Reading Silenced Narratives: A Curricular Journey into Innu Poetry and Reconciliation

Authors

  • Julie Vaudrin-Charette University of Ottawa

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.37119/ojs2015.v21i2.223

Keywords:

Postcolonialism, Indigenous Education, Educator's Role, Pedagogy,

Abstract

Using a life writing research methodology in this article, I seek to understand the complexities implicated in reading silenced narratives as a way towards reconciling internations relationships. To do so, I weave in the poetical territories of Josephine Bacon, Innu poet from Pessiamit, Quebec. I analyse how a poetic text has created spaces for reinterpreting silence[s], that journey into and beyond my whispered narratives as an emerging, settler scholar and curriculum theorist. As I tune into several layers of silences, I examine the pedagogical implications lying within public and intimate territories of silenced narratives and the narrative(s) of silence(s) in our various practices as educators.

Keywords: Postcolonialism; Indigenous education; educator's role; pedagogy

Figure 1. A visual abstract is offered here as an alternative way to enter the space of silenced narratives of symbolic literacies (see Battiste, 1986).

Author Biography

Julie Vaudrin-Charette, University of Ottawa

I grew up on the Northern Shore of Quebec, on the unceded territory of the Innus. 
Throughout my career in international education, I have thrived for a closer understanding of First Nations, Metis and Inuit peoples, perspectives, and languages in college curricula. My work involves several cultural intersections, with a passion for creative critical pedagogies, languages, social justice, and storytelling. In my M.A. at UQAM, I focused on performance as transformational ways of learning. My current research is centered on intercultural mindfulness, cultural humility, and reciprocity in college education, with a specific focus on teacher's relationships with FNMI communities. 

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Published

2015-12-02