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