Popular in

Arts and Humanities

Titus Quinctius Flamininus’ “Italian triumph”

McGill University Michael Fronda

Arts and Humanities

City Time: On Being Sentenced to Rikers Island

Independent Scholar David A. Campbell

Culture and Society

The City as a Growth Machine: Toward a Political Economy of Place

New York University Harvey Moltoch

Education

The Role of Education in Reducing Racial Inequality

University of Southern California Pedro A. Noguera

Law

Diversity and Social Mobility in the UK legal profession

Law Society I. Stephanie Boyce

Economics

Gender and Economics

University of California Santa Barbara Shelly Lundberg

Navigating the paradox of repair

View more insights in Social Sciences

View more figures from University of Minnesota

View the page of George Dalbo

Read the Study

George Dalbo examines how educational institutions and individual educators in Manitoba, Canada, and Minnesota, United States (US), understand and enact reparation in their respective fields of practice.

Image courtesy of interviewee. April 15, 2024

Generating Workspace

Export as PDF

This video video outlines a study focused on reparative or restorative justice in the context of indigenous peoples in Manitoba, Canada, and Minnesota, USA. The authors investigate how education can address historical harms related to indigenous genocide, aiming to bring recognition to these past events and their legacies.

Key points include:

1. **Contextual Background**: The study examines the effects of indigenous genocide in both regions, highlighting the historical under-recognition of these events in public discourse.

2. **Education as a Tool**: The authors argue that public education should play a critical role in addressing past harms and facilitating reparative justice, particularly by acknowledging and integrating contemporary indigenous issues into curricula.

3. **Comparative Analysis**: The research compares educational standards between Minnesota and Manitoba, noting differences in how indigenous history is framed. Minnesota tends to focus more on pre-1900 history, while Manitoba includes a more balanced view that incorporates both historical and contemporary perspectives.

4. **Indigenous Perspectives**: The study acknowledges differing goals among indigenous educational actors, such as a focus on land return and decolonization, while also highlighting the importance of partnerships between indigenous and non-indigenous educators.

5. **Challenges and Tensions**: The authors discuss the "paradox of repair," highlighting the tension between calls for land return and the incremental changes viewed as reparative justice. They note how institutions may label actions as progressive without challenging underlying power dynamics.

6. **Conclusions**: Overall findings suggest that Canada may be more progressive than the U.S. in reparative justice efforts, particularly due to initiatives like the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. However, the authors caution that progress may merely reflect shifting dynamics within settler colonialism rather than actual transformative change.

7. **Hopeful Outlook**: The study concludes by recognizing the ongoing efforts of individuals working towards reparative justice, emphasizing the importance of acknowledging past violence and advocating for better future frameworks for education and recognition.

Language:

Export as PDF

X-TIMESTAMP-MAP:LOCAL=00:00:00.000,MPEGTS=900000

00:00.115 --> 00:04.525
This study looks at reparative justice in, Manitoba,

00:04.525 --> 00:06.925
Canada and Minnesota in the United States.

00:07.145 --> 00:09.685
And we think about reparative

00:09.905 --> 00:14.045
or restorative justice as addressing past harms.

00:14.065 --> 00:17.005
So it's efforts, it's thinking about

00:17.145 --> 00:21.085
and efforts towards addressing past harms in society.

00:21.625 --> 00:24.805
And we're specifically looking at, education

00:25.225 --> 00:28.125
and thinking about not only addressing those past harms

00:28.125 --> 00:30.285
through education, but also the legacies

00:30.385 --> 00:33.125
of those past harms in the violence that was perpetrated.

00:33.265 --> 00:37.285
And, we both in Canada and in the United States

00:37.305 --> 00:39.005
and Minnesota and Manitoba,

00:39.065 --> 00:41.445
we are thinking about indigenous genocide

00:41.445 --> 00:44.125
or genocide perpetrated against indigenous peoples

00:44.125 --> 00:45.165
in both societies.

00:46.065 --> 00:48.645
And, you know, this has long been, under

00:49.245 --> 00:51.365
recognized in both Canada and the United States.

00:51.545 --> 00:55.565
And we, you know, are, are part of, you know,

00:55.565 --> 00:58.685
this group of scholars who are trying to bring recognition

00:58.705 --> 01:00.285
to this, these past events.

