ANALYZING INDIGENEITY IN ACADEMIC AND ARCHITECTURAL FRAMEWORKS

Author(s):  
Tatiana Estrina ◽  
◽  
Shengnan Gao ◽  
Vivian Kinuthia ◽  
Sophie Twarog ◽  
...  

While the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada fosters agency for Indigenous Canadians, this mandate like others, attempts to Indigenize an existing colonial system. The acknowledgement of the Indigenous experience within academic institutions must begin with a deconstruction of educational frameworks that are enforced by pre-existing neo-colonial policies and agendas. The colonial worldview on institutional frameworks is rooted in systemic understandings of property, ownership and hierarchy that are supported by patriarchal policies. These pedagogies do not reflect Indigenous beliefs or teachings, resulting in an assimilation or dissociation of Indigenous members into Western-centric educational systems. Addressing this disconnect through Indigenizing existing institutional frameworks within state control favours a system that re-affirms settler-societies. The tokenization and lack of Indigenous participation in the decision-making process reinforces misinformed action towards reconciliation. decentralized. The case studies explored emphasize the rediscovery of an authentic culture-specific vernacular, facilitation of customs through programme, and the fundamental differences between Indigenous and colonial worldviews. The critical analysis of these emerging academic typologies may continue to inform future architectural projects while fostering greater responsibility for architects and positions of authority to return sovereignty to Indigenous communities and incorporate design approaches that embody Indigenous values. This paper will propose the decolonization of academic frameworks to reconstruct postcolonial methodologies of educational architecture that serve Indigenous knowledge and agency.

2016 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 173-182
Author(s):  
Georgina Martin

This article follows on the heels of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission report to redress the residue of residential schools by enhancing harmony between Indigenous communities and universities. My collaborative community-based Indigenous Knowledge(IK) research attended to the struggle for Secwepemc reclamation, revitalization, and renewal of culture, language, and land. An IK theoretical framework initiated con dence to articulate a Secwepemc worldview within a Eurocentric research context especially while responding to the deeply personal and sensitive topics of cultural identity and language. The aim of knowledge creation is to work from an Indigenous research paradigm through self-location, storytelling, and community relevant protocols.


Author(s):  
Sharon Farnel ◽  
Denise Koufogiannakis ◽  
Sheila Laroque ◽  
Ian Bigelow ◽  
Anne Carr-Wiggin ◽  
...  

Appropriate subject access and descriptive practices within library and information science are social justice issues. Standards that are well established and commonly used in academic libraries in Canada and elsewhere, including Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) and Library of Congress Classification (LCC), continue to perpetuate colonial biases toward Indigenous peoples. In the fall of 2016, the University of Alberta Libraries (UAL) established a Decolonizing Description Working Group (DDWG) to investigate, define, and propose a plan of action for how descriptive metadata practices could more accurately, appropriately, and respectfully represent Indigenous peoples and contexts. The DDWG is currently beginning the implementation of recommendations approved by UAL’s strategic leadership team. In this paper we describe the genesis of the DDWG within the broader context of the libraries’ and the university’s responses to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada’s Calls to Action; outline the group’s activities and recommendations; and describe initial steps toward the implementation of those recommendations, with a focus on engaging local Indigenous communities. We reflect on the potential impact of revised descriptive practices in removing many of the barriers that Indigenous communities and individuals face in finding and accessing library materials relevant to their cultures and histories.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shelagh McCartney

Current housing systems and policies for First Nations communities in Canada produce a physical manifestation of ongoing colonialism: the house. Examinations of the physical community and house yield an understanding of deeply systematized imperial struggles between Indigenous communities and planning as a discipline. Indigenous families are in crisis as the housing system and Federal planning policies have not allowed for the provision of adequate nor appropriate homes. The recent independent Truth and Reconciliation Commission has begun a civic discussion, accompanied by a new federal government looking to begin a new relationship with Indigenous peoples—here we explore how planning can be a leader in this shift. The ‘contact zone’ is used as an operational lens to examine the ways discourse is used to shape the existing housing system. An interdisciplinary and global approach informs interventions in the existing housing system and policies, creating a community-driven model, and uncovering a reimagined role for the planner.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shelagh McCartney

Current housing systems and policies for First Nations communities in Canada produce a physical manifestation of ongoing colonialism: the house. Examinations of the physical community and house yield an understanding of deeply systematized imperial struggles between Indigenous communities and planning as a discipline. Indigenous families are in crisis as the housing system and Federal planning policies have not allowed for the provision of adequate nor appropriate homes. The recent independent Truth and Reconciliation Commission has begun a civic discussion, accompanied by a new federal government looking to begin a new relationship with Indigenous peoples—here we explore how planning can be a leader in this shift. The ‘contact zone’ is used as an operational lens to examine the ways discourse is used to shape the existing housing system. An interdisciplinary and global approach informs interventions in the existing housing system and policies, creating a community-driven model, and uncovering a reimagined role for the planner.


