Onto-Ethico-Epistemological Expressions as/of/for Indigeneity: An Autoethnography of Professional Practice in Indigenous Thought, Body, Practice, and Science Education

This study investigated and explored how autoethnography influenced my understanding of professional practice through an Indigenous lens, leading to an understanding of decolonization. It aimed to explore decolonizing methodology using autoethnographic methods and to present a personal account of the ethics and challenges of identity as a settler from an Indigenous diaspora. I used a combination of autoethnography, grounded theory, qualitative open coding analysis, Indigenous-based conceptual framework building and storytelling (storying) as an Indigenous-based analytic narrative. Memory prompts through mind maps, and conceptual (thinking) frameworks enhanced this introspective process. Grounded theory was applied to analyze data through open coding and categorization, providing theoretical insights. It was conducted on publicly accessible documents, such as curriculum guides and policies, to provide a context for the research findings. The research revealed that colonialism significantly influenced my teaching practice, affecting curriculum choices, pedagogical approaches, and engagement with Indigenous knowledge and communities. By struggling as/of/for Indigenous-based storytelling, storying and analytic autoethnography, I talked about my complicity in perpetuating colonial structures and ideologies, striving towards the decolonization of my practice. I critically examined and challenged colonial structures, working towards personal and social transformation. Also, the profound impact of colonization on the ecosystem of learning, teaching, and philosophy was how autoethnography affected how I made sense of my professional practice. I interpreted this as the ecology of urgency and it involved being proactive in transforming the linear pathway into a complex, recursive process, which included spiritual, ancestral, and ethical components to grasp Indigenous worldviews, thoughts, and practices. Therefore, in the context of storytelling, storying and conceptual frameworks that were developed, decolonization was the transformation of historical colonial structures into Indigenous perspectives and practices.

Department dc:contributor.department

Social Justice Education

Year dc:date.issued

2025

Author dc:creator

• Umangay, Umar Pantaleon

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Dei, George JS

• autoethnography
• conceptual frameworks
• decolonization
• epistemologies
• Indigenous science
• teacher education

Statement dc:rights

• Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/

Handle dc:identifier.uri

https://hdl.handle.net/1807/144771

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:utoronto.scholaris.ca:1807/144771