About the Centre for Indigenous Educational Research
This Centre for Indigenous Educational Research is designed to foster Indigenous resurgence and strengthen an Indigenous presence in research practices, but more specifically within Indigenous educational research contexts. The Centre will better equip the university to respond to and help shape how institutions can go beyond token Indigenization and reconciliatory efforts.
With the national spotlight on the ‘reconciliation’ project and with education seen as a critical site for reconciliatory efforts and Indigenous resurgence, the Center was developed as a vital means to work toward resurgence and as an important response to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada’s (TRC) Calls to Action. Leanne Simpson (2011) writes that “if it is truly time to talk ‘reconciliation’, then how we reconcile is critically important” (p. 24). Simpson (2011) [1] writes that the “process of resurgence” (p. 20) must be Indigenous-driven and –led. Further, that Indigenous resurgence is about “creating a space of storied presencing, alternative imaginings, transformation, [and] reclamation” (p. 96). In this way Indigenous resurgence is an emergent construct that can be taken up in relation to place-specific Indigenous educational research contexts.
There are three Indigenous ethics informing the vision for this Centre: (1) The ethics of Relationality; (2) The ethics of Land; and (3) The ethics of Indigenous resurgence. The vision of the Centre is to establish a research focus within OISE that connects Indigenous faculty and graduate students along with other scholars whose educational research interests align with the vision of the Centre in collaborative, respectful and culturally appropriate ways in order to examine and explore the issues of pressing concern to Indigenous peoples and their communities. Further, to connect programming and research in ways that reflect Indigenous place-specific knowledges. Visioning around the ethos informing this Centre is key to Indigenous resurgence however, Simpson (2011) tells us that Indigenous resurgence cannot rely on vision in isolation from intentionalities. She writes that “vision must be coupled with intent: intent for transformation, intent for re-creation and intent for resurgence” (p. 147).
Aligned with the Indigenous ethics of Relationality, Land and Resurgence, there are seven key objectives of the Centre.
- To advance the goals of Indigenous educational research in relevant and respectful ways;
- To promote adherence to local place-specific protocols and ethics that guide the work in Indigenous and non-Indigenous educational research collaborations and the work with Indigenous communities;
- To engage in knowledge production and dissemination of educational research in ways that foster respectful and reciprocal relations;
- To develop and promote, through various types of events/workshops, appropriate and wise practices in the design and implementation of culturally appropriate educational research methods and theoretical concepts;
- To provide a safe, supportive and fully resourced space for Indigenous students and faculty to advance their work;
- To help build research capacity for emerging scholars in community-based Indigenous educational research contexts;
- To offer opportunities for networking and building international educational research collaborations.
The Centre provides a safe and supportive research environment linking Indigenous communities and the university. It serves to promote and support culturally aligned methodologies and theoretical approaches to Indigenous educational research. It also seeks to establish and promote place specific ethics and protocols that guide the work in Indigenous and non-Indigenous research collaborations and the ways researchers work with Indigenous communities.
[1] Simpson, L. (2011). Dancing On Our Turtle’s Back: Stories of Nishmaabeg Re-Creation, Resurgence and a new Emergence. Winnipeg, MB: Arbeiter Ring Press.
Find out more about the events and activities of the Centre through the videos on our page: