Learning from community, land and animals: Adela Kincaid on Indigenous relationships in her teaching practice

For Adela Kincaid, learning from and in community is at the heart of education. After the impactful experience of working for the Siksika School Board that changed the trajectory of her career, she has redefined what learning looked like to her in relationship to Indigenous communities.

Dr. Kincaid, PhD'15, an assistant professor (teaching) in the Faculty of Arts, is the 2024 recipient of the University of Calgary Award for Indigenous Ways of Knowing. The award recognizes an individual or group that has advanced truth and reconciliation, decolonization, Indigenous engagement and transformation in a course or program and the impact that has had on students. 

As a non-Indigenous faculty member and educator, Kincaid is dedicated to her role in reconciliation and being and becoming a ‘good relative’ through her respective and thoughtful collaborative work with Indigenous communities in consultation traditional knowledge keepers.

Learning together in Indigenous studies

Co-learning in the classroom with her students is what excites Kincaid about being in the classroom, especially in International Indigenous Studies where often at least half of the students are Indigenous.

"It's always a really exciting environment to be in because it gives us a lot of opportunities to learn from each other and to really collaborate, but also, learn a lot from each other's perspectives when we're in that space. And so it's been a real honour to be able to teach and learn in these spaces, with the students."

Tangible experiences alongside theory

A semester in one of Kincaid's classes starts with a tipi-raising alongside representatives from the First Nations group that they are working with.

"It's a very different approach than sitting in a classroom and memorizing terminology or theory, which can also be important" Kincaid says. "But understanding a worldview through tangible experiences, learning on, and from, the land, and from community teachings, is a much more holistic experience than learning in a classroom."

Kincaid centres her teaching practice around the concept of knowledge co-creation which entails learning from each other, the land, animals, community, and Elders.

"I try to think, how can we bring this into the classroom and how can we learn from the magpies or buffalo out there?" she says. "And what does that look like? And what does that mean for all of us? And what do buffalo have to teach us?"

But Kincaid emphasizes the importance of making universities welcoming learning spaces for Indigenous students, Elders and communities, and for non-Indigenous students and scholars to learn how to work with community in ways that are respectful and reciprocal. 

Opportunity to learn from land and animals

"Providing opportunities for students and for all of us to learn from the land and to learn from animals requires a bit of a shift in the way that we think. And a shift in pedagogical approaches, a shift in assessment," she says.

"The feedback I received from students and from others who have been part of learning from Indigenous communities is that it's life-changing. It has been that for me, and I am incredibly grateful to those who have been my teachers and guides – the students, Elders, Indigenous community members, animals, and the land."

Dr. Kincaid acknowledges she could not do the work in a good way without the support of: the International Indigenous Studies program, both current and former directors Drs. Craig Ginn, PhD and Daniel Voth, PhD; the Taylor Institute for Teaching and Learning, especially Dr. Christine Martineau, PhD; supportive department head Dr. Roberta Rice, PhD; and the Faculty of Arts Dr. Dawn Johnston, PhD. She is also thankful for the guidance Elders Reg Crowshoe and Rose Crowshoe provide to the University of Calgary.