SALA EDI

Unlearning

This is where we share reading lists and other resources for working on anti-racism, equity, inclusion, etc.

Weaving Relations & Grounding Anti-Oppression

UBC Applied Science has created two Canvas courses that we highly recommend. The first is Weaving Relations, and focuses on decolonization and Indigeneity. The second is called Grounding Anti-Oppression.

https://apsc.ubc.ca/weaving-relations

https://apsc.ubc.ca/grounding-anti-oppression

UBC Equity Resources

Strategic Equity and Anti-Racism (StEAR) resources
  • Framework and Roadmap: Learn more
  • Progress update announcement and report: Learn more
  • FAQ: Learn more
  • StEAR Enhancement Fund funded projects announcement: Learn more
  • StEAR Enhancement Fund (new funding cycle planned for August 2024): Learn more
Additional resources

    Reading lists

    Race

    FaFa 2020/21 reading list – Marginalized Design Narratives:

    https://docs.google.com/document/d/1CBNvDw2Y9KJhTkOfDiIOuVysIiiMI

    c3xuXyNOPNlU4o/edit?usp=sharing

    SPACE/RACE reading list:

    This reading list was collectively produced by a group of architectural historians, art historians, architects, and urbanists in reaction to the August 2017 events in Charlottesville, and revisited in 2020 after the murder of George Floyd. It assembles a series of readings on how race and racism are constructed with spatial means, and on how in turn space can be shaped by racism.

    https://bit.ly/spaceraceplace

    Racialization of/in/through Landscape:

    This list is intended as a starting place for landscape architects and designers who are interested in how they can work toward dismantling white supremacy in landscape practice for Black liberation and Indigenous sovereignty. This resource also links to other reading lists on similar themes.

    https://docs.google.com/document/d/1SW7F_8Ln9_fwKFZCgPcjLaINnsJW

    PjfOQSpIY1G8X2U/mobilebasic?urp=gmail_link

    The Architectural League – Resources on Race and Architecture:

    Resources for reading and viewing on race and architecture, compiled by Mario Gooden, with Mabel O. Wilson and the Architectural League staff

    Statement and Resources on Race and Architecture

    Aggregate – Black Lives Matter:

    Inspired by the scholars, activists, and everyday citizens who spoke out, marched, and protested against police killings of African-Americans, this collection presents a series of short essays that put Black lives at the center of our thinking about architecture and its history.

    http://www.we-aggregate.org/project/black-lives-matter

    Decolonization & Indigeneity

    For National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, also known as Orange Shirt Day, SALA’s EDI Committee offers some suggestions of how you can meaningfully commemorate and recognize the legacy of residential schools. More information is here too: https://beyond.ubc.ca/understanding-of-residential-school-history/

    Starting Point:
    Podcasts / Audio:
    • Anishnaababes – a comedic platform for sharing Indigenous women’s worldview on all aspects of their lives (podcast)
    • Media Indigena – Roundtable about Indigenous issues and events (podcast)
    • 2 Crees in a Pod – a podcast that creates space for Indigenous resurgence with intent to disrupt western colonial systems and honour Indigenous helping practices.
    • All My Relations – podcast to explore relationships – to land, to our creatural relatives and to one another.
    • Spirit to Soar: Where We Come From on CBC Listen
    • Finding Cleo (CBC podcast)
    • Warrior Life podcast 
    • Coffee with My Ma
    • Island Crime: Season 1 – Where is Lisa?
    • This Land
    • Unreserved – CBC podcast
    • Secret Life of Canada, esp. episodes on Bay Blanket and The Indian Act
    • CBC Ideas – Research Ethics + data sovereignty (good compliment to any of UBC’s Indigenous ethics training) https://www.cbc.ca/radio/ideas/how-indigenous-scientists-are-using-biomedical-research-to-seek-genomic-justice-1.6190855
    Film / TV / Video:
    Essays / Articles / Websites:
    Books:
    • An Inconvenient Indian by Thomas King, ebook from UBC library
    • Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer, ebook from UBC library
    • Indian Horse by Richard Wagamese (also made into a movie), ebook from UBC library
    • One Drum: Stories and Ceremonies for a Planet by Richard Wagamese, ebook from UBC library 
    • Indigenous Writes: A Guide to First Nations, Métis, and Inuit issues in Canada by âpihtawikosisân Chelsea Vowel (a great starting point for those who are new to Canada), ebook from UBC library 
    • Our Voices: Indigeneity in Architecture + Our Voices: II The DE-Colonial Project edited by Rebecca Kiddle, luugigyoo Patrick Stewart, and Kevin O’Brien (on architecture, design, planning, landscape, etc.), co-authored by UBC alum and SALA Adjunct Professor Patrick Stewart
    • 21 Things You May Not Know About the Indian Act: Helping Canadians Make Reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples A Reality by Bob Joseph
    • First Nations 101 by Lynda Gray http://www.firstnations101.com
    Photographs / Maps:

