Tag Archives: honesty

Module 3 Post 5: Flowers in the garden

I’m excited to share this resource about Indigenization from the University of Saskatchewan. The Elders’ from the university have insightful messages for the students. They talk about respect towards one another, human kindness, honesty, trust, openness, equality, relating to others, self-examination, and so on. What particularly stood out to me was the analogy they gave about the flowers in the garden. The flowers in the garden are all different from each other, but they are all beautiful and they all get along. They are all special in their own way. Students can be thought of as flowers – each student is different. Each student brings with them their own culture. And just like flowers, each student is beautiful and it’s important for them to all get along. The Elders’ also explained the value of a teachers job – it is a great gift to be able to share knowledge and to help future generations.

I value hearing the perspectives of Indigenous peoples regarding Indigenization. Learning what is important to them and what they value helps me feel more comfortable contributing meaningfully to Indigenization efforts as a non-Indigenous educator.

Reference:

University of Saskatchewan. (n.d.). Indigenization. Teaching and Learning. https://teaching.usask.ca/curriculum/indigenization.php#EldersMessage

Module 3, Post 2: Taking example from a non-Indigenous educator

Here is an article that talks about the role of a non-Indigenous ally in Indigenizing the curriculum of psychology. As a non-Indigenous educator, I have had similar thoughts/questions as Schmidt (2019). For example, is it appropriate and respectful to teach about Indigenous cultures? The lessons in this article don’t only apply to psychology. Some of the take-aways I got were the following (Schmidt, 2019):

  • Indigenous people also struggle to teach about Indigenous people when there are many different Indigenous cultures and they are only a member of one.
  • Educators need to look inward and work on our own decolonizing.
  • Build mutually respectful, humble, and trusting relationships with your students.
  • Understand that there are many diverse Indigenous cultures. There is also immense diversity that can exist within one Indigenous culture.
  • Two-Eyed Seeing – seeing the world from an Indigenous perspective and also an Eurocentric (scientific) perspective. This involves cooperation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people, humbling themselves, and learning from each other.
  • Patience – understanding other perspectives.
  • Honesty – disclose to the students that you are not an expert, invite Indigenous guest speakers into the classroom, and encourage students to co-teach.
  • Decolonizing is active, intentional, moment-to-moment process that involves critically undoing colonial ways of knowing, being and doing.

Reference

Schmidt, H. (2019). Indigenizing and decolonizing the teaching of psychology: Reflections on the role of the non-Indigenous ally. American Journal of Community Psychology, 64, 59-71. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/ajcp.12365