Peer-Reviewed Articles
Forcione, M., Lamb, C., Buitenhuis, K., & Godlewska, A. (forthcoming). Colonial geographical ignorance in Canadian education. Environment & Planning F: Philosophy, Theory, Models, Methods and Practice.
Godlewska, A., Schaefli, L., Forcione, M., Lamb, C., Nelson, E., & Talan, B. (2020). Canadian colonialism, ignorance and education. A study of graduating students at 黑料吃瓜资源. Journal of Pedagogy/Pedagogick媒 Casopis, 11(1), 147鈥176. doi:10.2478/jped-2020-0008
Abstract: Canada has long been a colonial country and an extractive economy. In the 20th century, with the adoption of multiculturalism and a global peace keeping mission, the country seemed to embrace a new ethos. However, Canada remains deeply colonial and, in spite of a judiciary that since the repatriation of the Constitution in 1982, increasingly recognizes Indigenous land, resource and identity rights, its economy continues to be extractive, with abiding impacts on the Indigenous peoples of Turtle Island (North America). Our study of the knowledge, ignorance and social attitudes of exiting undergraduate students at 黑料吃瓜资源 suggests that students in this part of Canada (Ontario) are educated to misunderstand the fundamental geographies of Indigenous peoples, their land, and their identity. But the contradiction between image and reality is beginning to attract the students鈥 attention and disrupt their sense of being part of a just society.
Key words: Indigenous, education, Canada, colonialism, ignorance
Lamb, C., & Godlewksa, A. (2020). On the peripheries of education: (Not)learning about Indigenous peoples in the 1995-2010 British Columbia curriculum. Journal of Curriculum Studies, 1鈥21.
Abstract: This paper analyses the coverage of Indigenous topics in K-12 education in British Columbia (BC) using curriculum documents and course enrolment. It focuses on curriculum documents published between 1995 and 2010 and mandated in public education from 1995 to 2019, and argues that Indigenous topics were marginalized in the curriculum overall. Motivated by decades of work by Indigenous leaders and educators to grapple with non-Indigenous people鈥檚 prejudices, ignorance, and lack of understanding, the British Columbia Ministry of Education has increasingly recognized the importance of integrating Indigenous topics into core curricula and has offered all students Indigenous Studies course options. However, coverage remained marginalized in the core curriculum and recent curricular revisions have relied increasingly on teachers鈥 voluntary integration of Indigenous topics and meaningful consultation with local Indigenous educators and communities, for which insufficient support and resources are provided by the Education Ministry. The paper explores challenges to the curriculum鈥檚 ability to combat prejudice, eliminate discrimination and promote tolerance, understanding and good relations among Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples in the province.
Key words: Curriculum, Indigenous peoples, British Columbia, settler colonialism
Schaefli, L., & Godlewska, A. (2020). Unsettling pedagogy: Co-designing research in place with Indigenous educators. Studies in Social Justice, 13(2), 221鈥243.
Abstract: This article argues that decolonizing educational research begins in attention to inherited colonial thinking and ways of being. Working with over 250 Indigenous educators, staff, students, faculty and administrators associated with 10 partner universities in Ontario, Canada, we co-designed a questionnaire assessing how Ontario post-secondary students are learning to think about colonialism and its relationship to Indigenous peoples and Canadian society. Situating ourselves as researchers and as participants, we theorize the questionnaire鈥檚 and our own methodological transformation through the lens of recent literature on epistemologies of ignorance, discussing humour, the relationship between language and imagination, and assumptions we held that presented significant opportunities to shift how we relate. In doing so we argue the social importance of attending to the limits of knowledge and the entrenchment of those limits in historically conditioned and socially sanctioned axes of dominance. We attest both to the depths of colonial misrecognition and to the power of Indigenous knowledge and ways of being to shift social worlds.
Key words: decolonization; education; settler colonialism; Indigenous peoples; ignorance; Canada; Ontario
Schaefli, L., Godlewska, A., Korteweg, L., Coombs, A., Morcom, L., & Rose, J. (2018). What do first-year university students in Ontario, Canada, know about First Nations, M茅tis, and Inuit peoples and topics? Canadian Journal of Education / Revue canadienne de l鈥櫭ヾucation, 41(3), 689-725.
