
One of Smith’s most important efforts is to link the history of European conquest and colonisation to the development of scientific thought, hinged on the dehumanisation of and appropriation from indigenous peoples around the world. Re-released in 2012, this book launched a wave of indigenous-led critiques of academic power and proposals for indigenized methodological interventions.

Here, Smith traces the history of scientific knowledge as it developed through racist practices and the exploitation of indigenous peoples, and asserts a challenging vision for how research and education can be used to confront colonialism and oppression.

She is best known for her groundbreaking 1999 book, Decolonizing Methodologies. Linda Tuhiwai Smith (Ngāti Awa and Ngāti Porou, Māori) is a scholar of education and critic of persistent colonialism in academic teaching and research.
