Decolonizing the literature review

Just spent a remarkable two weeks instructing ‘IED594: The Research Proposal and Literature Review’ with the current cohort of Master’s of Indigenous Language Revitalization students. What a phenomenal experience–a sincere professional highlight. These fifteen students travelled from near and far for a two-week writing intensive course and accomplished so much. We wrote heaps and interrogated important concepts such as ways to decolonize the literature review process. What an inspiring and insightful group of breathtaking humans doing astonishing work in the world. Building capacity for Indigenous languages and sharing their beautiful writing. I am in awe of them all. So much gratitude. Keep going MILR cohort 2026–this is only the beginning!

Rethinking history education by rereading history books

Pleased to share an update on the BCHT collection in the latest issue of The Ampersand. Written alongside my colleagues, Graham McDonough, Chaa’winisaks, and Lyndzy Harvey, this short piece outlines recent approaches to teaching with these remarkable sources in credit courses offered through UVic’s Department of History and the Faculty of Education. It is always a joy to get our students into the reading room and classrooms of Special Collections and University Archives (SCUA). The assignments our students complete, continue to inspire the values of the BCHT collection and our accompanying research project.

Guest speaker in WRIT 407: Writing for children and young adults.

Thank you to the lovely Sara Cassidy for inviting me to speak about Children’s Librarianship in her course WRIT 407: Writing for children and young adults. This group asked excellent questions about how to build inclusive and responsive library collections, the pathways to becoming a librarian focused on youth readers, and how to professionally navigate an era of increasingly challenged books for children. If you are interested in becoming a children’s librarian, it is a great gig. Happy to chat about pathways to the profession anytime; feel free to book an appointment with me.

Sara is a wonderful local, children’s author; one of my favourite of her recent books is Kunoichi Bunny published by Orca. WRIT 407 students are so fortunate to have Sara as their instructor. Happy writing!

Teaching prep for ‘IED594: The Literature Review and Project Proposal’

Designing a syllabus for a new course, or course that is new to you, is a lot of responsibility but also exhilarating! Developing outcomes, lectures, and assignments is a remarkably creative exercise. Keeps my thinking fresh and flexes my scholarly muscles. Looking so forward to meeting the new students this July. Let’s get knee-depth into literature searching!