WATERLOO REGION — Students in a year-long course at Wilfrid Laurier University have created video diaries of their decolonization journeys and will present them at a course finale event called “Decolonizing Journeys” in Six Nations of the Grand River in June.
Decolonization in Canada is the recognition and acceptance of the harms of colonization, both past and ongoing, on all Indigenous peoples.
The course consisted of eight two-day sessions over the course of a year.
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“Through the stories, audiences will learn more about how decolonizing is more of a process and journey with such diversity,” said Kathy Absolon, the director of the Centre for Indigegogy at Laurier’s faculty of social work.
Decolonizing Journeys portrays about 15 digital stories., she said. “The day promises to be engaging and very informative.”
The storytellers who share their stories in three- to 10-minute videos are Indigenous and non-Indigenous instructors and alumni of the Decolonization Certificate program offered by the centre.
Participants did circle work and digital storytelling as an Indigenous research method with the goal of building knowledge about decolonization as a process, Absolon said.
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“Storytellers who are Indigenous and non-Indigenous share aspects of their decolonizing journey from their own locations and perspectives,” she said. “The catalyst for these stories were facilitated through the participation of unlearning and learning about colonialism through Indigenous knowledge in the Decolonizing Education Certificate.”
The Centre for Indigegogy partnered with several universities and the Re-Vision Lab at the University of Guelph as part of this program.
The public is invited to the program finale June 17 from 8:45 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Gathering Place in Six Nations of the Grand River, near Brantford. Anyone who would like to attend the free event is asked to register in advance.
The Decolonizing Journeys Grand Finale Event and story-gathering process was funded by a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Insight Grant.
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