Educational Colonialism in the Marshall Islands and the Importance of Indigenous Decolonization in Promoting a Growth Mindset

Abstract

Educational Colonialism in the Republic of the Marshall Islands is very real where Marshallese ways of knowing and being otherwise known as ontologies and epistemologies remain on the margins through evident “pedagogical and epistemological silencing.” Institutional racism and structural violence in the academy, particularly within the Marshallese education system, are primarily to blame. Indigenous decolonization concentrating on cultural continuity and language maintenance may be the solution for promoting a growth mindset by decolonizing the minds of the existing student population. This article suggests, in brief, the "importance of cultural maintenance and language maintenance by Marshallese and for Marshallese" through their own ways of doing things (e.g. JiTDam Kapeel), and how this is critical and must be culturally prioritized for the overall well-being of Marshallese and the Marshall Islands in general. Creating academic space is significant for minoritized individuals in light of “institutional colonialism” and this paper is but one example of achieving that end.