Adaptation and Decolonization: Unpacking the Role of "Culturally Appropriate" Knowledge in the Prevention of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome

• Main Author: Salmon, Amy
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: UBC Faculty of Education 2021
• Subjects: First Nations
• Online Access: http://ojs.library.ubc.ca/index.php/CJNE/article/view/196427; https://doi.org/10.14288/cjne.v30i2.196427

In this article I examine the perceptions of a group of young Aboriginal mothersattending an urban Aboriginal Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS) prevention programtoward the values and consequences of "culturally appropriate" pedagogies for FASprevention. The women's insights inform a close reading of the policy texts of acontemporary Canadian FAS prevention initiative directed toward First Nations andInuit women and communities. My analysis of their experiences and the policy textsexplores the disjuncture evident in the "official knowledge" and "public pedagogy" ofFAS/FAE to identify two distinct and sometimes competing uses of the termculturally appropriate: culturally appropriate pedagogy as adaptation andculturally appropriate pedagogy as decolonization.