Volume 10, Number 1, 2024

EN:

The Canadian academy is dominated by Western epistemologies that devalue Indigenous ways of knowing and marginalize Indigenous communities, cultures, and histories (Louie et al., 2017). This paper draws on a cross-disciplinary, interprofessional collaboration between a School of Public Health Sciences and School of Social Work to develop an online graduate course that sought to advance knowledge and practice in Indigenous wellbeing and health through a social justice lens. We explore key considerations, strategies, and challenges undertaken by an interdisciplinary group of non-Indigenous professors to create a learning experience for students that challenges colonial ways of seeing, being, knowing, and doing in the professional practice fields of public health and social work and that serves to elevate and sustain Indigenous voices, knowledges, sciences, and practices within the academy. In doing so, we centre the process of course development, including working with an Indigenous Advisory Circle and Indigenous contributors of content, guest lecture videos, and artwork. The paper describes the creation of a relational teaching and learning community, while raising concerns about the institutionalization of this approach to Indigenous-focused course development in the absence of the structural changes needed to enhance the presence of Indigenous faculty and Elders in academic institutions.

EN:

This report from the field reflects on the authors’ experiences in a directed research course on the topic of youth civic engagement in Canada. A literature review was co-written as part of a directed research course where the instructor was a visiting professor from the United States and the student was an undergraduate student in Canada. The content of this report was gathered during various stages of the directed research course and is informed by literature focused on students as engaged partners in teaching and learning in higher education. Specifically, we reflect on the ways viewing students as engaged partners can leverage their knowledge and lived experiences when engaging in directed research courses, especially when the student and faculty member may be coming from different countries in North America. In addition, we reflect on how designing a directed research course that views students as engaged partners can provide a rich ground for the redistribution of power in higher education and strengthen the quality of research through the co-creation of new knowledge and ideas.

EN:

There is a close connection between poverty and racism yet insufficient literature integrates anti-racist praxis in poverty reduction work. We draw here on the first stage of a project that brought together the Saskatoon Poverty Reduction Partnership (SPRP) and the Saskatchewan Anti-Racism Network (ARN) to explore possibilities for better alignment of the advocacy of both organizations. We conducted a media discourse analysis of 462 newspaper articles systematically extracted from grey literature site Factiva on how poverty reduction is framed and how media reportage links poverty and racism in Saskatchewan. We find that very few newspaper articles published on poverty reduction focus on the connections between poverty and racism. Additionally, there are four dominant ways of framing poverty reduction namely: i) the cost framing of poverty reduction ii) the shame and embarrassment framing of poverty reduction iii) the human rights framing of poverty reduction and iv) the root cause analyses of poverty reduction. The cost and shame framings of poverty reduction may further marginalize or de-center those living in poverty compared to the human rights and root cause framings. More explicit connection needs to be made between poverty reduction work and anti-racist praxis for effective advocacy.

EN:

Literature review is a common piece of any scholarly research, but it is rare for it to be squarely at the centre of a community-based project. In this Report from the Field, the research team critically reflects upon the creation and use of a literature review on grassroots, anti-oppressive approaches to community safety in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Writing in conversation with one another, we explore the tensions of navigating and challenging safety discourse and securitization practices in our city, from our distinct experiences and positions as an academic researcher, community partner, and student research assistant. In the process, we illuminate a collaboration that offers insights for academic and community researchers alike. We reflect on creating an accessible basis for community conversation and planning while doing justice to the sources of anti-oppressive theory and practice, particularly when initially speaking to mostly white and privileged community members. The literature review has generated discussion about what it means to approach safety as a collective resource rather than an exclusive possession, and will inform practical strategies in the neighbourhood and beyond.

EN:

The current sounds of our world are under threat of disappearing. Undergraduate students and interdisciplinary university teams are at the forefront of generating collaborative research opportunities to create community awareness of biodiversity loss and conservation practices. Recent conservation research has focused on how local communities can begin to reverse the trends of biodiversity loss by using private residences and urban spaces. The inclusion of native plants in backyard gardens is an accessible way to promote ecological restoration. In this co-produced instructional exhibit, “Earth Day Celebration: Silence,” we introduce a novel experiential event that connects instructional design with community collaboration. The event was designed to explore the ways in which society can become engaged in the preservation and protection of biodiversity and our sonic world.

EN:

The University of Saskatchewan’s Community-University Institute for Social Research (CUISR) is celebrating its 25th anniversary very soon. Engaged Scholar Journal’s Penelope Sanz sat down with Isobel Findlay, University co-director of CUISR since 2011, to revisit the vision its founders set out 25 years ago and reflect on its achievements. The institute was established to facilitate community-university partnerships to engage in relevant and collaborative social research to gain a deeper understanding of Saskatchewan’s communities and to reveal opportunities to improve community quality of life.