    Explore native-land.ca to understand more about the territories and languages of Indigenous people here on Turtle Island and around the world; on the same site you can also explore the history of treaties between settlers and Indigenous groups. The City of Vancouver Archives and the Royal British Columbia Museum’s archives have historical images of Vancouver and British Columbia from the early days of settler colonialism. Consider searching for images of places you know to better understand their history, such as:

    • Vanier Park (originally Senakw village)
    • Stanley park (originally Xwayxway village)
    • Jericho Park (originally Eyalmo)
    • Land close to SALA (originally Tsa-atslum)

    Gender/Sexuality

    FaFa 2019/20 reading list – Contested Spaces:

    https://drive.google.com/file/d/1hmvpN_HmEPCOiq8GEcXJE9WhhbH0wL-i/view?usp=sharing

    Sheffield School of Architecture Feminist Library:

    The SSoA Feminist Library aims to consolidate the feminist work that has been conducted over the last twenty years in the Sheffield School of Architecture, to make visible the work of students and staff to a wider community, and contribute to its further development.

    https://feministssoa.group.shef.ac.uk

    Allyship

    https://www.splcenter.org/20171005/splc-campus-guide-bystander-intervention

    https://www.torontomu.ca/responding-to-hate

    Organizations beyond SALA

    Colloqate

    Established in 2017, Colloqate Design is a multidisciplinary Architecture + Design Justice practice focused on expanding community access to, and building power through the design of social, civic, and cultural spaces. Their mission is to intentionally organize, advocate, and design spaces of racial, social and cultural equity.

    Website: https://colloqate.org

    Instagram: @colloquate

    ADPSR

    Architects/ Designers/ Planners for Social Responsibility works for peace. environmental protection, ecological building, social justice, and the development of healthy communities.

    Website: https://www.adpsr.org

    Black Females in Architecture

    Black Females in Architecture (BFA) is a network and enterprise founded to increase the visibility of black and black mixed heritage females within the architectural industry and other built environment fields. In so doing, BFA actively addresses issues of inequality and diversity within the industry.

    Instagram: @blackfemarc

    Black Architects + Interior Designers Association Canada (BAIDA)

    A non profit organization made up of 100 students, planners, interior designers, and architects. BAIDA aims to support diversity, equity, and inclusion in the profession of architecture and interior design.

    Website: https://www.baida.ca

    BlackSpace

    This collective brings together planners, architects, artists, and designers as Black urbanists, people who are passionate about the work of public systems and urban infrastructures.

    Website: https://www.blackspace.org/

    Instagram: @blackspaceorg

    Design As Protest

    Design as Protest is a coalition of designers mobilizing strategy to dismantle the privilege and power structures that use architecture and design as tools of oppression.

    Website: https://www.dapcollective.com

    Instagram: @designasprotest

    Design Justice Network

    The Design Justice Network is an international community of people and organizations who are committed to rethinking design processes so that they center people who are too often marginalized by design.

    Website: https://designjustice.org

    Instagram: @designjusicenetwork

    Common Space Coalition

    A newly established non-profit organization whose goal is to combat systematic racism in landscape architectural professional practice. They seek to engage in a professional, positive, and transparent relationship with our professional bodies as an arms-length advocacy group.

