What’s at Stake? Decolonization of Terminology in the United States

Every day in the United States, we use language that is oppressive and rooted in our colonial past. For this article, we specifically focus on the term stakeholder regarding evaluation research. Evaluators have defined this term as: “all of those individuals who have an interest (i.e., are somehow vested in) in the program that is to be evaluated." (Alkin & Vo, 2018, p. 51). However, little attention has been given to changing or reshaping this term to avoid perpetuating inequities to make program evaluations more culturally responsive to all parties involved. Historically, this terminology rooted in a colonial perspective is defined as “the person who drove a stake into the land to demarcate the land s/he was occupying/stealing from Indigenous territories” (Phipps, 2022). Even though the term is used frequently, many people may not understand the nature of the roots of this term and its involvement in the oppression of persons of color. Because of these points, it has been suggested that new terms be used in its stead (Sharfstein, 2016). We ask, after so many years of this country being independent of colonial rule, why are we still using terms that are oppressive and hold a connotation of being non-inclusive? This article aims to explore how terminology has been used in research and offers ideas to consider how to move forward with ensuring that the language used in program evaluation and other areas of research is culturally responsive to people and organizations affected by or show an interest in the findings of a given assessment.