UTM Teaching Lodge to host first-ever winter course
Special Topic in Indigenous Storywork: “Indigenous Feminisms” will focus on applying decolonial and Indigenous methods and will be instructed by Professor and Chair Maria Hupfield.
This winter term, students at the University of Toronto Mississauga (UTM) can expect a new course offered by the university’s Department of English and Drama. Special Topic in Indigenous Storywork: “Indigenous Feminisms,” or ENG348H5S, will be instructed by Assistant Professor of Indigenous Digital Arts and Performance and Canada Research Chair in Transdisciplinary Indigenous Arts Maria Hupfield.
The course will be offered as a seminar and discussion and held at the campus’s Teaching Lodge on Principal’s Road. Built with a traditional Tipi to honour Indigenous cultures and traditions at UTM, the Teaching Lodge is a canopied outdoor teaching space designed to immerse students in an authentic engagement with Indigenous pedagogy.
This winter term marks the first time the Teaching Lodge will be used as the primary site of instruction for a course. The course material will be based on traditional Indigenous texts, media, and performances and will involve students studying Indigenous art while “applying decolonial and Indigenous methodologies,” according to the university’s website.
By using the Teaching Lodge, the course aims to fulfill the objectives laid out in a report by the Steering Committee for the University of Toronto, a coalition of faculty involved in Indigenous affairs and Indigenous students and elders. The report—Answering the Call: Wecheehetowin—outlines the university’s commitment to abiding by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada’s recommendations.
Director for UTM’s Office of Indigenous Initiatives, Tee Duke, stated in an article by UTM, “The report called for the expansion of Indigenous curriculum and cocurricular education along with the hiring of Indigenous faculty and expanded Indigenous spaces on our three campuses.”
The new course fulfills one of the report’s longer-term calls to action, being that “The University should work to integrate significant Indigenous curriculum content in all of its divisions by 2025.
By having the course led by Hupfield, who identifies as an off-rez urban Anishinaabe and belongs to Wasauksing First Nation, the course also fulfills the recommendation that “the University fund a pool of Indigenous curriculum developers, who ideally should be of Indigenous heritage themselves.”
The method of evaluation for the course will involve participation, close reading, and reflection assignments, which will include texts by Gina Starblanket, Jo-anne Archibald, and Maria Hupfield.
According to the UTM website, students can expect to immerse themselves in Indigenous perspectives throughout the course. “Applying decolonial and Indigenous methodologies, students will explore Indigenous texts, media, and/or performances, spanning traditional and innovative forms, genres, and mediums engaged by Indigenous writers ranging from Leanne Betasamosake Simpson and Tanya Tagaq to Billy Ray Belcourt.”
