What’s in a name? Indigenist Standpoint Pedagogy shakes up our settler-colonial academic identities

Wunderlich, N; Jeffries, P; Kilham, S; Ward, W; Peters, A; Allan, C

What’s in a name? Indigenist Standpoint Pedagogy shakes up our settler-colonial academic identities

Wunderlich, N Jeffries, P Kilham, S

Ward, W Peters, A Allan, C

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Publisher:: Taylor and Francis Group
Publication Type:: Journal Article
Citation:: Higher Education Research and Development, 2026, 45, (3), pp. 816-830
Issue Date:: 2026-01-01

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Field	Value	Language
dc.contributor.author	Wunderlich, N
dc.contributor.author	Jeffries, P
dc.contributor.author	Kilham, S https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5234-2764
dc.contributor.author	Ward, W
dc.contributor.author	Peters, A
dc.contributor.author	Allan, C
dc.date.accessioned	2026-10-09T01:25:41Z
dc.date.available	2026-10-09T01:25:41Z
dc.date.issued	2026-01-01
dc.identifier.citation	Higher Education Research and Development, 2026, 45, (3), pp. 816-830
dc.identifier.issn	0729-4360
dc.identifier.issn	1469-8366
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10453/196516
dc.description.abstract	We examine our positionalities and standpoint in relation to the gift of ‘Gulbali ngurambang’, a Wiradjuri name for an Australian University research institute, collaboratively exploring how to honour the name’s ethics and philosophy in our individual research practices. Through Wakka Wakka Professor Jay Phillips’ Indigenist Standpoint Pedagogical Framework (ISP), we reflexively critiqued our positionality, agency and individual responsibility for anticolonial practice. We argue that gift giving and receiving provides settler-colonial universities deep challenges and opportunities to enact meaningful change against harmful power and research practices centred on Western Colonial norms. ISP supported us to deconstruct social, cultural, historical, and institutional forces aiding reproduction of colonial knowledges and values, reinforcing cultural dominance and risking tokenism and ‘blakwashing’ when there is an ontological rift in accepting First Nations names that hold philosophical significance. We write from a position of individual vulnerability, critical self-reflection and as a theorised case study to expose the process of ‘doing the work’ of decolonisation as an imperfect, collaborative, open learning process. We hope that other academics are inspired to practice ISP.
dc.language	English
dc.publisher	Taylor and Francis Group
dc.relation.ispartof	Higher Education Research and Development
dc.relation.isbasedon	10.1080/07294360.2025.2552312
dc.rights	info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
dc.subject	13 Education
dc.subject.classification	39 Education
dc.title	What’s in a name? Indigenist Standpoint Pedagogy shakes up our settler-colonial academic identities
dc.type	Journal Article
utslib.citation.volume	45
utslib.for	13 Education
pubs.organisational-group	University of Technology Sydney
pubs.organisational-group	University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences
utslib.copyright.status	open_access	*
pubs.consider-herdc	false
dc.rights.license	This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0). To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
dc.date.updated	2026-10-09T01:25:40Z
pubs.issue	3
pubs.publication-status	Published
pubs.volume	45
utslib.citation.issue	3

Abstract:

We examine our positionalities and standpoint in relation to the gift of ‘Gulbali ngurambang’, a Wiradjuri name for an Australian University research institute, collaboratively exploring how to honour the name’s ethics and philosophy in our individual research practices. Through Wakka Wakka Professor Jay Phillips’ Indigenist Standpoint Pedagogical Framework (ISP), we reflexively critiqued our positionality, agency and individual responsibility for anticolonial practice. We argue that gift giving and receiving provides settler-colonial universities deep challenges and opportunities to enact meaningful change against harmful power and research practices centred on Western Colonial norms. ISP supported us to deconstruct social, cultural, historical, and institutional forces aiding reproduction of colonial knowledges and values, reinforcing cultural dominance and risking tokenism and ‘blakwashing’ when there is an ontological rift in accepting First Nations names that hold philosophical significance. We write from a position of individual vulnerability, critical self-reflection and as a theorised case study to expose the process of ‘doing the work’ of decolonisation as an imperfect, collaborative, open learning process. We hope that other academics are inspired to practice ISP.

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http://hdl.handle.net/10453/196516