01:00.425 --> 01:03.085
And, we're interested in

01:03.085 --> 01:05.565
how public education specifically,

01:06.185 --> 01:07.685
can address these harms.

01:08.145 --> 01:10.125
And so that's how we think about reparative justice.

01:10.785 --> 01:13.765
Um, I guess in terms of motivation for this work,

01:14.465 --> 01:15.525
I'm coming from Minnesota

01:15.825 --> 01:18.205
and, we're just just south of Canada,

01:18.425 --> 01:20.045
and we often hear the narrative

01:20.045 --> 01:23.285
that Canada is far more progressive, or Manitoba.

01:23.305 --> 01:25.165
The province in Canada that's just north

01:25.165 --> 01:28.405
of Minnesota is far more progressive than Minnesota in terms

01:28.405 --> 01:31.325
of addressing these histories and legacies of mass violence.

01:31.465 --> 01:34.085
And I think we were really interested

01:34.305 --> 01:35.525
in exploring that question.

01:35.665 --> 01:38.925
Is Canada more progressive, in terms of their approach

01:38.945 --> 01:40.005
to addressing these things?

01:40.065 --> 01:42.765
And certainly we're aware of in the United States

01:42.785 --> 01:43.965
and in Minnesota, the Truth

01:43.965 --> 01:45.925
and Reconciliation Commission in Canada,

01:46.345 --> 01:48.245
and we don't really have anything comparable in the

01:48.245 --> 01:49.645
United States as a nation

01:49.865 --> 01:51.885
or even in, in Minnesota as a state.

01:51.945 --> 01:55.125
And so we took this as, as a starting point,

01:55.225 --> 01:57.445
to think about the ways in which perhaps the truth

01:57.445 --> 02:00.645
and Reconciliation Commission of Canada has advanced

02:01.245 --> 02:03.565
reparative justice, especially in education.

02:03.835 --> 02:06.765
Yeah. So we're focused, largely on the province

02:06.765 --> 02:09.525
of Manitoba and the state of Minnesota,

02:09.585 --> 02:12.485
but we use in the article, you know,

02:12.625 --> 02:15.845
two even more local, sites to kind

02:15.845 --> 02:19.605
of explore this history of dispossession and genocide,

02:19.605 --> 02:21.645
and then ultimately work that's being done

02:21.645 --> 02:22.725
around reparative justice.

02:22.945 --> 02:26.205
And so we're focused on, Minneapolis and St.

02:26.205 --> 02:28.725
Paul, and specifically we talk about beddoe,

02:28.935 --> 02:30.485
which is the confluence.

02:30.625 --> 02:34.365
So it's the Dakota term for the confluence of the Minnesota

02:34.425 --> 02:35.685
and Mississippi rivers.

02:35.705 --> 02:37.125
And it's right in the center

02:37.145 --> 02:40.165
of these two bustling cities now, Minneapolis and St.

02:40.165 --> 02:44.445
Paul. And this was for, you know, generations,

02:44.725 --> 02:48.005
a site of indigenous, activity.

02:48.465 --> 02:50.045
Um, it was a cultural site.

02:50.065 --> 02:52.805
It was a commercial site for, the Dakota

02:52.905 --> 02:54.045
and the Anishinaabe.

02:54.585 --> 02:57.525
And it then, you know, unsurprisingly becomes a site

02:57.705 --> 02:59.765
of commercial and cultural activity

02:59.825 --> 03:01.725
for early settlers who settled the region.

03:01.825 --> 03:04.845
It still is a site for both of those things today.

03:05.465 --> 03:07.445
And, at,

03:07.465 --> 03:10.365
at one point there was a fort built there, Fort Snelling.

03:10.505 --> 03:12.525
Um, and there's still the, the remains

03:12.525 --> 03:14.285
of Fort Snelling on this site.

03:14.865 --> 03:19.205
And so, this fort, importantly for us,

03:19.345 --> 03:24.285
in 1862, hosted a concentration camp for Dakota men,

03:24.295 --> 03:27.965
women, and, and children, who were, sent there

03:27.975 --> 03:30.205
after a, a really brief war in Minnesota,

03:30.225 --> 03:32.245
the US Dakota War in 1862.

