CIARS Summer Institute 2025

The 2025 Summer Institute offers North American and African educators, researchers, parents, policymakers, and Elders a unique opportunity to engage deeply with African Indigenous knowledge and "ElderCrits," essential for de/anti-colonial educational transformations. It adopts a de/anti-colonial approach to education, guided by African Indigenous practices such as dialogue, oral storytelling, social relatedness, and intergenerational learning. Activities will include workshops, seminars, student presentations, and in-depth discussions at the university and in the local community, where participants will engage in intergenerational learning alongside Elders and participate in group excursions for cultural and land-based education.

Under the guidance of scholars Nana George Dei and Paul Banahene Adjei, along with a host of Canadian and US, as well as local African professors, attendees will explore Ghanaian educators' approaches to conceptualizing African Indigeneity and applying liberatory social justice and decolonial educational practices.

During the 2025 Summer Institute, participants will:

• Explore nuanced understandings of Blackness and Africanness guided by African Indigenous Elders' cultural teachings.
• Understand the relevance of African Elder teachings, customs, and traditions in resisting the violence of schooling and education, particularly regarding anti-Blackness and anti-Indigenous racism in North America.
• Conduct workshops at local institutions to integrate de/anti-colonial education with social justice, equity, and human rights in diverse cultural contexts.
• Engage in dialogues and visits to schools and colleges in Ghana to learn from students, teachers, and community Elders about African Indigenous philosophies in everyday life.
• Participate in educational excursions to key sites in Ghana, including Cape Coast and Elmina slave dungeons, Assin Manso River, Kankum Forest, Du Bois Cultural Centre, Kwame Nkrumah Mausoleum, Ghana Parliament grounds, Osu, and other educational attractions in Kumasi and local markets.
• Learn strategies to affirm Black students' identities, gaining insights into how cultural heritage fosters pride, respect, honor, and resilience among students, thereby enhancing educational outcomes.ep and transformative educational experience rooted in African Indigenous knowledge and de/anti-colonial principles.

These objectives aim to provide a deep and transformative educational experience rooted in African Indigenous knowledge and de/anti-colonial principles.

Partners include: Critical Studies in Equity and Solidarity, New College, University of Toronto; the Centre of Excellence for Black Student Achievement; The Delmore “Buddy” Daye Learning Institute, Halifax; The Institute for Educational Research and Innovation Studies (IERIS) & The Centre for School and Community Science and Technology Education [SACOST], of the UEW; Vice President Research of Memorial University, St. John’s Newfoundland; The Rector, Mountcrest University College, Accra; and the Office of the Principal, SDA College of Education, Asokore, Koforidua, Ghana; College of Education, University of Ghana, Legon-Accra

CIARS Summer Institute invites participants across Canada, the US and Africa to engage and promote their academic and scholarly work by submitting abstracts in the following categories:

• Individual papers
• Group panel sessions
• Workshops (aimed at enhancing Graduate Student learning)

Students from Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) in the United States of America (USA) are strongly encouraged to apply.