argues that settler responsibility is necessary for decolonizing peace studies. Pushpa Iyer cautions against colonizing decolonization. Emily Welty looks at decolonizing her sabbatical as well as decolonizing quarantine.
Our understandings of colonization and decolonization and our ways of knowing are connected to our (sometimes shared) history and politics of race and Indigeneity. Rafael Vizcaíno presents praxis beyond metaphors. Delores (Lola) Mondragon outlines the making of a veteran Women’s Indigenous healing circle. Laura Finley looks at intersections between COVID-19, colonialism, and Indigenous Peoples. Shirley Ley offer guidance on supporting people of color in predominantly white workspaces. Emily Grace Brolaski provides compelling narrative on her grandmother, Dr. Inés Maria Talamantez a founder of the study of Native American religious traditions. “Let Go of Power” is our featured interview with Richard Jackson, the Director of the National Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies at the University of Otago in New Zealand, who addresses challenges and successes he has observed in efforts to decolonize.