Teaching Assistants' Training Program

Description

Land acknowledgements have become common in academic spaces, as well as outside of academia, in schools and at cultural, civic, and sporting events. You might have even seen them while waiting for a bus, or while walking on Ishpadinaa, or Spadina. However, as land acknowledgements have become more common, they risk losing meaning as a result of being overly scripted or depersonalized. This workshop will support participants to understand the important elements of a land acknowledgement as well as where land acknowledgements fall short through a discussion of some of the treaties around the Great Lakes, including the Two Row Wampum and Dish With One Spoon Wampum, and the historical and ongoing oppression of Indigenous peoples in Canada in which the University of Toronto is complicit, like all other major Canadian institutions. This workshop will also provide participants with structured time to begin to develop their own land acknowledgements. Please come to the workshop prepared to think critically about your positionality on Indigenous land and willing to engage in the process of developing a land acknowledgement. This workshop is designed for a non-Indigenous/settler audience, others are welcome to participate too and will not be required to offer their expertise, but may if you choose so.