Widening the circle: assuming differentiated responsibilities in the Indigenization of university education

Abstract

Since Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Canadian universities have pledged to Indigenize education and hired Indigenous Curriculum Specialists to implement this commitment. These new higher education employees, however, face limited resources for, and resistance to, their work. To move forward, Indigenous Curriculum Specialists are calling for fruitful dialogues between them and their interlocutors at all levels of decision and policy making. This article exemplifies and promotes such dialogues, by presenting a written version of the sharing circle the authors had about their experiences with implementing an Indigenous Curriculum Specialist-led Indigenization initiative. Readers are then invited to draw on the circle’s main themes—positionality, responsibility, and Indigenized practices—to reflect on the differentiated responsibilities they are themselves called upon to assume in Indigenizing post-secondary education from their own position. It is only through engaging all beings in this conversation that we will contribute to shared understandings and responsibility for the world.