Congress 2021 blog edition
Organized by the University of Alberta’s Faculty of Education, “Learning in Northern Communities, Cultures, and Places: A Multimedia Interactive Gathering with the Faculty of Education, University of Alberta” featured four arts-based and/or multimodal exhibits from Dr. Ali Shiri, Dr. Trudy Cardinal, Dr. Diane Conrad, and Dr. Melissa Tremblay. The moderator of the panel, Dr. Michael O’Driscoll, stated that the overarching theme of Canada’s Northern and Indigenous communities that unites all of these exhibits perhaps embodies the 2021 Congress’ theme of Northern Relations.
Dr. Ali Shiri, Associate Dean of the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research (FGSR) at the University of Alberta, utilized his research on the Inuvialuit Settlement Region (ISR) in the far Northwestern Arctic region of what is now Canada to create a cultural heritage digital library system. This system prioritized an inclusive and culturally-sensitive interpretation of research, including close collaboration with these communities at all stages of the research process. The Inuvialuit Digital Library project features community input drawn from conversations, open houses, interviews, focus groups, and storytelling – the last of which is noted to be a critical part of the culture and community of Indigenous peoples in particular, according to Shiri. Storytelling workshops were conducted in both Inuvialuktun and English.
Dr. Trudy Cardinal, Associate Professor and Associate Chair in the Department of Elementary Education at the University of Alberta, presented videos from Braiding Stories to Live By. It is an Indigenous young women's summer gathering space for young Indigenous women to come together with multiple generations of Indigenous women to weave together culture and stories in an attempt to build a circle of intergenerational connection and knowledge. Seeing as the stories that we hear and experience in our daily lives play a part in shaping our identity, this program focuses on supporting positive identity negotiation in school-aged Indigenous young women by providing them a space in which to grow together with other Indigenous women.
Dr. Diane Conrad, Associate Professor in the Department of Secondary Education at the University of Alberta, displayed images from a comic book created by Conrad and Stacey Keeler, one of Conrad’s graduate students at the time. This comic book stemmed from a Frozen Pictures exercise at a youth conference in the community of Fort Good Hope in the Northwest Territories, whereby youth took turns “using” other youth to create frozen pictures with their bodies, after which the youth discussed how each frozen picture illustrated an example of youth leadership. These frozen pictures, along with the youths’ ensuing discussions, were then turned into said comic book.
Dr. Melissa Tremblay, Assistant Professor in the Department of Education Psychology at U of A, and recipient of the 2019 Mitacs Award for Outstanding innovation - Indigenous for her work in developing safe housing and community support to teenage parents and their children in Edmonton, shared an inspiring video on her Strengths Focused Research with Youth at Maskwacis First Nation. Tremblay argued that it is hard to develop a strong cultural identity when one is bombarded with negative images about one’s culture and community. In order to contradict the sometimes “brutal” and “negative” images circulated in the public sphere surrounding the Indigenous culture and community, Tremblay’s project gave youth digital cameras and encouraged them to capture images that depicted the strong, healthy, and resilient aspects of their community, thus re-framing their own culture in a positive light.