Abstract: We disseminated the Awareness Survey to the first-year cohorts at 10 Ontario universities in 2014. Co-designed with over 200 First Nations, M茅tis and Inuit educators and community members across Ontario, the survey investigated how students are learning to think about colonialism and its relationship to Indigenous peoples and Canadian society. Statistical analysis of 2,899 student responses reveals that first-year university students who graduated from Ontario high schools are substantially unaware of Indigenous presence and vitality. The majority of students do not understand the fundamental laws structuring conditions of life for First Nations, M茅tis and Inuit people, nor the contributions Indigenous peoples make to all aspects of Canadian society. Although they know slightly more about what is happening with regard to Indigenous peoples today, students have little sense of the historical circumstances and forces that shape current events. Arguably, students are this ignorant because the Ontario K-12 curriculum, which remains deeply inadequate, is the primary source of information for most students. However, when students have opportunities to engage with Indigenous perspectives and topics, it can make a difference to what students know and think. These results indicate that curricular reform is key to eradicating mass ignorance but cannot occur in isolation. Teacher education programs must play a central role in enacting the promise of new curricular emphases.
Key words: ignorance, awareness, Indigenous, Ontario, university, curriculum
Schaefli, L., Godlewska, A., & Rose, J. (2018). Coming to know Indigeneity: Epistemologies of ignorance in the 2003-2015 Ontario Canadian and World Studies curriculum. Curriculum Inquiry, 48(4), 475-498. doi:
Abstract: This article investigates the portrayal of colonialism and Indigenous peoples in curricula and textbooks in the province of Ontario, Canada. The analysis is focused on the curricular documents and texts that constituted Ontario鈥檚 social studies and Canadian and World Studies stream between 2003 and 2015, which have informed the understanding of a generation of Ontarians. Drawing on recent work on epistemologies of ignorance, we demonstrate how segregation and past placement of Indigenous content, omission of Indigenous critical perspectives, philosophies, and territories, denial of colonialism, and reinforcement of racialized hierarchies work to encourage logic of relation premised on Indigenous disappearance. Although nine textbooks associated with the 2003鈥2015 Canadian and World studies curriculum were reviewed by First Nations and Metis educators, critical Indigenous perspectives are frequently undermined in the texts through exclusion from chapter review questions, segregation of content, and imposition of settler voice. Although the Ministry of Education has created a new curriculum, the depth, and perniciousness of epistemologies of ignorance requires sustained involvement of First Nations, Metis and Inuit educators at all levels of curricular and text design, with special attention to the training of teachers.
Godlewska, A., Schaefli, L., Massey, J., Freake, S., & Rose, J. (2017). Awareness of Aboriginal peoples in Newfoundland and Labrador: Memorial's first鈥恲ear students (2013) speak. The Canadian Geographer / Le G茅ographe Canadien, 61(4), 595-609. doi:10.1111/cag.12427
Abstract: As part of the Assessing Student Awareness of Indigenous Peoples survey of Newfoundland and Labrador and before exposing them to any Indigenous content, we asked 铿乺st-year students at Memorial University the three most important things they knew about Aboriginal people. At the end of the survey we asked them another open-ended question: did they consider the test a valid measure of their knowledge, and why or why not. The responses to these two questions taught us a great deal about what students know and think. Overwhelmingly their thinking is marred by racism, stereotypes, and an inability to access language to express the speci铿乧ity and diversity of Aboriginal peoples in Canada. In some cases, these views and attitudes are reinforced rather than dispelled in primary, middle, and secondary education. Despite a poor performance on the test, more than 78% of students considered the test a valid measure of their knowledge. Both the answers in the positive and negative are revealing of student attitudes about Aboriginal people and topics.