03:32.865 --> 03:36.645
Um, they were about 1800 individuals were sent

03:36.645 --> 03:38.845
to this concentration camp at Fort Snelling.

03:39.385 --> 03:41.765
And, before they were exiled from the state,

03:42.045 --> 03:43.165
ultimately the following year.

03:43.745 --> 03:47.725
And so we kind of framed this, Bodo as a, a genesis

03:48.185 --> 03:49.925
for the, you know, for the Dakota people,

03:49.925 --> 03:52.485
but also the site of their genocide as well.

03:53.265 --> 03:56.055
Um, and then we look at a very,

03:56.055 --> 03:58.055
similar site in Manitoba.

03:58.475 --> 04:01.255
Um, it's called naia,

04:01.755 --> 04:05.375
and it is the confluence of two rivers again, here,

04:05.395 --> 04:07.495
the red and the Asbo rivers.

04:08.075 --> 04:09.895
And, this very similar

04:09.895 --> 04:13.495
to Beddoe has been a meeting place for the Cree,

04:13.515 --> 04:16.735
the Anishinaabe, the Dakota peoples that lived in Manitoba.

04:17.275 --> 04:20.495
And so it was a center, very similar similarly of commercial

04:20.555 --> 04:21.615
and cultural activity.

04:22.275 --> 04:26.295
And, also then a, a site of early settler activity.

04:26.435 --> 04:28.975
And it remains the center of the bustling city

04:28.975 --> 04:29.975
of Winnipeg today.

04:29.995 --> 04:34.095
And it's, been renamed or rebranded, the Forks.

04:34.195 --> 04:35.935
Um, so thinking of these two rivers.

04:35.995 --> 04:40.815
And, it's also a site of the Canadian Museum

04:40.995 --> 04:43.575
for Human Rights, which is a national museum,

04:43.755 --> 04:45.655
but not located in Ottawa, the Capitol,

04:45.755 --> 04:47.895
but, located in Winnipeg.

04:47.895 --> 04:50.735
And so it's interesting that this site exploring human

04:50.735 --> 04:53.535
rights and indeed genocide is located,

04:53.925 --> 04:55.935
this museum is located on this site.

04:56.825 --> 04:58.635
Yeah. So there is a small

04:58.655 --> 05:01.115
but growing, body of work around education

05:01.115 --> 05:02.875
and reparation or reparative justice,

05:03.215 --> 05:05.475
and a lot of this is focused outside

05:05.475 --> 05:06.795
of the United States and Canada.

05:07.375 --> 05:10.715
Um, and so for instance, there's, quite a bit

05:10.715 --> 05:12.675
of this literature focused on Rwanda,

05:12.855 --> 05:16.235
and so how education can serve as a vehicle, both for

05:16.335 --> 05:20.515
and as reparative justice after the Randan genocide.

05:20.575 --> 05:23.955
And, and so, we are looking at some of

05:23.955 --> 05:25.875
that literature certainly,

05:25.975 --> 05:28.475
but we're interested in, you know,

05:28.775 --> 05:31.715
how can we think about reparative justice within a settler

05:31.955 --> 05:32.995
colonial nation state?

05:33.015 --> 05:35.955
And there's been very little work done looking at settler

05:36.115 --> 05:37.795
colonial nation states and education.

05:38.375 --> 05:41.115
And so I think that's, you know, a gap that we hope

05:41.115 --> 05:42.315
to situate this study within.

05:42.905 --> 05:45.515
Yeah, so we, what we term the paradox

05:45.515 --> 05:49.835
of repair is this tension that exists in education.

05:50.215 --> 05:51.755
Um, and when we talk about education,

05:51.765 --> 05:54.915
we're not just talking about K 12 education, you know,

05:54.915 --> 05:56.755
elementary and secondary education, but

05:56.755 --> 05:58.510
We think, think about education a little more broadly,

05:58.545 --> 06:01.085
and we're looking at museum spaces,

06:01.225 --> 06:04.045
and especially, institutions like departments

06:04.045 --> 06:06.365
of education in states like Minnesota

06:06.365 --> 06:10.125
or provinces like Manitoba that, have some control over

06:10.125 --> 06:11.645
what happens in classrooms.

