Indigenous Studies

Okanagan College's plan for Indigenization includes the goal to "increase Indigenous knowledge and culture within our curriculum." This guide provides resources for decolonizing and Indigenizing curriculum and pedagogy.

Looking for subject specific resources? Please contact your liaision librarian.

Looking for curriculum support? Please contact Learning and Applied Research.

One of the strategies for decolonizing curriculum and pedagogy highlighted by Concordia University's Centre for Teaching and Learning is acknowledging and giving recognition to cultural protocols of place. They recommend including this information in your course syllabus and speaking about what it means to you as an instructor. To learn about land acknowledgements and the different First Nations communities within Okanagan College's service area, please access the resources available on the Land Acknowledgements guide.

Additionally, featured books in the next section may help provide an understanding of the histories and experiences of local Indigenous communities.

"Learning colonial history is difficult. Emotionally draining but necessary for moving forward. This learning is doing the hard work first.” (Jo-ann Archibald, The Many Facets of Decolonizing and Indigenizing the Academy, 13:15).

The following resources are just a starting point for learning about the histories and contemporary realities of Indigenous peoples. In addition to the books listed below, the following topics also have their own research guides for further learning opportunities and resources, including articles, reports, podcasts and more:

• Indian Residential Schools
• Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls & Gender Diverse People
• Sixties Scoop and Millennium Scoop

Reports and Calls to Action

Media

SFU Decolonization and Indigenization Webinar Series

• Interrupting the Academy: Decolonizing and Indigenizing the Curriculum
• The Many Facets of Decolonizing and Indigenizing the Academy
• Alliance Building in the Academy and in the Community: The Role of Decolonizing & Indigenizing

Guides for Indigenization of Post-Secondary Institutions

• Pulling Together: A Guide for Curriculum Developers
• Pulling Together: A Guide for Teachers and Instructors
• Pulling Together: A Guide for Researchers, Hiłḵ̓ala

When looking for sources to inform our research and teaching, it is important to critically examine where we are looking for information and who we are positioning as authorities when we cite their work.

Indigenous Peoples and Indigenous Knowledges have been historically excluded and/or discounted in western research practices. One way to counter this systemic bias is through indigenizing research by reading and citing Indigenous authors.

The Finding Indigenous Perspectives guide provides some strategies for finding Indigenous voices through the OC Library catalogue and elsewhere.

IMPORTANT: the dominant structure for organizing information is from a western perspective, for this reason you may need to use outdated (sometimes offensive) terminology to find resources related to Indigenous peoples.

Keyword Search Terms

Combine keywords related to the concept of Indigenous identity and research methods with keywords related to your area of interest.

For example:

AND

Each Special Topic guide in Indigenous Studies includes examples of keywords that may be helpful in refining your search. (e.g. Indigenous Research Methodology, Indian Residential Schools, Indigenous Food Sovereignty, etc.)

Search Tips

• Use quotation marks to search for a phrase (e.g. "traditional knowledge").
• Use an asterisk to search for words with the same stem (e.g. method* retrieves method, methods, methodology, methodologies).
• Terminology changes over time. You many need to search for alternative spellings of a word, for example: Sto:lo, Stó:lô, Staulo, Stahlo or you may need to search for alternate words, for example: Kwakiutl/Kwakwaka'wakw or Nootka/Nuu-chah-nulth