91±¬ÁÏ

Uprooting and Pushing Boundaries in Education

Over the past year and a half, the COVID-19 pandemic has caused a wave of change and collective awakening as we all bore witness to the growing gaps and inequities created by deep-rooted systematic barriers. While education empowered us to move forward through collective action we cannot ignore the shortcomings of our current education methods, traditions, and systems.

Our vision to create an engaging platform where the 91±¬ÁÏ community can come together to reflect, share, and participate in discussions thinking about the ways we can effectively create meaningful change within our society through education. We invite researchers, graduate students, and practitioners to reflect and imagine their work within big picture questions such as:

• How can education create and transform conditions created from colonialism and imperialism?
• How do we continue to connect theory to practice?
• How do we continue to ensure that research is disseminated to communities?
• How can education respond to public health crises and unsustainable forms of living?
• How can education respond to growing international tensions?
• How can we continue to learn and uplift Indigenous and Black knowledge?
• How can we respond to the expanding racial injustice within Canada and beyond?
• How can we move forward from deficit approaches to strength-based teaching and community aide/organizing?

We envision this conference to be a space where there will be numerous meaningful opportunities for student development, learning from/with each other, and engaging with faculty through special sessions and multiple formats for knowledge dissemination.

In keeping with our vision we are dedication ourselves to following AODA-compliant conference development, whether in person (e.g. large-print handouts, CART services if requested, etc.) or virtual (e.g., closed captions, CART services if requested, etc.).

As we do not identify within the Black or Indigenous community, we will ensure that we will do our due diligence to ensure that this space uplifts research from across the board that reflects and builds on understandings of anti-colonial and anti-racist frameworks. Furthermore, we commit to doing our due diligence to step back and take the time to learn and reflect on scholarship in the area of Indigenous, Black and anti-colonial education to help foster the groundwork for meaningful collaboration and participation.