06:12.185 --> 06:14.445
Um, I guess perhaps for an international audience.

06:14.865 --> 06:17.325
Um, you know, the, the education in both Canada

06:17.425 --> 06:19.845
and the United States is incredibly decentralized.

06:19.865 --> 06:23.245
And so a lot of these decisions are made by, you know, what

06:23.245 --> 06:24.645
to teach and how to teach.

06:24.645 --> 06:27.805
These decisions are made by individual classroom educators.

06:28.225 --> 06:30.325
Um, but there is some influence coming from these

06:30.325 --> 06:33.925
outside organizations, especially museum spaces,

06:34.195 --> 06:35.565
departments of education.

06:36.305 --> 06:39.405
And, but when we think about this paradox of repair,

06:39.585 --> 06:42.405
we think about this tension that exists between folks

06:42.475 --> 06:44.605
that are talking about reparative justice,

06:45.545 --> 06:47.285
and often these are indigenous folks

06:47.315 --> 06:49.205
that are thinking about decolonization

06:49.945 --> 06:51.725
and especially land return.

06:51.785 --> 06:54.685
And so they think about this idea that,

06:55.165 --> 06:58.965
reparative justice is land return, is decolonization.

06:59.425 --> 07:01.405
And I think on the other side of this, there are folks

07:01.405 --> 07:04.085
that are laboring in this space, some indigenous,

07:04.265 --> 07:07.965
but often non-indigenous, educators that think about,

07:08.265 --> 07:09.485
reparative justice.

07:09.945 --> 07:13.565
As you know, these changes to society changes

07:13.785 --> 07:16.365
to institutions that are about inclusion.

07:16.585 --> 07:18.805
So including indigenous voices

07:18.985 --> 07:20.205
or including other voices,

07:20.325 --> 07:22.725
marginalized communities into these spaces

07:22.905 --> 07:25.525
and into, into the work and into these discussions.

07:26.225 --> 07:29.845
And, often focused on things like diversity

07:30.185 --> 07:32.965
and multiculturalism and inclusion.

07:33.585 --> 07:35.325
And so I think there's this tension here

07:35.325 --> 07:38.125
where you have some folks that see reparative justice work

07:38.305 --> 07:40.485
as land return, as decolonization.

07:40.545 --> 07:43.605
And the other side, you have folks that, see these kind

07:43.605 --> 07:47.125
of, you know, these slower changes to institutions

07:47.305 --> 07:51.125
and society, and that that is reparative justice

07:51.345 --> 07:53.085
or, you know, that these changes are part

07:53.085 --> 07:54.645
of this reparative justice process.

07:55.545 --> 07:57.645
And, you know, often you have these folks

07:57.645 --> 08:00.765
that are working side by side within these institutions.

08:01.265 --> 08:03.685
And so this is something that we are really keen to,

08:03.705 --> 08:05.005
to understand, and especially

08:05.005 --> 08:08.725
because a lot of the literature in the theory, you know,

08:08.725 --> 08:12.365
when, when decolonization is talked about in a settler

08:12.525 --> 08:15.405
colonial context, it seems to be a real dead end that,

08:15.465 --> 08:17.845
you know, how how do we then, move forward

08:18.495 --> 08:19.765
short of land return?

08:19.985 --> 08:22.525
And so in the United States and Canada, is there no path,

08:22.945 --> 08:26.405
you know, short of land return to enact some sort

08:26.405 --> 08:28.525
of reparative justice, social justice work?

08:28.825 --> 08:31.325
And so certainly there are educators that, think

08:31.325 --> 08:34.125
otherwise and are trying to do that work, you know,

08:34.125 --> 08:37.245
despite calls for decolonization and land return.

08:37.675 --> 08:39.845
Yeah. So this comparative case study,

08:39.985 --> 08:41.485
we really looked at two things.

08:41.545 --> 08:45.845
So we analyzed, standards, so formal education,

08:45.945 --> 08:49.325
the standards that are, passed by,

08:49.585 --> 08:51.245
the respective legislatures

08:51.305 --> 08:53.645
and then, enacted in classrooms.

