Decolonial reflexivity as (un)learning: groundwork for Indigenising Business Education curricula

Business Education remains overwhelmingly shaped by Anglo-American epistemologies that marginalise First Peoples knowledges and reproduce colonial assumptions about knowledge, value, and economic life. While calls to Indigenise curriculum have become increasingly common, they often overlook the prior work required of non-Indigenous educators themselves. This paper argues that decolonial reflexivity is a necessary precursor to any efforts to respectfully and purposefully Indigenise the curriculum. Drawing on a dialogic collaboration between First Peoples and non-Indigenous scholars, we examine how colonial assumptions can be recognised, unsettled, and transformed through reflexive practice. We conceptualise this work as confronting the ‘colonial load’ carried within educators, curricula, and institutions, and demonstrate how dialogic reflexivity can move ‘Indigenisation’ beyond symbolic inclusion towards epistemic and pedagogical transformation. In doing so, the paper offers both a conceptual framework and a practical orientation for reimagining education in ways that better support First Peoples’ self-determination.