Smith (1999), "Research Through Imperial Eyes"

1. Global poverty, inequality, sickness, and poor educational access must be understood in historical context. Western epistemology has been complicit in this historical process.

Smith (1999) argues that European imperialism and colonialism have been a primary factor in keeping poor countries poor, sick, and hungry. One tool of this process is the spread of ideologies about "developing" nations and the "Third World." Research plays an important part in this process by defining what counts as knowledge and how knowledge should be gathered and understood.

2. Marginalized groups can resist against imperialism by offering "counter stories."

Marginalized people and nations can push back against this form of imperialism by offering alternate histories. Smith (1999) argues that reasserting cultural history allows marginalized cultures to take up agency of defining themselves. Cultures that have been defined by Western research domination can resist by defining themselves.