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The move in Canadian academia to \u201cdecolonize\u201d\u00a0or \u201cIndigenize,\u201d and commit to broader frameworks of reconciliation<\/a>, pertains to how work is done within universities, as well as how universities engage with broader communities.<\/p>\n Commitments aim to increase the visibility of Indigenous academics, including hiring of Indigenous faculty members and staff, but they are also about the visibility of Indigenous ways of being and knowing. Until fairly recently, these ways of being and knowing have been largely absent in Canadian higher education structures.<\/p>\n As part of these plans, there is often an assumption that Indigenous scholars will be better equipped to interface with local Indigenous communities, both inside and outside of universities.<\/p>\n This has meant sustained and targeted recruitment of Indigenous students and the adoption of various \u201cIndigenous plans\u201d and related initiatives by institutions, including at the\u00a0University of Alberta<\/a>, the\u00a0University of British Columbia<\/a>, the\u00a0University of Toronto<\/a>, and my own institution, the\u00a0University of Victoria<\/a>.<\/p>\n But while Indigenous scholars may share clusters of values with Indigenous communities, people should not equate that with complete compatibility of worldviews and practices. It\u2019s also not the case that Indigenous scholars somehow have easier \u201caccess\u201d to local Indigenous communities or that we have claim to be trusted more than non-Indigenous academics.<\/p>\n The\u00a0M\u00e9tis scholar Max Liboiron<\/a>\u00a0(Memorial University) cautions against these assumptions. In a critique of \u201cdecolonizing syllabi,\u201d they refer to \u201cadding Indigenous and stir<\/a>.\u201d This applies to \u201cIndigenizing\u201d in the academy as well. Multiple changes are needed in universities across departments, related to all faculty members, to address \u201cIndigenization.\u201d<\/p>\n Reconciliation and Indigenizing plans are often points of pride for their institutions, as our Indigenous Plan is at UVic.<\/p>\n I have the honour and the distinction of being the first tenure-track Indigenous hire in my department\u2019s 60-plus year history. I moved from the United States, as I felt the university\u2019s commitment to supporting Indigenous initiatives set it apart from other institutions as far as being a welcoming space for me as an Indigenous person. For the most part, that has held true.<\/p>\n However, when I arrived, I found myself having to tamp down expectations. Yes, I was, and still am, excited to bring Indigenous perspectives and to engage in meaningful work inside and outside of the academy. However, I also know a much broader scope of efforts are needed to bring Indigenization to the academy in a sustainable way.<\/p>\n Liboiron\u2019s 2021 book\u00a0Pollution is Colonialism<\/em><\/a>, is on its face a book about plastics pollution, yet it also yields insight into how people are in \u201cgood\u201d or \u201cbad\u201d relation with land.<\/p>\n As an Indigenous geographer, I teach extensively about relationships with land. When it comes to my presence on these lands, or when it comes to any Indigenous academic\u2019s presence on land that is not their own, I argue that relations, and more broadly, relationships are what\u2019s important. I refer to scholars such as\u00a0Mishuana Goeman<\/a>,\u00a0William Langford<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Katharine Neale<\/a>, who talk about the ways that Indigenous identity can be shaped and reshaped in new or different places.<\/p>\n I am Ojibwe from the\u00a0Leech Lake Nation<\/a>, in the U.S. My people come from the Great Lakes region more generally, and live in a\u00a0wide geographical range stretching from Michigan and Ontario in the east, to Saskatchewan in the west<\/a>, but originally migrated from the East Coast of Turtle Island (North America). In coming to Victoria,\u00a0particularly L\u0259k\u0313\u02b7\u0259\u014b\u0259n<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0W\u0331S\u00c1NE\u0106 lands<\/a>, I am an outsider myself.<\/p>\n Although the lands I live on are not my own, I have cultural responsibilities and accountabilities that I carry with me to be a good guest. I look to scholars such as Kasey Keeler,\u00a0who writes about being Indigenous yet not living in our own territories<\/a>.<\/p>\n In order to be a good guest, connecting to local Indigenous nations is important. However, these connections are not as simple as saying, \u201cI\u2019m Indigenous, you\u2019re Indigenous, let\u2019s work together.\u201d Rather, they are multifaceted and complex. Such connections are built through slowly establishing trust and a working relationship that ultimately upholds the resurgence of local communities, and the lands these communities live upon. @MMIWG<\/a> Lakehead University Native Student Association joined the nation in a moment of silence at 12 noon today! pic.twitter.com\/pyD1K4R3ac<\/a><\/p>\n — Tannis Kastern (@Tannis_Kastern) October 4, 2017<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Plans are points of pride<\/strong><\/h4>\n
Indigenous academics outside own territories<\/strong><\/h4>\n
Cultural responsibilities, accountabilities<\/strong><\/h4>\n
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