    Website: https://commonspacecoalition.com

    Instagram: @common_space

    Female Design Council

    FDC is an action-oriented leadership organization dedicated to providing a strong professional community for all womxn irrespective of color, race, gender or sexual identity in the design industry.

    Website: http://www.femaledesigncouncil.org/mission

    Instagram: @femaledesigncouncil

    Reconciliation & Indigeneity

    Here we have listed a couple resources brought to us by people in our community of organizations that dedicate themselves to educating others on how to approach reconciliation and decolonization.

    Indigenous Canada – University of Alberta MOOC (Massive Open Online Course)
    This is a free course with 12 modules that, from an Indigenous perspective, “explores key issues facing Indigenous peoples today from a historical and critical perspective highlighting national and local Indigenous-settler relations.”

    Reconciliation Education – Official Distributor of 4 Seasons of Reconciliation
    This is a paid service (with a free option) that provides training courses for individuals, organizations, or other establishments where 10% of proceeds go towards the First Nations University of Canada. There are also options for free seats. At the start of every month there are 50 spots open available at first come first serve basis. 4 Seasons of Reconciliation has been offered for free in the past, and is highly recommended by a member of the SALA community who completed the course.

    Gallery 1 — Nahanee Creative Inc. (decolonizeeverything.org)
    A Squamish-owned social change agency that provides mini-courses as well as full facilitated workshops for a series of different topics on decolonization. It is a paid service however we maintain it as a valuable unlearning resource.

    Stop Race Based Hate – https://stopracebasedhate.ca/

    Stop Race Based Hate is an anti-racism resource designed to build a more anti-racist community.

    What I Learned In Class Today – https://intheclass.arts.ubc.ca/

    What I Learned in Class Today: Aboriginal Issues in the Classroom is a research project that explores difficult discussions of Aboriginal issues that take place in classrooms at the University of British Columbia. Students frequently report troubling and sometimes traumatic discussions of cultural issues in class. The video records of their experiences provides a way to think about developing more functional approaches and environments for discussion 

    Accounts to Follow

    Treaty Lands, Global Stories – @treatylands.globalstories
    A student-led initiative at the University of Waterloo School of Architecture

    Indigenous Design and Planning Student Association at UM – @um.idpsa
    Advocate for Indigenous design principles, representation, Indigenous initiatives and programs at the University of Manitoba Faculty of Architecture

    AEDE – @equityindesigneducation
    A student collective from University of Calgary School of Architecture, Planning, and Landscape dedicated to advancing critical dialogues in design.

    Student Equity Alliance – @sea.daniels
    Joint Equity Alliance between University of Toronto Architecture+Visual studies student union, Graduate Architecture, Landscape and Design student union, and alumni of Daniels Faculty.

    Architects Declare Canada – @architectsdeclare_ca
    Canadian architects + allied professionals declare planetary health emergency, and commit to urgent action.

    ArchiFeminist – @archi.feminist
    Exploring architecture from an intersectional feminist perspective.

    Remesha Design Unmuted – @remesha_design_unmuted
    A podcast that centers marginalized voices in design, art, and all things creative, hosted by Lys Divine Ndemeye.

    Architexx – @_architexx
    They are a CROSS-GENERATIONAL group of academics and practitioners, and the organization is dedicated to the advancement of all women-identified, non-binary, gender non-conforming, and allied individuals.

    MatriArch – @matri_arch_
    A feminist collective + campaign group. We strive for a more accessible architecture profession and challenge educational cultures.

    Madam Architect – @madamarchitect
    An online magazine celebrating the extraordinary women that shape our world, a magazine designed to break the architect’s mold and show young women entering the industry the myriad choices they have in crafting a dynamic, meaningful, and interesting career.

    Dark Matter University – @darkmatter_u
    An anti-racist design justice school collectively seeking the radical transformation of education & practice toward a just future.

    Black Womxn Flourish – @blackwomxnflourish
    A design for wellbeing collective shaping the future of Black womxn’s health + healing

    Black Students in Design – @blackstudentsindesign
    A community for Black students in all areas of design.

    So you want to talk about… – @soyouwanttotalkabout
    Dissecting progressive politics and social issues in graphic slideshow form

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