Author(s):  
Lindsay Wolfson ◽  
Nancy Poole ◽  
Melody Morton Ninomiya ◽  
Deborah Rutman ◽  
Sherry Letendre ◽  
...  

The association between fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD), residential schools and subsequent assimilatory policies in Canada is of such significance that it was included in the groundbreaking Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada’s Final Report through Call to Action #33, which focuses on collaboratively developing FASD prevention programs in Indigenous communities. A consensus statement with eight tenets for enacting Call to Action #33 was co-developed in May 2017 using a Two-Eyed Seeing approach during and after a meeting on Indigenous approaches to FASD prevention held in Canada. The consensus statement provides guidance for creating community-based, culture-led FASD prevention programs in Indigenous communities. The eight tenets reflect the diverse perspectives of Indigenous and non-Indigenous participants, are grounded in available research evidence, and align with Indigenous worldviews and wellness models. This paper uses the consensus statement and eight exemplary FASD prevention programs from Indigenous communities and organizations across Canada to highlight identity, culture, and relationships as central elements of FASD prevention in Indigenous communities. The consensus statement provides guidance for developing community- and culture-led FASD prevention programs and highlights the importance of Indigenous knowledge systems in developing and researching FASD prevention in, and with, Indigenous communities.


2016 ◽  
Vol 1 (4) ◽  
pp. 20-31 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shelagh McCartney

Current housing systems and policies for First Nations communities in Canada produce a physical manifestation of ongoing colonialism: the house. Examinations of the physical community and house yield an understanding of deeply systematized imperial struggles between Indigenous communities and planning as a discipline. Indigenous families are in crisis as the housing system and Federal planning policies have not allowed for the provision of adequate nor appropriate homes. The recent independent Truth and Reconciliation Commission has begun a civic discussion, accompanied by a new federal government looking to begin a new relationship with Indigenous peoples—here we explore how planning can be a leader in this shift. The ‘contact zone’ is used as an operational lens to examine the ways discourse is used to shape the existing housing system. An interdisciplinary and global approach informs interventions in the existing housing system and policies, creating a community-driven model, and uncovering a reimagined role for the planner.


2019 ◽  
Vol 53 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Aubrey Jean Hanson

This paper makes a case for attending to the resurgence of Indigenous literary arts in taking up the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada’s Calls to Action in teacher education. I argue that Indigenous literary arts can help to foster relational understandings between readers and Indigenous communities: stories have the capacity to open up processes of relationship and responsibility. To develop this argument, I draw upon perspectives from teachers and from Indigenous writers, with whom I shared conversations on the question of why Indigenous literatures matter. Through an interpretive process of interweaving these perspectives, this article shows that Indigenous literatures can inspire and motivate educators to take on this work and learning despite its attendant challenges.


2020 ◽  
pp. 1-5
Author(s):  
Proscovia Svärd

Truth and Reconciliation Commissions (TRCs) are established to document violations of human rights and international humanitarian law in post-conflict societies. The intent is to excavate the truth to avoid political speculations and create an understanding of the nature of the conflict. The documentation hence results in a common narrative which aims to facilitate reconciliation to avoid regression to conflict. TRCs therefore do a tremendous job and create compound documentation that includes written statements, interviews, live public testimonies of witnesses and they also publish final reports based on the accumulated materials. At the end of their mission, TRCs recommend the optimal use of their documentation since it is of paramount importance to the reconciliation process. Despite this ambition, the TRCs’ documentation is often politicized and out of reach for the victims and the post-conflict societies at large. The TRCs’ documentation is instead poorly diffused into the post conflict societies and their findings are not effectively disseminated and used.


2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 132-146
Author(s):  
Anah-Jayne Markland

The ignorance of many Canadians regarding residential schools and their traumatic legacy is emphasised in the reports of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) as a foundational obstacle to achieving reconciliation. Many of the TRC's calls to action involve education that dispels and corrects this ignorance, and the commission demands ‘age-appropriate curriculum on residential schools, Treaties, and Aboriginal peoples' historical and contemporary contributions to Canada’ to be made ‘a mandatory education requirement for Kindergarten to Grade Twelve students’ (Calls to Action 62.i). How to incorporate the history of residential schools in kindergarten and early elementary curricula has been much discussed, and one tool gaining traction is Indigenous-authored picturebooks about Canadian residential schools. This article conducts a close reading of Margaret Pokiak-Fenton and Christy Jordan-Fenton's picturebook When I Was Eight (2013). The picturebook gathers Indigenous and settler children together to contest master settler narratives regarding the history of residential schools. Using Gerald Vizenor's concept of ‘survivance’ and Dominick LaCapra's notion of ‘empathic unsettlement’, the article argues that picturebooks work to unsettle young readers empathetically as part of restorying settler myths about residential schools and implicating young readers in the work of reconciliation.


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