The Indigenous Knowledges and Anti-Racist Pedagogies (IKAR) team at CTE spent 2022-23 growing a holistic network of connections across campus, contributing input and expertise where applicable. This kind of collaboration is integral to the work of Indigenization and decolonization taking place at Waterloo. With the common goal of introducing Indigenous ways of knowing within traditional academic and bureaucratic systems, IKAR's educational developers, and others tasked with similar objectives across the University, are changing the institutional culture by focusing on relationship-building and a sense of collective responsibility.
Read more about:
-
Supporting Decolonization Discussions in the Faculty of Mathematics
-
Amplifying Student Voices: LITE Grant Funding for the Urban Arts Lab
-
Contributing Indigenous Knowledge to the Science Communication Requirement
Braided sweetgrass (Hierochloë hirta subsp. arctica) from Bella Coola, British Columbia. PHOTO CREDIT: Nancy J. Turner. Source: The Canadian Encyclopedia.
Led by its own staff and leadership, with support from the Office of Indigenous Relations and IKAR, the Faculty of Mathematics recently embarked on some significant collaborative work discussing and thinking through principles that could guide its efforts to support decolonization, anti-racism, diversity, equity, and inclusion. An important aspect of this work was building a foundation for mutual understanding, including the following objectives:
- Establishing a common understanding of the foundational values that are often invisible at a surface level within the field of mathematics
- Understanding the potential added value of incorporating Indigenous perspectives
- Developing an understanding of the unique challenges faced by Math faculty doing decolonization work
Jessica Rumboldt (Educational Developer, Indigenous Knowledges, CTE) supported this work by introducing a book club centered on the book Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants, by Dr. Robin Wall Kimmerer (Published by Milkweed Editions, 2015). As the Faculty had already integrated the use of discussion circles to support its efforts, the book club also used circle pedagogy for discussions centred on sharing ideas around the meaning of decolonization and Indigenization, and how these concepts might be applied to mathematics.
Circle pedagogy creates a space that promotes well-being, empathy, and compassion, and encourages individuals to listen and engage actively to ensure that everyone present is heard. The communication that occurs in the circle highlights the value of relationships and community while promoting active listening and speaking with intention.
This approach worked particularly well for discussions around the concept of decolonizing Mathematics, which requires—minimally—active listening and thinking outside of the box: People may think of Indigenization and math as disparate topics without much impact on each other, but as Brian Ingalls (Professor of Applied Mathematics and reading circle participant) explains:
"Because mathematics concerns itself with objective truths, many of those involved in constructing and using mathematical knowledge see those activities as insulated from social considerations. But throughout history, mathematics has been developed in support of social values and priorities, and these are reflected in how mathematics research is done and how it is taught."
With the Faculty recently having finalized its guiding principles, CTE's Indigenous Knowledges and Anti-Racist Pedagogies team looks forward to continuing to engage with its work as those principles are put into practice in the classroom and beyond.
I love the way that Kimmerer interweaves Indigenous knowledge and botany research in Braiding Sweetgrass. It was impactful to use her words as a jumping-off point to discuss similar connections we might be able to make in the Faculty of Mathematics.
PHOTO CREDIT: Circle discussion of assigned readings, Urban Art(z) class. Office of the Associate Vice-President, Academic, University of Waterloo.
This story stems from multiple conversations with Adam Ellis and Jessica Rumboldt and reflects their experiences.
How do you decolonize a course and your approach to teaching? And how do the students respond? That’s what Adam Ellis (Assistant Professor, Sociology and Legal Studies) wanted to explore when he secured his Learning Innovation and Teaching Enhancement (LITE) grant, “Towards an Urban Arts Pedagogy.”
Adam’s work isn’t mainstream: it’s grounded in his lived experience on the margins on the streets of Toronto. Before even coming to UWaterloo, he had developed what he calls “street pedagogy” as a means of challenging an educational system that had labeled him a failure early on.
The LITE grant project started a new connection with the Centre for Teaching Excellence. Adam was seeking collaborators to help accelerate his work. What he found was a project partner in Jessica Rumboldt (CTE Educational Developer, Indigenous Knowledges).
With additional collaborators, they worked on setting up Adam’s Urban Art(z) Lab, a space for making music and visual art that is foundational to his teaching and research, and developing a new upper-level course that centres three key elements:
-
Assigned readings as a conduit for students to explore theories and issues around decolonization
-
Learning circles that provide students with an avenue to discuss the topics and consider their role in perpetuating the status quo, through conversation and the sharing of personal stories
-
Studio work where students use music, art, DJing, photography, or video as opportunities to articulate their positionality and perspectives
Doing this type of teaching (and research) unearths various systemic barriers that make it challenging to persist with the work. For example, traditional conceptions of teaching spaces and teaching assignments no longer hold and need to be reconceived as part of decolonized approaches to teaching and learning. And doing that work alone is very hard. The course has been very well received by students from a wide variety of backgrounds. As one student explains,
"This week’s exercise was raw, authentic, and powerful. From going around the room and hearing people’s stories, I connected with my classmates in ways I have never experienced in my academic career."