搁茅蝉耻尘茅: Comme partie int茅grante de l鈥櫭﹙aluation de la sensibilisation dans le cadre de l鈥檈nqu锚te sur les peuples autochtones de Terre-Neuve et du Labrador et avant de les exposer a tout contenu autochtone, nous avons demand茅 aux 茅tudiants de premi猫re ann茅e de l鈥橴niversit茅 Memorial d鈥櫭﹏oncer les trois choses les plus importantes qu鈥檌ls savaient au sujet des Autochtones. 脌 la 铿乶 du sondage, nous leur avons pos茅 une autre question ouverte : pensaient-ils que le test 茅tait une mesure valide de leurs connaissances et pourquoi. Les r茅ponses 脿 ces deux questions nous en ont beaucoup appris sur ce que les 茅tudiants savent et pensent. Leur pens茅e est essentiellement entach茅e par le racisme, les st茅r茅otypes et une incapacit茅 脿 utiliser la langue pour exprimer la sp茅ci铿乧it茅 et la diversit茅 des Autochtones au Canada. Dans certains cas, ces opinions et ces attitudes sont renforc茅es plut么t que dissip茅es durant les 茅tudes 茅l茅mentaires, interm茅diaires et secondaires. Malgr茅 les mauvais r茅sultats obtenus sur le test, plus de 78 pour cent des 茅tudiants estimaient que le test 茅tait une mesure valide de leurs connaissances. Les r茅ponses tant positives que n茅gatives sont r茅v茅latrices des attitudes des 茅tudiants envers les Autochtones et les th猫mes autochtones.
鈥婫odlewska, A., Schaefli, L., Massey, J., Freake, S., Adjei, J. K., Rose, J., & Hudson, C. (2017). What do first-year university students in Newfoundland and Labrador know about aboriginal peoples and topics?: Student knowledge of Aboriginal peoples. The Canadian Geographer / Le G茅ographe Canadien, 61(4), 579-594. doi:10.1111/cag.12428
Abstract: This paper delivers the results from a quantitative analysis of the Assessing Student Awareness of Indigenous Peoples survey carried out in Newfoundland and Labrador in 2013. The results suggest that most students are substantially unaware of Aboriginal people including their presence (geography), their cultural continuity (history), the laws structuring their conditions of life (governance), current events, and their cultures. Most students entering Memorial University learn what they know from the K鈥 鈥12 curriculum, which is woefully inadequate鈥攁lthough where the curriculum is strong students do perform better, suggesting that curricular and text reform could make a large difference. This paper is the 铿乺st in a two-part series in which we focus 铿乺st on quantitative results and then a discourse analysis of students鈥 words.
搁茅蝉耻尘茅: Cet article pr茅sente les r茅sultats d鈥檜ne analyse quantitative de l鈥檈nqu锚te sur la sensibilisation des 茅tudiants aux peuples autochtones qui a 茅t茅 effectu茅e 脿 Terre-Neuve et Labrador en 2013. Les r茅sultats sugg猫rent que la plupart des 茅tudiants connaissent tr猫s peu de choses au sujet des peuples autochtones, y compris leur pr茅sence (g茅ographie), leur continuit茅 culturelle (histoire), les lois qui structurent leurs conditions de vie (gouvernance), les activit茅s actuelles et leurs cultures. La plupart des 茅tudiants qui entreprennent leurs 茅tudes 脿 l鈥橴niversit茅 Memorial ont appris ce qu鈥檌ls savent durant leur programme de 12e ann茅e, ce qui est manifestement insuffisant, bien que des 茅tudiants qui proviennent d鈥櫭﹖ablissements o霉 le programme est plus pouss茅 performent mieux, sugg茅rant que la r茅forme des programmes et des textes pourrait faire toute la diff茅rence. Cet article est le premier d鈥檜ne s茅rie en deux parties dans laquelle nous mettons l鈥檃ccent d鈥檃bord sur les r茅sultats quantitatifs puis sur une analyse du discours des 茅tudiants.
鈥婫odlewska, A., Rose, J., Schaefli, L., Freake, S., & Massey, J. (2016). First Nations, M茅tis and Inuit presence in the Newfoundland and Labrador curriculum. Race, Ethnicity and Education, 20(4), 446-462.