08:54.105 --> 08:56.085
And so these are really lists of things

08:56.195 --> 08:57.365
that should be taught and

08:57.365 --> 08:59.165
how they should be taught in both states.

08:59.905 --> 09:02.405
And we then also did key informant interviews

09:02.405 --> 09:04.725
with educators, both in schools

09:04.985 --> 09:07.885
and departments of education, and then in museum spaces

09:08.025 --> 09:09.645
and some folks that are working in this space,

09:09.645 --> 09:11.805
but outside of these formal institutions.

09:12.785 --> 09:15.845
And so when it came to the standards, we really looked at,

09:16.085 --> 09:17.805
I mean, we did look at the standards,

09:17.835 --> 09:20.685
from kindergarten all the way to grade 12,

09:20.685 --> 09:23.485
but we focused for this article specifically on

09:23.485 --> 09:24.885
grades four through eight.

09:24.945 --> 09:28.005
So a little elementary, a little middle school in both,

09:28.085 --> 09:29.125
Manitoba and Minnesota.

09:29.545 --> 09:32.245
And the reason for that is this is, you know,

09:32.665 --> 09:34.885
things get a little more complicated in high school

09:34.885 --> 09:36.205
where students have more choice.

09:36.665 --> 09:38.565
Um, but when we talk about fourth to eighth grade,

09:38.665 --> 09:40.885
we can be relatively sure that every school,

09:41.015 --> 09:42.445
every student in Minnesota

09:42.465 --> 09:44.645
and Manitoba, you know, is,

09:44.665 --> 09:46.925
is enacting these standards, as written.

09:47.705 --> 09:50.565
And so it's, it's interesting looking at the differences

09:51.045 --> 09:52.045
Minnesota's standards.

09:52.185 --> 09:54.885
Uh, we're looking specifically at social studies standards,

09:54.885 --> 09:59.005
but Minnesota's standards were written in 2011,

09:59.165 --> 10:00.765
Manitoba in 2003.

10:01.145 --> 10:03.925
And there are mark marked differences between the two.

10:04.145 --> 10:08.885
So, Minnesota, they're really focused, the,

10:08.905 --> 10:12.565
the social studies education is really focused on the

10:12.565 --> 10:15.525
disciplines that comprise the social sciences history,

10:16.045 --> 10:17.965
geography, economics.

10:17.965 --> 10:20.085
And so even at that young age,

10:20.085 --> 10:22.845
they're broken into these, these different disciplines.

10:23.225 --> 10:26.565
And Manitoba, there's really more of a, you know, kind

10:26.565 --> 10:29.325
of an inclusive emphasis on social studies

10:29.865 --> 10:33.565
and really with an aim at developing citizens,

10:33.785 --> 10:35.365
so citizenship education

10:35.425 --> 10:38.045
and less so in Minnesota, the citizenship piece.

10:38.665 --> 10:43.325
Um, and so in Minnesota we find that these standards,

10:43.465 --> 10:47.365
we looked at, you know, indigenous,

10:48.715 --> 10:51.255
in coverage of indigenous issues, so history

10:51.275 --> 10:55.655
and contemporary realities, pre and post 1900

10:56.435 --> 10:57.615
and so in, in Minnesota.

10:57.615 --> 11:00.935
And we picked that date, 1900 to think about,

11:00.935 --> 11:03.575
the idea that often in settler colonial societies,

11:03.575 --> 11:06.815
we think about indigenous peoples as existing in the past

11:06.915 --> 11:08.375
and not in the contemporary.

11:08.715 --> 11:10.655
And so we thought this would be an interesting date

11:10.685 --> 11:11.735
then to, to use.

11:12.235 --> 11:14.535
And indeed, we found that in Minnesota,

11:14.535 --> 11:17.215
roughly two thirds of the standards are pre

11:17.215 --> 11:20.335
that cover indigenous issues are pre 1900 and about a third

11:20.395 --> 11:23.175
or post 1900 in Canada.

11:23.775 --> 11:27.615
Interestingly, in Manitoba it's about 50 50, so 50% pre

11:27.635 --> 11:29.495
and 50% post 1900.

