Cultural and Pedagogical Inquiry (Journal)
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An Aboriginal Perspective on Canada’s Human Rights “Culture”
No full textIt was a profound achievement for Indigenous peoples to be recognized as peoples with associated rights under international law. As active contributors in international human rights arenas, Indigenous people have weighed into debates on how to substantiate collective rights while complementing individual rights. They assert a collective political identity that strives for rights to protect cultures, livelihoods, and governance systems. However, these achievements at the international level may fall short in impacting lives at the domestic level. This inquiry is based on a model of human rights socialization to consider whether Canadian attitudes and behaviours, as well as institutions and systems, promote human rights values and norms. Despite seemingly progressive human rights legislation in Canada, the perceptions and experiences of select Aboriginal people suggest significant barriers to substantiating rights through current institutions and problematizes Canada’s rights “culture.”
Islamic Identity in the Canadian Multicultural Context
No full textThis paper aims to explore aspects of Islamic identities in the Canadian multicultural context. It argues that Islamic identities face challenges in the Canadian liberal multicultural context, largely because multiculturalism in Canada was initially designed for well-integrated European ethnic groups and it may not have been intended to foster Islamic identity. Further, some Muslims have a significant problem with a multiculturalism that marginalizes religious beliefs and values in favor of secular inclusiveness. The paper presents the core elements of Islamic identities as well as the challenges of external pressures. It notes that while Islamic identities are anchored firmly on the concept of Ummah, Muslims may develop multiple affinities, which adds another dimension to the Canadian mosaic. The paper recommends accommodating faith communities, including Muslims meaningfully. It invites Muslims to join the multicultural conversation with a genuine Islamic voice. Further, it encourages the Muslim community to respond to the negative image effectively
Settlers, Sell-outs and Sons of the Soil: The Creation of Aliens in Zimbabwe and the Challenge for Higher Education
No full textThe contemporary colonial world is witnessing struggles for domination and existence that have led to exclusion of some groups on the basis of parameters defined by the powerful. This contribution observes practices and policies of belonging and exclusion developing in Zimbabwe and argues that higher education should take the lead in discussing and proposing citizenship education that would produce cosmopolitan patriots, responsible and tolerant citizens. The discussion is a critical discourse analysis of dominant colonial forces of authoritarian nationalism and neoliberalism supplemented by personal experience and engagement with students and faculty at the Great Zimbabwe University. What has been observed is the failure of civil society and state led programmes in this endeavour and the honours rests with higher education institutions to develop citizenship education rooted in ideals that critique hegemonic discourses. This demands a change in perspectival foci and this study advances the adoption of anti-colonial liberationist perspectives as one of the options if an end to classification of citizens as aliens and patriots is to come to an end
Exotic/Other: Narratives of Muslims, the Role of Media and Popular Culture
No full textThis commentary paper explores experiences of Muslims being identified as an exotic/other by the media after September 11, 2001. The writer’s experience of being chosen for attention because of her Muslim female dress code, headscarf, during a National Aboriginal Day of Action, was a surprise for her. Instead of paying attention to the event, a media reporter questioned “why I covered”. This narrative introduces a poignant awareness of the power of media to make choices that identify and define the exotic/other. Narratives of another Muslim woman and two Muslim men illustrate the role of the media and popular culture to form and represent identities. The purpose of this commentary is to show how, in becoming aware of how we as individuals and the media in our culture, in the post 9 – 11 society, are reacting, choosing, refusing, and accepting the making of our identities
“A whey dem say fe demself?” African/Black people’s auto/biographies as pedagogical tools
No full textOne of the major pedagogical challenges, for teachers at all levels and in all disciplines of the education system, is to acknowledge Africa’s presence in the evolution of world civilizations. Knowledge about the existence and evolution of African civilizations before European contact have been suppressed, distorted or erased from textbooks. Furthermore, only relatively recently have a number of historiographies on such topics as the internal, trans-Sahara and trans-Atlantic slave trades and slavery have begun to be produced in academia. Moreover, scholars have been slow to recognize the central role of Africa in disciplines such as economics, art, literature, science and music in the global currents of intellectual and philosophical thought. Hopefully, the voice, agency and self-representation of African/Black people have steadily emerged from the shadows in various forms of life writing, in addition to original research and publications across disciplines. This paper and accompanying workshop for teacher educators is this author’s initiative to bring a historical consciousness to both a curricular and pedagogical need for engagement with the scholarship produced by African-descended peoples. My thesis is that various genres of life writing - memoirs, autobiographies and biographies - can enhance the learning and teaching about Africa and African descended peoples in such a way as to bring about a holistic understanding of the historical and institutional bases for their contemporary human condition, locally and globally. Teacher educators who prepare language arts and social studies teachers for the public school system will find texts at various reading levels among the resources. Teachers of the humanities and social sciences at the tertiary level will have the opportunity to explore ways in which auto/biographies may enhance their learning and teaching
