Bridging the Knowledge Gap: Indigenous Foundations

Event Date & Time

Event Description

Educational institutions have historically excluded the voices and experiences of Indigenous people and privileged others. The university classroom is often the first site for students to engage in conversations and share ideas with others from a broad range of cultural and social backgrounds. Instructors report this gap in knowledge, understanding and experience make it difficult to have meaningful discussions on Indigenous topics beyond an introductory level.

In this session we will examine and share pedagogical approaches to introductory level courses with Aboriginal content: Where do you start? What are some of the challenges? What are the triggers for students around  content and how do you develop critical reflection within the framework of your course design?

Facilitators:

Kathryn Grafton is an Instructor (English; Coordinated Arts Program) who specializes in writing studies, literatures of Canada, and media. She is the Associate Editor of CanLit Guides, an open-access resource that introduces students to the field of Canadian literature. Kathryn is also part of a team developing a digitally-augmented Indigenous tour of campus, Knowing the Land Beneath Our Feet at UBC.

David Gaertner is an Assistant Professor in the First Nations and Indigenous Studies Program at the University of British Columbia. He is the author of numerous articles on Indigenous literature and Indigenous new media and teaches courses across the curriculum for FNIS, including Introduction to First Nations and Indigenous Studies and Representation and Indigenous Cultural Politics Representation. He is also the co-editor of Read, Listen, Tell: Indigenous Stories from Turtle Island, which will be available from Wilfrid Laurier Press in January 2017.