Abstract: This article responds to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission Canada鈥檚 2015 call for the education of Canadians about 鈥榬esidential schools, treaties, and Aboriginal peoples鈥 historical and contemporary contributions to Canada.鈥 It is an analysis of the Canadian and world studies curricula and texts in Newfoundland and Labrador, 1 of the 13 provinces and territories of Canada. The analysis is based on academic research and consultations with First Nations, M茅tis and Inuit peoples (FNMI) educators, educational administrators and knowledge holders. Although there is evidence of reform, as a whole the curriculum suffers from silences and lack of context, problematic placement and associations, the intrusion of settler perspectives, contradiction over judgement about issues related to FNMI peoples and inconsistency that undermine efforts at reform. This article provides guidance to curriculum designers, textbook writers, teachers and administrators participating in the decolonization of education in Canada.
鈥婫odlewska, A., Massey, J., Adjei, J., & Moore, J. (2013). The unsustainable nature of ignorance: Measuring knowledge to effect social change first results of an on-line survey of Aboriginal knowledge at 黑料吃瓜资源. The Canadian Journal of Native Studies, 33(1), 65鈥95. Retrieved from
Abstract: Based on research carried out at Queen's University, Ontario, this paper argues that one of the principal problems for Native education in Canada is the unawareness about Aboriginal people in Canada. Through consultation with Aboriginal educators and community members, educators and survey design specialists, the authors designed an awareness survey and delivered it to over 3,000 first-year university students. The results of the survey and a discussion of its implications are presented. The results are provocative as are the words of these students. They performed poorly on the test, failing it on average by over 22%. They performed best on questions reflected in the curriculum, suggesting that any effort spent on teaching this material is worthwhile. They performed second best on historical questions, arguably because Aboriginal material is largely restricted to history courses in the Ontario curriculum. They performed least well on questions related to the contemporary issues and status of First Nations, M茅tis and Inuit. The small number of Alberta and British Columbia educated students in the sample suggest that Alberta and British Columbia students may be a little better informed than Ontario students, but not much. On the whole the students felt that they had been taught poorly and many of them held the educational system responsible for their unawareness.
搁茅蝉耻尘茅: Fond茅 sur des recherches men茅es 脿 l'Universit茅 Queen's (Ontario), l'article met de l'avant que la m茅connaissance g茅n茅rale des Autochtones est l'un des principaux probl猫mes de l'茅ducation des Autochtones au Canada. Apr猫s avoir consult茅 des 茅ducateurs et des membres des collectivit茅s autochtones, d'autres 茅ducateurs et des sp茅cialistes de la conception des enqu锚tes, les auteurs ont mis au point un questionnaire sur la sensibilisation et l'ont envoy茅 脿 plus de 3 000 茅tudiants universitaires de premi猫re ann茅e. L'article pr茅sente les r茅sultats de l'enqu锚te et une discussion de leurs cons茅quences. Les r茅sultats sont aussi provocants que les d茅clarations des 茅tudiants : ces derniers ont obtenu de faibles r茅sultats au test, qu'ils ont 茅chou茅 en moyenne par plus de 22 %. Ils ont eu les meilleurs r茅sultats pour les questions refl茅t茅es dans le programme d'茅tudes, ce qui sugg猫re que tout effort d茅ploy茅 pour enseigner le mat茅riel en vaut la peine. Leurs deuxi猫mes meilleurs r茅sultats visaient les questions d'ordre historique. On pourrait dire que c'est parce que le mat茅riel autochtone est en grande partie confin茅 aux cours d'histoire dans le programme d'茅tudes en Ontario. Les r茅sultats les plus faibles 茅taient associ茅s aux questions li茅es aux questions et au statut contemporains des Premi猫res Nations, des Inuits et des M茅tis. Le petit nombre d'茅tudiants de l'茅chantillon qui ont 茅t茅 茅duqu茅s en Alberta et en ColombieBritannique semble indiquer que ceux-ci sont peut-锚tre un peu plus inform茅s que les 茅tudiants ontariens, mais pas beaucoup plus. Dans l'ensemble, les 茅tudiants croyaient qu'ils n'avaient pas 茅t茅 bien 茅duqu茅s et bon nombre d'entre eux tenaient le syst猫me d'茅ducation responsable de leur m茅connaissance.
