EPISTEMOLOGICAL PLURALISM Ethical and pedagogical challenges in higher education Vanessa Andreotti* Cash Ahenakew † Garrick Cooper ‡ * University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland Email: vanessa.andreotti@oulu.fi † University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada ‡ University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand Abstract This paper offers a brief analysis of aspects related to the significance and the complexities of introducing “different” epistemologies in higher education teaching and learning. We start by introducing the metaphors of abyssal thinking, epistemic blindness and ecologies of knowledge in the work of Boaventura de Souza Santos. In the second part of the paper we use Santos’ meta- phors to engage with the tensions of translating aboriginal epistemologies into non-aboriginal languages, categories and technologies. In the third part, we offer a situated illustration of an attempt to introduce epistemological pluralism in addressing central concepts in teaching in higher education. In our conclusion we emphasize that political, ontological and metaphysical questions need to be considered very carefully in the process of introducing different epistemolo- gies into higher education. Epistemological dominance The idea of epistemological dominance is a central object of critique in various fields, including indigenous studies, postcolonial, decolonial, world systems and critical race theories. Theorists, sociologists and educators articulate this critique using different terms and metaphors. First Nations scholar Marie Battiste, for example, defines epistemologi- cal dominance as “culturalism”. She describes culturalism as an academic and pedagogical Book_final.indb 40 Book_final.indb 40 4/05/11 2:41 PM 4/05/11 2:41 PM