Bâtir des liens : Mobiliser les histoires autochtones pour le changement social – Building Connections : Mobilizing Indigenous Histories for Social Change
Co-Applicants: Stanley, T., & Ng-A-Fook, N., & Lemay, D.
Duration: 2020-2021
Funding: Social Science and Humanities Research Council Connection Grant
Announcement: sshrc-crsh.gc.ca
Bâtir des liens : Mobiliser les histoires autochtones pour le changement social | Building Connections: Mobilizing Indigenous Histories for Social Change is a two-and-one-half-day symposium exploring promising practices to support the efforts of Indigenous communities to collect, preserve and mobilize their oral and written histories, and to advance the efforts of both Indigenous and settler K-12 schools and post-secondary institutions to incorporate these histories into their history education programs. The Institute of Indigenous Research and Studies (IIRS) and the Faculty of Education, University of Ottawa, are organizing the symposium in collaboration with the Histoire au Canada: Perspectives des Premiers Peuples project, initiated by the Cégep de l’Outaouais, the Kiuna Institute, the Kitigan Zibi First Nation Cultural Education Centre, the Avataq Cultural Institute and La Boîte Rouge VIF.
Challenges or Issues Addressed by Project: Most historical research and teaching reflects the ideas and interpretations of the dominant society and does not connect to the lives of many young people. However, historical understanding can be transformational when it is linked directly to people’s lives and those of their communities. In this respect, as part of their processes of revitalization, many Indigenous communities have developed their own history and memory projects including building keeping houses and creating mapping projects, while other communities are just beginning this work. Equally, some settler educational institutions have sophisticated understandings of how to respectfully engage with these histories, while others are only beginning to consider how to engage at all. This conference is intended to mobilize the knowledge and experience of both Indigenous communities and settler institutions so as to identify promising practices for the development of transformational approaches to Indigenous histories and history education.
Potential Contributions to Research: Through a knowledge synthesis of promising practices, the symposium will further respectful engagement with Indigenous research methodologies, oral histories, digital archiving and curricular co-development. The symposium will feature approximately 120 participants, including international keynote speakers on Indigenous research methods (Shawn Wilson from Southern Cross University in Australia) and social memory technology projects (Karen Worcman, Museum of the Person, Brazil), an Elders’ panel on ceremony and memory practices, workshops delivered by experts drawn from Indigenous communities with developed memory projects and history education programs, as well as Indigenous and non-Indigenous scholars from post-secondary institutions who specialize in oral histories, historical thinking/education and curriculum development. The key audiences for the symposium are Indigenous community members, teachers and students, as well as historians, history educators and students drawn from post-secondary institutions. Participants will have the opportunity to workshop key ideas and challenges. The conference will also be webcast. An on-line knowledge synthesis of the promising practices identified through the symposium will be hosted by uOttawa and the Histoire au Canada project.
Wider Potential Benefits: The symposium will enhance the revitalization of Indigenous communities and facilitate broader projects of reconciliation and decolonization. This conference has the potential to help strengthen the cultural resurgence that is taking place in many Indigenous communities by supporting these communities in taking control over their own histories. At the same time, it promises respectful and collaborative strategies for promoting broader understanding.
Building Connections | Bâtir des liens:
- Treaty and Inherent rights and kinship responsibilities to guide all the children in a natural ethical way
Speaker: Dale Saddleback - Indigenous Research Chairs on Historical Memory and the Teaching of the Past
Speakers: Alan Corbiere, Brenda Macdougall, Pierrot Ross-Tremblay - Social Memory Technology or the Right to Memory: The perspective of the Museum of the Person
Speaker: Karen Worcman - “Yarning about Yarning”
Speaker: Stuart Barlo - La technologie de mémoire sociale ou le pouvoir des histoires de vie : conversation entre Karen Worcman et Pierrot Ross-Tremblay | The Social Memory Technology or the Power of Life Stories: Karen Worcman in Conversation with Pierrot Ross-Tremblay
Speakers: Karen Worcman and Pierrot Ross-Tremblay - Histoire au Canada : Perspectives des Premiers Peuples | History of Canada: First Peoples’ perspectives
Speakers: Christian Labrecque, Diane Le May, Eddy Malenfant, Pierrot Ross-Tremblay and Anita Tenasco - Transpacific Encounters, National Historic Sites and Cultural Renewal in a First Nation Community
Speaker: Margaretta James - Mapping our ways: Critical Cartography for the Robinson Huron Waawiindamaagewin
Speakers: Cheryl Recollet and Nicky Recollet - Perspectives des peuples autochtones sur leur propre histoire | Indigenous People’s Perspectives on their Own Histories
Speakers: Christian Coocoo, David Gasconet Daviken Studnicki-Gizbert - Mi’kmaw Perspectives on Public School Education
Speakers: Corinne Chappel, Stephen Augustine and Omeasoo Wahpasiw - Building Relationships with Indigenous Knowledge – The Charles R. Bronfman Lecture in Canadian Studies
Speaker: Shawn Wilson - Transformative action and the Intercollegiate Decolonization Network
Speakers: Deborah Rose Lunny, Kim Tekakwitha Martin and Miah Otte
* Turn on “Show Transcript” in Youtube to display English and French transcripts for each presentation. Series playlist available on uOttawaEducation channel. For more information about the speakers, click here.
* This project is supported by Social Science and Humanities Research Council Connection Grant with Stanley, T., & Ng-A-Fook, N., & Lemay, D. as co-applicants. Click here to view more SSHRC funded projects.