鈥婫odlewska, A., Schaefli, L. M., & Chaput, P. J. A. (2013). First Nations assimilation through neoliberal educational reform. The Canadian Geographer, 57(3), 271鈥279.
Abstract: The authors undertake a geographically sensitive analysis of the influential 2010 Free to Learn report. Free to Learn proposes a reform of the funding system for First Nations students to remove funds earmarked for First Nations education from First Nations government control, convert universities into managers of First Nations student funding, and convert First Nations community members into entrepreneurs. Free to Learn employs two strategies: scalar obfuscation and the cultivation of historical geographic ignorance to obscure the links between their proposal for neoliberal educational reform and the long-standing assimilative strategies of the Canadian and pre-Canadian state. The authors explore the economics and demography in the report and expose its deep links to colonial and assimilative policies of the recent and distant past. They link this report to the larger theatre of education in Canada where cultures are frequently reduced to mutable symbols in an ahistorical context. They close with a reflection on the challenges and dangers of taking a political stance with limited understanding of the forces at work in the environment of neoliberal reform prevailing in Canada.
鈥婫odlewska, A., Moore, J., & Bednasek, C. D. (2010). Cultivating ignorance of Aboriginal realities. The Canadian Geographer, 54(4), 417鈥440.
Abstract: The principal problem in Aboriginal education in Canada is the education of Canadians. This article exposes Canada鈥檚 long history of ignorance of Aboriginal Peoples and suggests that while education may not be the source of ignorance, it is now perpetuating it. Using the Ontario secondary school curriculum as an example, this article looks at mainstream Canadian and World Studies, of which geography is an integral part, and Native Studies courses, offered in Ontario since 1999, but available for study to few young Ontarians. Curricular reforms during recent decades have removed the worst expressions of racism, but have not addressed fundamental colonial attitudes in the mainstream curriculum. As a citizenry we are complacent about a deep-seated ignorance of the country鈥檚 past and present, affecting both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Canadians. Lack of interest in traditional and modern Aboriginal cultures doom immigrants and established settlers to a dysfunctional relationship with the growing and increasingly internationally recognized indigenous population. As university educators and teachers of teachers, geographers must assume responsibility for promoting truthful and inclusive perceptions of Aboriginal Peoples in Canada and, in recognizing the subtle strategies of cultivating ignorance, examine how geography as it is currently taught in schools might exclude Aboriginal People and understanding.
鈥婼chaefli, L., & Godlewska, A. (2014). Social ignorance and Indigenous exclusion: Public voices in the province of Quebec, Canada. Settler Colonial Studies, 4(3), 227鈥244.
Abstract: This article explores the mobilization of ignorance to uphold and perpetuate settler privilege and domination in the public voice record generated by the Bouchard鈥揟aylor Commission on reasonable accommodation, held in Quebec, Canada from February 2007 to May 2008. The Commission was a provincially funded inquiry into how the public felt about accommodating ethnocultural deviance from an assumed norm. Focused primarily on recent immigrant difference, Aboriginal accommodation, Aboriginality and Aboriginal rights were deliberately excluded from the Commission鈥檚 purview, yet they are suggestively apparent in the public display and performance of ignorance in the briefs received by the Commission. The role of the intellectual elite in shaping and perpetuating ignorance is clear in the interplay between the Commission parameters established by Bouchard and Taylor and the public response to those parameters. In this article, we theorize ignorance and its role in reinforcing colonial logics; discuss the Commission鈥檚 work; analyse the written briefs submitted to the Commission; discuss the Commission鈥檚 final report; and reflect on the personal and collective dynamics of ignorance and its consequences for settler鈥揂boriginal relations. Ignorance is understood here not as an absence of knowledge but as an active, though not necessarily self-conscious, agreement to 鈥渒now the world wrongly鈥 in a way that supports settler interests and masks its own existence.
