Witnessing as pedagogy: Translating Indigenous knowledges into practice

Dustin Louie; Yvonne Poitras Pratt; Terry Lynn Luggi

Authors

Dustin Louie University of British Columbia
Yvonne Poitras Pratt University of Calgary
Terry Lynn Luggi Stellat’en First Nation

Keywords:

Indigenous Education, Decolonizing Education, Indigenizing Education, Education for Reconciliation

Abstract

We believe Indigenous witnessing provides an impactful exemplar of how to translate Indigenous Knowledges into pedagogy that challenges the normalization of Western knowledge systems. By sharing our Indigenizing process of witnessing with fellow educators within a mandatory post-secondary Indigenous Education course to a foundation of Indigenous Knowledges, we hope to inspire meaningful authentic practices within local context grounded in Indigenous ways of knowing. Our theoretical framework posits that transformational Indigenous pedagogies can emerge from educators’ ethical positioning and ability to see possibilities between the specific educational aims of their course(s) and translating local Indigenous Knowledges into practical pedagogical approaches.

Author Biographies

Dustin Louie, University of British Columbia

PhD, is a Dakelh, First Nations scholar who is mixed race and an associate professor and director of the Indigenous Teacher Education Program (NITEP) at the University of British Columbia. He traces his Indigenous family lineage through the Nations of Nadleh Whut’en, Nee Tahi Buhn, and Lheidli T’enneh. As a member of the Beaver Clan in the Balhats system, he recognizes the hereditary system that has been practiced in his communities for millennia prior to contact. He researches, teaches, and leads in areas of decolonizing education and social service systems through praxis and practical interventions working with dozens of school districts and organizations across western Canada. dustin.louie@ubc.ca

Yvonne Poitras Pratt , University of Calgary

PhD, is a Métis scholar whose family roots trace back to Red River with both parents born and raised in the Fishing Lake Métis Settlement in northern Alberta. In 2009-10, she worked with members of the Fishing Lake Métis settlement community to create a series of 19 intergenerational digital stories; several of these are now shared as open teaching resources. Yvonne was recruited to Werklund in 2013 as part of an Indigenous cluster hire where the first task was to design a mandatory Indigenous education course for our education students. She has researched the impact of this course on students and instructors and continually seeks innovations to improve Indigenous education alongside kin, friends, and colleagues.

Terry Lynn Luggi, Stellat’en First Nation

is a member of the Stellat’en First Nation and resides in her grandmother’s Lheidli T’enneh traditional territory (Prince George). She is a Tseke zah or a hereditary Chief born into Lhts’ehyoo (Frog clan) with the name Yabalee given to her by her great grandfather Maxine George when she was a young girl. Currently employed by Nadleh Whut’en Indian Band as the Indian Residential School Project Manager for work on the Lejac Indian Residential School, she is passionate about healing her people and is also a trainer with Returning to Spirit ~ a non-profit organization formed with the objective of unfolding reconciliation from the impacts of residential school.

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Witnessing as pedagogy: Translating Indigenous knowledges into practice

Authors

Keywords:

Abstract

Author Biographies

Dustin Louie, University of British Columbia

Yvonne Poitras Pratt , University of Calgary

Terry Lynn Luggi, Stellat’en First Nation

References

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