11:30.315 --> 11:34.755
Um, and yeah,

11:34.775 --> 11:36.555
so there is more coverage,

11:36.655 --> 11:39.755
but there's also then more contemporary coverage

11:39.755 --> 11:40.955
of contemporary issues.

11:41.175 --> 11:43.275
And so in Minnesota, often

11:43.795 --> 11:45.835
students encounter indigenous peoples, the Dakota

11:45.855 --> 11:49.035
and the Anishinaabe in the past, whereas in Canada,

11:49.185 --> 11:52.795
they are, students are presumably getting some education

11:52.795 --> 11:54.245
around contemporary issues.

11:54.825 --> 11:57.805
Um, and certainly the, the TRC, the Truth

11:57.805 --> 12:00.405
and Reconciliation Commission is called for even more of

12:00.405 --> 12:03.165
that for students to understand the contemporary realities,

12:03.305 --> 12:05.085
within Manitoba, within Canada.

12:05.795 --> 12:08.845
Yeah. And so we look at the interviews that we did with,

12:08.995 --> 12:10.205
educational actors.

12:10.705 --> 12:12.205
Um, it's interesting.

12:12.205 --> 12:15.245
There are, especially indigenous folks that we interviewed,

12:15.255 --> 12:19.005
there are folks that talk about, ultimately the goals

12:19.185 --> 12:22.285
of their work or the goal of their work is decolonization,

12:22.785 --> 12:25.645
and there's this real focus on land and land return.

12:25.865 --> 12:28.045
And we don't see that so much perhaps in practice,

12:28.145 --> 12:29.245
but they would articulate

12:29.245 --> 12:32.565
that their overall goal is land return,

12:32.745 --> 12:33.885
is decolonization.

12:34.425 --> 12:38.125
And often we do hear these folks talk about trying

12:38.145 --> 12:42.165
to indigenize, spaces, so, you know,

12:42.265 --> 12:45.005
can we indigenize classroom spaces or curricula?

12:45.625 --> 12:48.125
And you know, on the other side, when we talk to,

12:48.375 --> 12:49.765
especially non-indigenous,

12:49.945 --> 12:53.805
but certainly some indigenous, educational actors,

12:53.805 --> 12:57.445
there's a real emphasis on partnership, emerges,

12:57.625 --> 12:58.885
from these interviews.

12:59.425 --> 13:01.205
And, you know, especially in museums

13:01.205 --> 13:03.005
where maybe there wasn't so much a partnership

13:03.005 --> 13:05.885
with indigenous communities in the past, there's, you know,

13:05.885 --> 13:07.965
with the Canadian Museum for Human Rights

13:07.965 --> 13:09.685
or the Minnesota Historical Society,

13:09.685 --> 13:12.085
which controls Fort Snelling, this, you know,

13:12.325 --> 13:13.805
emphasis on partnering with,

13:13.855 --> 13:15.525
local indigenous communities.

13:16.065 --> 13:19.125
Um, there's also a really interesting emphasis on,

13:19.125 --> 13:20.405
especially in museum spaces,

13:20.505 --> 13:24.165
but also in in curricula as well, in naming genocide.

13:24.345 --> 13:25.365
So let's recognize

13:25.425 --> 13:28.605
and, you know, maybe a, a nod towards truth telling to name

13:29.195 --> 13:31.045
this history as genocide,

13:31.045 --> 13:32.725
and typically the history less

13:32.745 --> 13:35.165
so the present realities as genocide.

13:35.665 --> 13:38.525
Um, despite pushback from the larger societies,

13:38.525 --> 13:39.525
both in Manitoba

13:39.525 --> 13:41.205
and in Minnesota, there has been pushback

13:41.205 --> 13:44.445
for these institutions taking up the term genocide,

13:44.465 --> 13:47.965
but both firmly use the term genocide today.

13:48.585 --> 13:52.005
Um, and I think it's, you know, interesting, you know,

13:52.005 --> 13:54.365
talking to, you know, these educational actors,

13:54.475 --> 13:56.925
both the folks that are working with the ultimate goal

13:56.925 --> 13:58.725
of perhaps or articulating their ultimate

13:58.725 --> 13:59.765
goal as land return.

