In addition to a biannual workshop for UAF instructors, the university supports regular programming, lectures, and discussions related to decolonizing and Indigenizing teaching and learning across the institution. See upcoming events as well as recordings/resources of past events below.
Past Events
Kayla Lar-Son is Indigenous Programs and Services Librarian and Program Manager Indigitization Xwi7xwa Library at University of British Columbia. In the session recorded below, she discusses the benefits, complexities, and considerations OER creators must take when creating Indigenous OERs that support curriculum development.
Dr. Diane McEachern is a professor of rural human services (RHS) and Human Services (HUMS) at CRCD’s Kuskokwim Campus in Bethel. She has taught there for 19 years and previous to that was the lead social worker for the Lower Kuskokwim School District. Dr. McEachern’s research and doctoral work was the study of social work education with Indigenous adult learners. She is program head for an innovative cohort model of education (RHS) that has as its foundation, Indigenous ways of learning and understanding. This has made the program, taught out of the Kuskokwim and Interior Alaska Campus (IAC) popular among Indigenous adult learners from many rural communities.
Dr. Michael Yellow Bird is Dean and Professor of Social Work at University of Manitoba, Canada. In the lecture recorded below, he presents on decolonizing epistemologies, theory, and relevance for implementing Indigeneity in institutional spaces such as higher education. View this video in a new window.
Dr. Beth Leonard is Professor of Indigenous Studies at Alaska Pacific University. In this keynote for the inaugural Indigenizing Pedagogy workshop, Dr. Leonard shares that Indigenous pedagogies, although diverse, often engage shared values of respect, responsibility, relationality, and reciprocity. These values comprise a conceptual framework that can inform teaching on multiple levels. This interactive presentation will help explore ways of decolonizing and Indigenizing teaching and learning through examining basic terms and processes; these include decolonization and engagement (versus ‘integration) of Indigenous Knowledges in coursework.
Dr. Cana Uluak Itchuaqiyaq is an Iñupiaq technical communication and rhetoric scholar from Kotzebue and Noorvik. In the Zoom-recorded lecture below, she discusses the problematic orientation toward whiteness that pervades many antiracism initiatives in academia. She discusses her work creating an antiracism curriculum for the Caleb Scholars Program–an Inuit-led conservation advocacy development fellowship created to honor the legacy of her father Caleb Pungowiyi–that centers Inuit identity and values in its approach. Learn more about Dr. Itchuaqiyaq’s work at itchuaqiyaq.com.
View the slides and transcript for this lecture.
Cite this lecture: Itchuaqiyaq, C. U. (2021, Oct. 20). Decentering Whiteness in Antiracism Initiatives . UAF Faculty Accelerator. https://facdev.uaf.edu/decentering-whiteness