茄子直播

First Nations House kicks off Indigenous Education Week

photo of hip hop artist
鈥淔rom Basra to Standing Rock: Decolonial love, hip hop and solidarity鈥 will feature hip hop artist Quese IMC (photo courtesy of Quese IMC)

Visual artists, hip hop artists, poets and scholars are among those helping 茄子直播 celebrate .

Organized and curated by , which provides year-round social, academic and financial supports to Indigenous students on campus, the week kicks off Sunday with a free concert at Hart House by Juno-winning musical power duo, Digging Roots. 

鈥淭his week will showcase and centre Indigenous presence in the academy,鈥 said Susan Blight, Aboriginal Student Life coordinator at First Nations House.

Typically, Indigenous Education Week happens inside First Nations House on Spadina Avenue. But this year, as First Nations House marks its 25th anniversary, the events will fan out across the downtown Toronto campus, says Jonathan Hamilton-Diabo, director of First Nations House. 

鈥淭wenty-five years ago there were very few places doing Indigenous education so First Nations House would have been one of the key places to do that,鈥 he says. 

Hamilton-Diabo notes that the landscape for Indigenous learning at 茄子直播 has evolved since then. 

鈥淣ow, it鈥檚 a different scenario because there are more [departments], more places doing it. There鈥檚 just more of an opportunity for other places to take the lead as well,鈥 he said. 

Indigenous Education Week will feature a series of events exploring a blend of contemporary topics, participatory workshops and traditional teachings.

鈥淔rom Basra to Standing Rock: Decolonial love, hip hop and solidarity鈥 will feature hip hop artist Quese IMC (Marcus Frejo) who is Pawnee and Seminole from Oklahoma, in conversation with Yassin 鈥淣arcy鈥 Alsalma of Iraqi ancestry from Montreal.

The talk is  moderated by Audrey Hudson, who studies hip hop at OCAD University, and promises to be fascinating, Blight says, particularly since Frejo is a water protector. 

鈥淨uese IMC just returned from Standing Rock. He founded the Pawnee camp at the Ochete Sakowick camp at Standing Rock, and they鈥檒l really be talking about hip hop and solidarity,鈥  Blight says. 

鈥淐learing A Path: Poetry For a Unified Future鈥 is a discussion with poets, Lee Maracle, Gwen Benaway and Gregory Scofield, meant to explore poetry鈥檚 relationship to ancestral knowledge and Indigenous languages, Blight says.

Maracle 鈥 also a Traditional Teacher at First Nations House 鈥 will be reading from her newly published work, Talking to the Diaspora.

She says that it鈥檚 a long, political poem addressing how everyone in Canada who is not Indigenous to this land, is diasporic. 

Lisa Boivin hosts a workshop at First Nations House on Jan. 23 on image-based storytelling and logo making.

A member of the Deninu Kue First Nation in Northwest Territories, Boivin is an interdisciplinary artist and a master's student at the Rehabilitation Sciences Institute at 茄子直播's Faculty of Medicine. She uses digital painting and image-based storytelling to bridge gaps between medical ethics and aspects of Indigenous cultures and worldviews.

Visual artist Joi T. Arcand will be part of a conversation with Karyn Recollet from women and gender studies at 茄子直播, talking about her art and design practice.

The conversation will cover topics like, 鈥淚maginging the future, Indigenous feminisms and decolonial design,鈥 said Arcand.  

First Nations House's Elder in Residence Andrew Wesley will be doing a teaching about the intergenerational impacts of residential schools. 

鈥淗e has a lot to contribute to that discussion. I think it鈥檚 particularly relevant considering last week the TRC Steering Committee gave its final report to the president," Blight says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 very timely and an important time to have that discussion and have him share that kind of knowledge.鈥 

茄子直播's S.A.G.E. (Supporting Aboriginal Graduate Enhancement) is offering a self-care workshop and there is the opening of the new office of Indigenous Studies Student Union. 

 All events are free and open to the public. You can also join the conversation on Twitter at #UofTIEW2017.

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