Academia remains an unwelcoming space for Indigenous scholars. What space it does cede to Indigenous knowledge is dictated and narrowly defined. W̱SÁNEĆ scholar Jack Horne, author of TOL, NEW̱ SEN TŦE SOȽ: I KNOW THE ROAD articulates his own negotiation with academia:

“In response to the question of how I, a W̱SÁNEĆ artist and scholar, use embodied W̱SÁNEĆ knowledge in my artistic and academic work, this book advocates for a move away from standard social sciences theories, methodologies and paradigms while forcefully insisting on a W̱SÁNEĆ paradigm.”

To accomplish this constructive goal, Horne argues, “requires a negotiation of embodied W̱SÁNEĆ knowledge, performance studies theory, and western eurocentric social sciences paradigms.”

Written through beautiful storytelling practices with this goal in mind, TOL, NEW̱ SEN TŦE SOȽ: I KNOW THE ROAD is thus part personal and cultural history, and part contemporary critique. Horne uses a variety of research, letters, and even fragments from his plays, to create a compelling challenge to outmoded academic structures, proposing an alternative that embraces and tools historically suppressed W̱SÁNEĆ ways of knowing. Not only does Horne’s writing confront white supremacy and anti-Indigenous racism in academia, it offers material alternatives to status quo, white-centric pedagogy. With its focus on W̱SÁNEĆ history and knowledge practices, this book offers a praxis of Indigenous knowledge and performance study theory that delivers a unique and deeply valuable pedagogic project.