鈥婼chaefli, L., & Godlewska, A. (2014). Geographic strategies of Indigenous exclusion: Evidence from the 2007 Bouchard Taylor Commission on Reasonable Accommodation. The Canadian Geographer/Le G茅ographe Canadien, 58(1), 110鈥122. http://doi.org/10.1111/cag.12064
Abstract: Ignorance is linked to colonialism and is deeply implicated in the maintenance of unequal social relations. The authors theorize ignorance as structural and self-interested, and undertake a geographically sensitive analysis of Quebec's 2007 Bouchard-Taylor Commission to demonstrate how ignorance of Aboriginal realities works strategically to sustain unequally occupied rhetorical and material space. The Bouchard-Taylor Commission was a public inquiry into Quebec citizens' opinions on the degree to which cultural difference should be accommodated in the province. Through both geographic decisions about where to hold public meetings and in its very mandate, the Commission restricted participation to Quebecers of French-Canadian descent and immigrants of long and more recent standing. The authors analyze how the law, and ignorance of how it applies to Aboriginal peoples, was mobilized by the Commissioners to create a space from which Aboriginal peoples could be excluded, and highlight the continuity of this strategy with past debates over Quebec identity. The case of the Bouchard-Taylor Commission demonstrates how ignorance operates in highly sophisticated and often readily justifiable ways to uphold settler interests.
搁茅蝉耻尘茅: Alors qu'il existe une interd茅pendance entre le colonialisme et l'ignorance, celle鈥恈i est 茅galement fortement associ茅e au maintien de relations sociales in茅gales. Partant de la th茅orie que l'ignorance est inn茅e et fond茅e sur un int茅r锚t personnel, les auteurs inscrivent l'analyse de la commission Bouchard鈥怲aylor du Qu茅bec tenue en 2007 dans une perspective g茅ographique en vue de mettre en 茅vidence de quelle mani猫re l'ignorance de la r茅alit茅 autochtone d茅coule d'une strat茅gie visant 脿 maintenir une occupation in茅gale de l'espace rh茅torique et mat茅riel. La commission Bouchard鈥怲aylor a 茅t茅 mise sur pied dans le but de mener une enqu锚te publique aupr猫s des citoyens du Qu茅bec pour recueillir leurs avis pour savoir dans quelle mesure les diff茅rences d'ordre culturel devraient faire l'objet d'accommodements dans la province. Autant par les d茅cisions de nature g茅ographique au sujet des endroits choisis pour tenir les audiences publiques que par son propre mandat, la Commission a limit茅 la participation aux Qu茅b茅cois de descendance canadienne鈥恌ran莽aise et aux immigrants r茅cents et de longue date. L'analyse porte ensuite sur la loi et comment les commissaires ont pu tirer parti de l'ignorance de la mani猫re dont elle s'applique aux peuples autochtones pour g茅n茅rer un espace qui pouvait les exclure. Les auteurs soulignent 脿 quel point cette strat茅gie se situe dans la continuit茅 avec les d茅bats pr茅c茅dents qui ont eu lieu sur l'identit茅 du Qu茅bec. La commission Bouchard鈥怲aylor fournit un exemple de l'utilisation hautement sophistiqu茅e et certainement l茅gitime de l'ignorance dans le but de d茅fendre les int茅r锚ts des colonisateurs.
Reports
Godlewksa, A., Lamb, C., Schaefli, L., Braimah, J.A., Forcione, M., Buitenhuis, K., & Talan, B. (2020, November 24). Vancouver Island University: Student awareness of Indigenous topics. Nanaimo & Duncan, BC: Vancouver Island University.
Vancouver Island University Awareness Report
Godlewska, A., Schaefli, L., Lamb, C., Forcione, M., & Buitenhuis, K. (2020, April). What Douglas students know about Indigenous realities in Canada. New Westminster, BC: Douglas College.
Douglas College Awareness Report
Godlewska, A., Forcione, M., Schaefli, L., Talan, B., Lamb, C., & Nelson, E. (2019, April 15). What Queen's students know about Indigenous realities in Canada. Kingston, ON: Queen's University.
