Decolonizing Teaching Checklist
Shane Baker, Wiloox, a member of Wilps Gwininitxw of the Lax Gibuu (Wolf Clan of the Gitxsan), at the Camosun Library, Lansdowne campus.
Implementing decolonization and Indigenization – What you can do: Checklist
You don’t need a lot of time or resources to decolonize or Indigenize your educational practice. Below are four approaches, coupled with practical ideas for implementation, that will help get you started:
1. Make small, incremental, and sustainable changes.
Don’t try to do everything all at once. Pick a small achievable change to implement. For example:
- Teach Indigenized citation formats within the context of academic integrity.
- Broaden the types of resources students incorporate into their assignments looking beyond “scholarly” or peer-reviewed sources (e.g., information from oral teachings, websites, newspapers, or other knowledge from Indigenous communities, land-based learning, theses and dissertations by emerging scholars, resources identified as representing Authentic Indigenous Voices).
- Select open education resources (OER) or zero-cost resources (this includes library resources which do not directly cost students) for course readings. Many textbooks are inaccessible to students due to cost.
- Increase the discoverability of resources by underrepresented authors in the library. This may include Indigenous, Black, Asian, racialized, LGBTQ2S+, disabled, neurodiverse, and other creators.
- Add an IBOC-authored resource to each week’s course readings or create research guides featuring IBOC or other underrepresented authors.
- Invite (and compensate) an Indigenous guest speaker to visit the class. Speak to the class about the protocols you will follow with this guest.
- Engage with services that already exist on campus. If you work where there is an Elder-in-residence initiative, Indigenous-run public events (for example, a pit cook), cultural festivals, or other resources and activities, consider how such opportunities could tie to your course learning outcomes.
- Incorporate a personalized territorial acknowledgment into your daily classroom routine. Speak to how you are professionally and personally impacted by the land where you live and work.
- Consider, and communicate with your students, the aspects of your positionality that you feel comfortable sharing. This could be incorporated into a territorial acknowledgement, discussed separately, or both.
2. Listen to and speak with the communities you serve.
Listening to and hearing Indigenous and other underserved voices will help you make your classroom or your library a welcoming and valuable space.
- Collaborate – investigate what others are doing. Locally, nationally, and internationally.
- Network, build relationships, and discuss your decolonization goals with colleagues who are in roles to support Indigenization such as Indigenization Education Developers or Indigenization Coordinators. Look for them as part of the Teaching and Learning or Indigenous Education units at your institution. These colleagues may also be able to help introduce you to members of Indigenous communities working with your institution.
- Find out if there are Elders in Residence or similar programs at your school and speak with an Elder.
- Don’t burden or single out Indigenous, racialized, or other equity deserving students or colleagues to teach you about or how to decolonize. Do your own research. Seek out information in non-invasive and trauma-informed ways.
- Be prepared to read, hear, or learn information that will make you uncomfortable. Consider the information thoughtfully over time and don’t be defensive.
- Learn about what your library has done and is doing to decolonize its collection. These actions are broad in scope and may include:
- Diversifying the authors and perspectives represented,
- Eliminating late fees,
- Increasing the discoverability of Indigenous-authored resources (for example, Camosun Library’s Authentic Indigenous Voices icon and designation).
- Find out what steps the library is taking to decolonize its catalogue. This may include:
- Removing or reducing harmful subject headings in library catalogue records,
- Adding detailed content notes to include Indigenous contributors,
- Removing deadnames (name of author before transitioning genders) of transgender authors.
- Request IBOC, racialized, or other equity deserving-authored texts for the library collection and integrate them into your course syllabus.
- Talk to librarians to see if they have tools or resources to help you find IBOC, racialized, or other equity deserving-authored texts related to your discipline. For example:
- Camosun Library’s Authentic Indigenous Voices icon and designation helps students and educators identify Indigenous authored/created content.
- Camosun Library’s Dismantling Racism and Oppression and Indigenous Knowing research guides are curated to highlight discipline or topic-specific resources by a diverse group of experts.
3. Integrate the 4 R’s: Relevance, respect, reciprocity, responsibility.
- Learn and teach about respectful and ethical research relationships.
- Understand that the status quo is not natural or neutral. Research practices and information systems are products of specific historical and social contexts.
- Talk about and model ethical and reciprocal research practices to your students. This may include:
-
- Learning how to develop reciprocal research relationships and reviewing different types of reciprocal research methodologies.
- Providing credit to all individuals and groups who have contributed knowledge, time, or effort to a research project.
- Taking time to consider the power in who we cite as education is a reflection of whose work we hold up and legitimize as knowledge, and how we value community and scholarly knowledge.
- Learning about and respecting Indigenous Knowledge sharing protocols.
- Respecting information and Indigenous Knowledge that is not meant to be shared (e.g., do not share it) or is meant to be shared in limited contexts or for a limited time.
- Sharing research processes and results with collaborators in tangible, mutually beneficial ways.
- Resisting the assumption that information you may have learned from Indigenous partners and communities is perpetually yours to use, publish, or share.
- Use oral footnoting practices when referencing Knowledge Keepers or Elders who have shared knowledge with you or your institution.
TEDxYouth@Victoria - Bradley Dick - Honouring Tradition
Bradley Dick (lək̓ʷəŋən First Nation) reflects on the meaning and importance of Indigenous protocols, knowledge sharing, and his own learning processes.
4. Be prepared for the work to come: the work is yours to do.
- Learn and teach about the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act as a framework for reconciliation for all British Columbians. For example, ask students to learn about and respond to stories featuring First Nations, Métis, and Inuit people in BC who are working with the Act.
- Indigenous Knowledge and perspectives have been integrated throughout BC’s redesigned K-12 curriculum. Because of this, BC students commencing post-secondary studies will be expecting both Indigenous content and Indigenous teaching pedagogies. Let’s meet that demand pro-actively.
- Many places of learning have Indigenization plans. These plans outline the priorities and goals for the upcoming years. For example, the Indigenization Initiative and Indigenization Action Plan at Camosun, and Xʷkʷənəŋistəl | W̱ ȻENEṈISTEL | Helping to move each other forward at UVic. Take time to learn about and read the plan at your institution.
- There are many people well experienced in decolonizing their instruction. There are countless resources to learn and borrow from as well as build on (see the resource list below for a sampling).
- Take time to research – read, listen, and watch – what IBOC, racialized, or other equity deserving and ally scholars are doing.
- When needed, seek guidance from colleagues who are in roles to support decolonization such as Camosun’s Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Office or the Equity and Human Rights (EQHR) Office at UVic.
- Don’t be afraid to take risks or to feel uncomfortable; your competencies will grow as you engage in decolonizing work.
- When you make a mistake (we all will), acknowledge and apologize for the mistake. Speak with the person or people involved, and ask them how to address the mistake. Take time to consider what you could do next time, and learn from your experiences and any feedback you may receive.
- Consider Linda Tuhiwai Smith’s wise words, “Understand also that teachers have ancestors, and that they work in a profession that has a colonial legacy, which they must commit to decolonize” (2020, p. 50).