Critical place-based pedagogy in an inner-city university department: truth, reconciliation and neoliberal austerity

Abstract

ABSTRACT In 2015, Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC) described Canada’s residential school policy, established in the 1880’s and active through most of the 20th century, as ‘cultural genocide’. Earlier that same year, Maclean’s magazine described Winnipeg as Canada’s most racist Winnipeg. Winnipeg, situated on Treaty One territory, has the largest Indigenous population of any Canadian City. Situated in the centre of the City, The University of Winnipeg is seeking ways to respond to the TRC Calls to Action and is exploring ways to Indigenise. In this paper I describe the pedagogical approach of a small university department purposefully situated outside of the main campus in a low-income inner-city neighbourhood with a large Indigenous population. The department integrates critical, place-based pedagogies rooted in an understanding of systemic oppression. We agree that reconciliation begins with acknowledging the truth about the past and present damage caused by colonial policies. Despite the fact that what we have learned is essential to reconciliation in the postsecondary education context, we face many obstacles in a political context driven by neoliberal austerity that threatens our approach and makes reconciliation near impossible to achieve.