Wandering With/In the University of Alberta: Teaching Subjects & Place-based Truth & Reconciliation Education

Abstract

This manuscript unfolds in the context of a Faculty of Education course that was designed in response to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada’s call to post-secondary institutions to identify and meet teacher-training needs relating to the history and legacy of Canada’s Indian residential school system. The course instructor (Madden) begins by tracing how she is theorizing truth and reconciliation education through engagement with literature produced by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, and those who respond to their efforts. The pedagogical activity Wandering With/In the University of Alberta animates how she attempted to mobilize these emerging understandings through course design. We then introduce the collective processes we carried out as co-authors (i.e., course instructor and three graduate students who completed the course): creating, analyzing, and representing data, as well as generating the knowledge claims offered throughout. Next, data fragments that weave photographs of and narrative writing about campus sites anchor exploration of three central themes: wandering in relation to (a) evolving understandings of self, (b) a situated and significant historical moment (i.e., Canada 150), and (c) the (imagined) classroom as a site of reconciliation. We conclude with a discussion that explores the relationship between Faculty of Education coursework, identity, and place-based pedagogies for truth and reconciliation education. Keywords: truth and reconciliation education, higher education, decolonizing, place-based education, teacher identity Cette etude s’est deroulee dans le contexte d’un cours offert par la Faculty of Education et developpe en reponse a l’appel de la Commission de verite et reconciliation du Canada aux etablissements postsecondaires pour qu’ils identifient les besoins en formation des enseignants quant a l’histoire et les sequelles du systeme des pensionnats indiens au Canada et qu’ils repondent a ces besoins. La chargee de cours (Madden) debute en expliquant ses demarches pour theoriser l’education de verite et reconciliation en se penchant sur la litterature produite par la Commission de verite et reconciliation du Canada et sur la reaction des gens aux efforts de la commission. L’activite pedagogique Wandering With/In the University of Alberta est une animation de ses efforts pour mobiliser ces nouvelles connaissances par la conception de son cours. Ensuite, nous presentons les processus collectifs que nous avons entrepris comme co-auteurs (c’est-a-dire, la chargee de cours et les trois etudiants aux etudes superieures ayant complete le cours): la creation, l’analyse et la representation des donnees, ainsi que l’elaboration des declarations presentees dans l’ensemble du cours. Par la suite, des fragments de donnees tissent des photos et des recits narratifs portant sur des sites sur le campus et offrent des balises pour l’exploration de trois themes centraux: errer par rapport a: (a) une comprehension en evolution de soi-meme, (b) un moment historique significatif (par ex., Canada 150) et (c) la salle de classe (imaginee) comme site de reconciliation. Une discussion portant sur le rapport entre les cours de la Faculty of Education, l’identite et les pedagogies reposant axees les lieux au service de l’education de verite et reconciliation vient terminer l’article. Mots cles: education de verite et reconciliation, etudes superieures, decolonisation, identite des enseignants