Adam acknowledges that his connection with CTE has helped him to find similar-thinking people. He feels comfortable working with others who have lived experience being marginalized by colonial educational systems. He also recognizes that lifting others up is part of CTE’s approach, in concert with relationship-building. It’s a combination which provides support that he values.
I feel safe in CTE’s space. They've created a place that’s friendly to people who are non-traditional scholars because their teams are built with folks who represent that.
I am grateful for the connections made to Adam’s work. I believe in the vision to lift others up and build meaningful connections to create positive change.
Students demonstrate what they learned in the Science Communication course. PHOTO CREDIT: Office of the Associate Vice-President, Academic.
The University of Waterloo's Science Communication course helps prepare students within the Faculty of Science for academic and professional success by teaching them how to design, draft, and deliver scientific communications using appropriate language, collaborate with peers, practice research and appropriately cite research sources, and understand ethical concerns around communicating about science.
In 2022-23, Madison Hill (Educational Developer, Indigenous Knowledges, CTE) collaborated with Savannah Sloat (Manager, Science Indigenous Initiatives in the Faculty of Science) to co-develop four modules focused on Traditional Ecological Knowledge, an interdisciplinary framework of Indigenous Knowledges. These four modules are meant to be used broadly to engage students with Indigenous Knowledges, particularly in relationship with science and the environment.
The four modules include:
- Introduction to Traditional Ecological Knowledge
- Traditional Ecological Knowledge and the Environment
- Implementing Traditional Ecological Knowledge with Modern Science
- Traditional Sustainability Teachings
Inclusion of this module provides introductory engagement with Indigenous Knowledges, which the Faculty of Science will build upon by utilizing these modules in upper year science courses, as well as creating new Indigenous Science courses.
Overall, this was a fantastic example of a collaborative project that engaged multiple functional areas and departments supporting the goal of including Indigenous Knowledges in the Science curriculum and teaching. This course is held with the departments of English and Communication Arts who greatly supported this initiative by advocating for its inclusion with their instructors.
Stakeholders recognize that creating an alignment of this level of consistency is an important achievement. It reflects the excellent partnership and cooperation between the Department of English Language and Literature, the Department of Communication Arts, the Faculty of Science, and our colleagues advancing Indigenous education at the University of Waterloo. The module underwent an extensive and highly collegial consultation process to make it accessible and flexible for Science Communication classes.
Students demonstrate what they learned in the Science Communication course. PHOTO CREDIT: Office of the Associate Vice-President, Academic
Myeengun Henry (Indigenous Knowledge Keeper) and Benny Skinner (Indigenous Research Advisor) pose in a representation of how seven generations look back towards the ancestors and forward to future relations and identities. IMAGE CREDIT: School of Pharmacy, University of Waterloo
Indigenizing the Pharmacy curriculum
In 2019 the School of Pharmacy unanimously endorsed an Indigenous Initiatives strategy that included Indigenization of its curriculum. They invited the newly-formed Indigenous Knowledges and Anti-Racist Pedagogies team at CTE to support this work. Last year, we reported on first steps in this process. The following is an update.
One new course was added to the curriculum in 2023:
Culturally Safe Patient Care (PHARM230) is an online and in-class course that includes activities on creating culturally safe spaces and cultivating cultural humility. This course launched in September 2023 and includes nine modules on the following topics:
- anti-racism, bias, and intersectionality in healthcare settings
- an introduction to the concepts of cultural safety: awareness, sensitivity, competency and humility as a learning journey
- the weight of history, social determinants of health, and the Truth and Reconciliation Call to Action #24
- an anti-racist and non-gender conforming affirmative model of creating safe spaces, explained through Indigenous Knowledges and anti-oppressive theories
These modules also introduce students to Indigenous community members at the University of Waterloo, including cultural teachings from Knowledge Keepers in the local community, and will be followed by a series of focus groups to understand the student experience of the modules.
The design process also began for a 100-level course focusing Indigenous Foundations which launches in January 2024:
Indigenous Foundations (PHARM120)includes four modules of Indigenous content, designed as an accessible starting point for introducing first-year Pharmacy students to a number of topics relevant to their studies and future career:
- Indigenous culture, diversity, history, and worldview
- Anti-racism and bias
- Developing a positionality statement
- The concepts of Indigenization, decolonization, and settler identities
- How to acknowledge and come to understand Indigenous worldviews
Four additional modules can be included in courses beyond Pharmacy:
- Understanding the effects of the residential school system
- Recognizing the prevalence of violence against Indigenous Peoples
- Gender equity for Indigenous women and 2SLGBTQQIA+ peoples
- Taking a strengths-based approach to looking ahead