Queen's University Awareness Report
Godlewska, A., Schaefli, L., Massey, J., Freake, S., Adjei, J., Rose, J., & Hudson, C. (2016). Report on the knowledge of Aboriginal people and topics by first year students at Memorial. St. John's, NL: Memorial University.
Memorial University Awareness Report
Chapters
Schaefli, L., Godlewska, A., & Lamb, C. (2019). Securing Indigenous dispossession through education: An analysis of Canadian curricula and textbooks. In H. Jahnke, C. Kramer, & P. Meusburger (Eds.), Geographies of Schooling (Vol. 14, pp. 145-161): Springer Open.
鈥婫odlewska, A. (2013). A deeper sense of place: Awakening to belonging. In J. T. Johnson & S. C. Larsen (Eds.), A deeper sense of place: Stories & journeys of Indigenous-academic collaboration (pp. 217鈥231). Corvallis: Oregon State University Press.
Abstract: In this essay, the author explores sense of place through the telling of her family鈥檚 profound historical bond to land in Poland and Eastern Ontario in Canada. As part of her efforts as a non-Aboriginal educator and scholar to enhance her undergraduate students鈥 understanding and awareness of Aboriginal realities in Canada, the author uses her family鈥檚 story of love and loss of land to bridge the gap between her experience as a child of immigrants and First Nations peoples, who hold an even deeper sense of place and continue to experience colonial dispossession. This story works to address sense of place by illustrating the complex entanglements between humans and land that constituted her family鈥檚 experience in both Europe and Canada. In doing so, space is carved out for the acknowledgement and understanding of how her family as immigrants, although living with the consequences of their own dispossession of land in Poland, simultaneously profited from the injustices and loss of land experienced by Indigenous peoples in Canada. Such a story and its resulting acknowledgment of the complex implications of a deeper sense of place is a means to encourage students to think of how the past shapes the present and how they themselves are connected to these realities.
Dissertations
Schaefli, L. (2018). Exposing the Colonial Mind: Epistemologies of Ignorance and Education in Ontario, Canada. ProQuest Dissertations Publishing.
Abstract: This dissertation weaves Indigenous and decolonial scholarship together with recent work on ignorance to consider the constraints and possibilities of decolonizing education in the current Canadian context of reconciliation. While the study of knowledge and its nature has been the focus of Western thought since ancient times, it is only recently that scholars have begun to grapple with ignorance as a social and political phenomenon in its own right. Ignorance, as these scholars use the term, is not a neutral or incidental absence of knowledge, waiting to be filled. Rather, it is epistemological, a powerful organizing logic that emerges from and works to sustain strategic methods of not knowing that, consciously or not, function to perpetuate the status quo, privilege, and domination. Ignorance in this sense is deeply tied to settler colonialism. To survive as a political and economic system, settler colonialism requires normalization of the ways of thinking that legitimate denigration and subjugation of Indigenous nationhoods. This dissertation elucidates the role of formal education in Ontario, Canada鈥檚 most populous province, in encouraging the formation of political subjects with deep, and often unacknowledged, investments in the maintenance of settler colonial relations of power. My colleagues and I worked with over 200 Indigenous educators to develop a research tool that seeks to assess how Ontario high school graduates are learning to think about colonialism and its relationship to First Nations, M茅tis and Inuit people(s) and Canadian society. This co-designed questionnaire was then disseminated to the first-year cohorts at 10 Ontario universities (over 42,000 students). Results from this study, together with findings from analysis of the most recent generation of Ontario K-12 curricula and textbooks, demonstrate the endurance of colonial modes of thought and their role in undermining the epistemological and affective orientations necessary for the development of decolonizing relations. I argue the importance of epistemic responsibility to iii enacting the decolonizing promise of new educational emphases. Moving racism and colonial violence to a different place in Canadian public consciousness requires disrupting the economies of value and attention that work to perpetuate colonial ignorance and legitimate ongoing Indigenous dispossession.