[csaa-forum] Attn New Zealand colleagues: "Unsettling Pedagogical Spaces" – seeking your participation in an interview

[soenke.biermann at scu.edu.au]

Dear colleagues in New Zealand,

my name is Soenke Biermann and I'm currently conducting my PhD research at the School of Arts and Social Sciences, Southern Cross University, Australia. My thesis aims to understand what motivates university educators (Indigenous and non-Indigenous) in 'settler states' such as Australia, Aotearoa/New Zealand and Canada to engage in processes of intellectual decolonisation, how they understand, theorise and conceptualise these processes, and how they pursue them in their pedagogical practice.

In the current stage of my research project, I would like to conduct dialogical, semi-structured interviews with interested academics at New Zealand universities to explore their ideas about decolonisation, their pedagogical praxis and the interaction within their institutional contexts.

I would love to hear from academics of any background, at any stage of their career, in any discipline, in any form of employment, with an interest in decolonisation and pedagogy. This interest could be related to your research concerns, your own university teaching practice or be a personal, ethical or philosophical matter. If this is you and you can volunteer a couple of hours of your time for this project in the week Thu 4th - Wed 10th August 2011 at a location near you (or via phone or skype on other dates), I'd love to hear from you.

If you are interested, please send me a brief email expressing your interest by Friday, 22 July 2011 to soenke.biermann at scu.edu.au. In that email, please tell me:
your name;your university;your location; andanything else you think might be relevant.
Further detailed information on the project is provided at the end of this email. Thank you so much for your time and please feel free to distribute this email further through your networks and/or suggest other academics who you think might be interested. Thanks.

Kind regards,
Soenke Biermann

PhD Candidate
School of Arts and Social Sciences
Southern Cross University
Lismore, NSW 2480
Australia
Phone: ++61 (0)2 66203936
Email: soenke.biermann at scu.edu.au


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FURTHER INFORMATION FOR INTERVIEW PARTICIPANTS

Name of PhD research project: Unsettling Pedagogical Spaces: Decolonisation and Social Justice in Higher Education
I (Soenke Biermann) am a PhD student and casual lecturer and tutor at Southern Cross University, Lismore NSW, Australia. I am conducting research on what motivates university educators in so-called 'settler states' such as Australia, Aotearoa/New Zealand and Canada to engage in processes of intellectual decolonisation, how they understand, theorise and conceptualise these processes, and how they pursue and apply them in their pedagogical practice. In order to realise these aims, I am using a phased, iterative research approach that also makes my own assumptions and locatedness explicit.

Phase 1 consists of a review of the relevant literature as well as an auto-ethnographic account of my own practice and thinking on decolonisation. Using the results as a design input, Phase 2 of the project involves interviewing academics at Australian universities about their thoughts, ideas and experiences of attempting to decolonise their pedagogical practice. Phase 3 of the project engages with academics in Aotearoa/New Zealand and Canada.

Although the interest of my project lies in the concept of intellectual decolonisation and its implications for higher education pedagogy generally, a particular interest will be to see how non-Indigenous university educators in 'settler states' conceptualise decolonisation. This is particularly important since 'settler' decolonisation, especially in a higher education context, has not been the subject of sustained scholarly scrutiny. This research project thus represents a timely, relevant and significant contribution to understanding what an inclusive twenty-first century 'settler' university might look like.

So far in this research project, I have conducted a literature review of intellectual decolonisation and pedagogy in 'settler state' universities and an auto-ethnographic study of my own pedagogical praxis and institutional context. In phase 2 of my research, I have also begun interviewing interested academics at Australian universities and this process will be ongoing throughout 2011.

In the current phase 3, I would now like to meet with and interview academics at universities in Aotearoa/New Zealand and Canada with an interest in decolonisationa nd pedagogy to discuss their ideas and practices. I want to conduct the interviews ina dialogical, semi-structured and collegial manner that allows them to be flexible and open enough to explore all aspects which are relevant to both the participant and myself as the researcher.

If you would like to be part of this research project, please email soenke.biermann at scu.edu.au with the following details:
your name;your university;your location; andanything else you migth think is relevant.
I have put in place a number of measures to ensure your privacy is protected in this research project. While arranging the interviews, any information you send me will be kept on a password protected computer. This information will be deleted at the close of the project. During the interview session only first names or, if you prefer, pseudonyms will be used. To collect data from the interview, each session will be audio-recorded and transcribed. During transcription of the audio recording all identifying information will be removed. As a participant, you will receive a copy of the transcription of your interview. The result of this research project will form part of my PhD thesis and may also be included in future scholarly publications. If you choose to participate in an  interview, you will be asked to sign a consent form outlining my undertakings to you and your consent for me to use the written and spoken data from the research project for reporting and publication. Should you wish to, you will also be able to obtain the results of the research project after its completion in the form of an electronic copy of my PhD thesis. There will be a relevant box on the interview consent form which you can tick if you would like to obtain the results.

If you would like to make further inquiries about this research project, please contact Soenke Biermann on ++61 (0)2 6620 3936, or by email to soenke.biermann at scu.edu.au. The principal supervisor of this project is Associate Professor Baden Offord who may be contacted on ++61 (0)2 6620 3163 or by email to baden.offord at scu.edu.au.

This research has been approved by the Southern Cross University Human Research Ethics Committee. The approval number is: ECN-11-154

If you have any concerns about the ethical conduct of the research, you should write to:

The Ethics Complaints Officer
Southern Cross University
PO Box 157
Lismore NSW 2480
Australia
Email: sue.kelly at scu.edu.au

All complaints information is confidential and will be handled as soon as possible.

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Soenke Biermann
School of Arts and Social Sciences
Southern Cross University
PO Box 157 
Lismore NSW 2480
Australia

Phone: (02) 6620 3936
Email: soenke.biermann at scu.edu.au
Web: http://www.scu.edu.au/schools/sass

CRICOS Provider Codes: NSW 01241G, QLD 03135E, WA 02621K


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