Post on 29-Dec-2015
Decolonizing evaluation:
when the master’s tools are used to dismantle the master’s houseRodney Hopson, Duquesne University
ANZEA Conference 2013Auckland, Aotearoa New Zealand
22 July, 2013
Vote of Thanks and…anzea Conference Planning Committee• Jackie Bourne, conference manager• April Bennett & Fiona Cram, liaisons to travel, keynote, etc..• Kate McKegg, Kataraina Pipi (and her girls), Jane Davidson,
Nan Wehipeihana, Kirimatao, et.al on welcoming committee
Nga mihi mahana
• Curry School of Education bridge at UVa between education(al evaluation) & arts/sciences
Evaluation lineage (Bob Covert)
4
Apples don’t fall far…
Linking (trans)disciplines:evaluation, sociolinguistics,
anthropology Rethinking official knowledge +
Reinventing anthropology/evaluation +Reconstructing ethnography +
___________________________________= Rethinking, reinventing, reconstructing
schooling and education
Master’s Tools and Master’s House
What does it mean when the tools of a racist patriarchy are used to examine the fruits of that same patriarchy? It means that only the most narrow perimeters of change are possible and allowable.(Lorde, 1984/1979)
Evaluation as colonizing• Distant criteria for determining merit, worth
– Primarily donor-oriented, donor-designed systems of merit, worth, and learning (Carden, 2007)
• Programs defined by external, linear logic• Evaluation questions imposed
– Questions illustrate an exogenous agenda
• Methods imported and forced upon communities
• Interpretations silence local voices• Bolsters dominant power structures and
relationships between and within groups
Beyond tools…
Results Lead To
Positive Cultural
& Sociopolitical
Outcom
es For
The Group
Over Tim
e
Com
munity A
nalysis
School AnalysisClassroom
Analysis
Program Analysis
CIVIC CAPACITY
SO
CIA
L C
APIT
AL S
UM
MA
RY
CR
E T
EA
M
SELECTIO
N &
PR
EPA
RATIO
N
FundingTechnologyMaterialsPhysical
EnvironmentStakeholderGroups
Frame RightQuestions w/Stakeholder Input
Gain Stakeholder Buy In
Design CRE
Agreement on Evidence?
Select &/O
r Adapt
Instruments
Collect Data
Mixed Methods)
Culturally Trained
Data Collectors
AnalyzeData
(Disaggregate)CRE Panel
Review Of
Findings
YESNO
District Analysis
Produce Report andPresentation
CULTURAL INFLUENCES
SOCIOPOLITICAL INFLUENCES
*CONTE
XTU
AL
ANALY
SIS
W/
CULT
URAL/
SOCIO
POLI
TICAL
EMPHASIS
*Cultural/Sociopolitical factors are emphasized throughout the evaluation
Product WidelyDistributed & ResultsExplained To AllStakeholders
StakeholdersResults Useful ForAll Stakeholders
SANKOFA MODEL
©2010 P. Frazier-Anderson, S. Hood. & R. Hopson. All Rights Reserved.
Whose assumptions drive our tools?
Who forms the work? Who sets the agenda?
Who informs our work?
UAA 2013 - San Francisco, CA
Entrance to Africville
UAA2013 - San Francisco, CA
Africville Relocation
UAA 2013 - San Francisco, CA
Africville news
UAA 2013 - San Francisco, CA
Africville during relocation
Relevance Africville
Relationships africville
Department of Public WelfareAfricville
DalhousieUniversity
HalifaxNova ScotiaCanada& Beyond
City and Municipal Government More government
Relevance Africville
“The historical description and evaluation of the Africville relocation had, therefore, to be planned and executed at standards of comprehensiveness, thoroughness, and competence…”
-Clairmont & Magill, 1971
Responsibilities Africville
UAA 2013 - San Francisco, CA
Action on Africville
UAA 2013 - San Francisco, CA
Responsibilities Africville
UAA 2013 - San Francisco, CA
Africville 2012
UAA 2013 - San Francisco, CA
Africville 2012
UAA 2013 - San Francisco, CA
Africville 2012
Decolonizing EvaluationRelevance• Locating within cultural specificities, preferences,
practices• Choosing methods appropriate to context
Relationships• Grounding evaluation questions in local concerns,
understandings• Interpreting within experience
Responsibilities• Recognizing local epistemology and conditions• Strengthening community, enabling nations,
researchers and evaluators, esp. at indigenous, native, and local levels
“By decolonizing evaluation methodologies, we aim to recenter ourselves within our own lands. From here we challenge the viewpoints of those outside of our communities who see us as less than a ‘norm’ that is based within their worldview rather than within ours…Our very survival relies on the acknowledgement, at the very least of our own peoples, that our worldview, culture, and way of being are valid. When this acknowledgement comes within the context of evaluation, we increase the chances that the evaluation methods employed will be decolonized.” (Kawakami, et.al, 2008)
Decolonizing evaluation notions: A reference to
methodologies
Decolonizing evaluation:when the master’s tools are used to
dismantle the master’s house
Rodney Hopson, Duquesne UniversityANZEA Conference 2013
Auckland, Aotearoa New Zealand22 July, 2013