Indigenous Knowledge Lecture Series

February 7, 2024
12 - 1:30 p.m. MT | webinar

Presentation: Learning Resurgence and Reconciliation from the Earth

Summary: This presentation will discuss the Earth as an important source of Anishinaabe law, and by the Earth I mean all our relations, nindinawemaganidook: the air, water, first, rocks, plants, insects, fish, birds, animals, and other more-than-human forces which animate the world. In developing this thesis, I will first discuss Anishinaabe law’s more-than-human sources by discussing preparations to enter into treaties in the early 1760's. Second, I examine how Anishinaabe creation and clan stories place more-than-humans at the centre of Anishinaabe constitutionalism. Third, I discuss my own practices and experiences of Anishinaabe law involving more-than-human beings. The presentation’s thesis will suggest that Anishinaabe law is learned and practiced socially, and that our sociality must more intentionally and explicitly build social systems which draw us closer to the more-than-human world.

Bio: John Borrows B.A., M.A., J.D., LL.M. (Toronto), Ph.D. (Osgoode Hall Law School), LL.D. (Hons., Dalhousie, York, SFU, Queen’s & Law Society of Ontario), D.H.L, (Hons., Toronto), D.Litt. (Hons., Waterloo), F.R.S.C., O.C., is the Loveland Chair in Indigenous Law at the University of Toronto Law School. His publications include, Recovering Canada; The Resurgence of Indigenous Law (Donald Smiley Award best book in Canadian Political Science, 2002), Canada's Indigenous Constitution (Canadian Law and Society Best Book Award 2011), Drawing Out Law: A Spirit's Guide (2010), Freedom and Indigenous Constitutionalism (Donald Smiley Award best book in Canadian Political Science, 2016), The Right Relationship (with Michael Coyle, ed.), Resurgence and Reconciliation (with Michael Asch, Jim Tully, eds.), Law’s Indigenous Ethics (2020 Best subsequent Book Award from Native American and Indigenous Studies Association, 2020 W. Wes Pue Best book award from the Canadian Law and Society Association). He is the 2017 Killam Prize winner in Social Sciences and the 2019 Molson Prize Winner from the Canada Council for the Arts, the 2020 Governor General’s Innovation Award, and the 2021 Canadian Bar Association President’s Award winner.  He was appointed as an Officer of the Order of Canada in 2020. John is a member of the Chippewa of the Nawash First Nation in Ontario, Canada.

March 20, 2024
12:00 - 1:30 p.m. | webinar

Presentation: Indigenous Futurisms and Literary Joy

Bio: Joshua Whitehead (he/him) is an Oji-Cree, Two-Spirit writer and academic from Peguis First Nation (Treaty 1). He is the author of Full-metal Indigiqueer (Talonbooks 2017), Jonny Appleseed (Arsenal Pulp 2018), Making Love with the Land (Knopf 2022), and Indigiqueerness: a Conversation about Storytelling (Athabasca UP 2023). He is also the editor of Love after the End: an Anthology of Two-Spirit and Indigiqueer Speculative Fiction (Arsenal 2020). Currently, Whitehead is an Assistant Professor at the University of Calgary (Treaty 7) where he is housed in the departments of English and International Indigenous Studies. 

April 10, 2024
12:00 - 1:30 p.m. | webinar

Presentation: In the Spirit of Dr. Betty Bastien: Conceptualizing Ontological Responsibilities in Higher Education 

Summary: This presentation is my tribute to the legacy of Dr. Betty Bastien through which I elevate Betty’s vision of Blackfoot ontological responsibilities as the foundation for the articulation of a pedagogy of Blackfoot resilience and in doing so, provide enduring reference points for Indigenous and non-Indigenous students and educators to shape university teaching and learning in ways that are consistent with Niitsitapiyssinni, Blackfoot way of life. Ultimately, this presentation demonstrates how creating a balance in cultural perspectives in the post secondary classroom is indeed possible. 

Bio: Dr. Gabrielle Weasel Head (formerly Lindstrom) is a member of the Kainai Nation, part of the Blackfoot Confederacy. Working as an assistant professor in Indigenous Studies at Mount Royal University, Dr. Weasel Head is an active researcher mobilizing Indigenous research methodologies to elevate Indigenous ways of knowing, being and doing in mainstream education and professional development spaces.