14:00.345 --> 14:03.525
Um, and other folks talk about the idea

14:03.525 --> 14:06.245
of co-opting these institutions to do good.

14:06.585 --> 14:09.605
And so there is this notion that kind of cuts across that,

14:09.905 --> 14:12.325
these institutions, museum spaces

14:12.545 --> 14:14.805
and formal curricula could be co-opted

14:14.825 --> 14:17.725
to do some good within a settler colonial society.

14:18.685 --> 14:20.245
I guess in, in Minnesota,

14:20.585 --> 14:22.965
the way indigenous peoples are framed,

14:23.105 --> 14:26.085
not only are are we discussing them more in the past

14:26.265 --> 14:28.845
and less in the present, but there's also this real deficit

14:29.195 --> 14:32.045
view, or what we term a deficit view.

14:32.065 --> 14:34.725
And the idea that the way the standards are written,

14:34.725 --> 14:36.645
which I think does influence how

14:37.165 --> 14:40.845
teachers would talk about this history in classrooms,

14:41.795 --> 14:43.685
that native peoples are seen as victims,

14:44.385 --> 14:46.045
and that's often how they're framed.

14:46.045 --> 14:49.005
Whereas in Canada, interestingly, in Manitoba,

14:49.005 --> 14:50.685
there's, more of an

14:50.845 --> 14:55.045
Approach towards maybe celebrating the indigenous,

14:55.645 --> 14:59.125
contributions to the, the creation of present day Canada.

14:59.785 --> 15:02.005
And so rather than the victims of history

15:02.005 --> 15:04.485
and colonization, there's this kind of celebration

15:04.485 --> 15:06.765
of the ways in which indigenous peoples in Canada have

15:06.765 --> 15:10.045
contributed to the contemporary Canadian state

15:10.105 --> 15:12.045
and contemporary Canadian society.

15:12.865 --> 15:16.125
Um, and so I think those are two big differences between,

15:16.585 --> 15:18.805
the two and how they appear in the standards.

15:19.265 --> 15:20.925
Uh, you know, from my perspective, you know,

15:20.925 --> 15:22.445
I think many people would say yes, right?

15:22.445 --> 15:24.045
Yeah. And, you know, certainly our findings could

15:24.045 --> 15:25.125
support that conclusion.

15:25.425 --> 15:27.725
But I think, you know, I,

15:27.965 --> 15:30.405
I think Canada's maybe further along in these kind

15:30.405 --> 15:33.245
of social justice discourses than the United States,

15:33.305 --> 15:35.765
and perhaps that's a, a, a bad way to look at this

15:35.905 --> 15:37.445
as some sort of, you know,

15:37.765 --> 15:40.205
teleological approach towards, you know, whatever.

15:40.225 --> 15:44.515
But I think, you know, I, the way I understand it,

15:44.655 --> 15:45.715
and you know, critiques

15:45.715 --> 15:48.235
that I've heard from indigenous folks both in Canada here

15:48.375 --> 15:49.915
and here in the United States, is

15:49.915 --> 15:51.915
that this is just settler colonialism Yeah.

15:52.155 --> 15:54.755
Shifting strategically with every generation.

15:55.295 --> 15:57.555
Um, and so we become more progressive.

15:57.615 --> 15:59.955
We use the term genocide to label this violence,

16:00.215 --> 16:02.635
but, you know, I think those labels do very little to,

16:03.055 --> 16:05.235
or, you know, upset power relations.

16:05.535 --> 16:09.435
And yeah. So our conclusions, we, we really,

16:09.435 --> 16:10.755
you know, are interested in this question

16:10.755 --> 16:13.475
of is Canada more progressive than the United States?

16:13.575 --> 16:15.835
And, you know, are they further along in this journey

16:15.905 --> 16:18.355
towards reparative or of reparative justice?

16:19.135 --> 16:23.475
And, you know, I think certainly our findings show

16:23.505 --> 16:26.635
that Canada is moving in a direction

16:26.635 --> 16:28.395
that the United States has yet to move.

16:28.455 --> 16:30.035
So if we think about the TRC

16:30.095 --> 16:31.115
and we think about some

16:31.115 --> 16:33.675
of the ways in which indigenous peoples have been framed in

16:33.675 --> 16:35.475
museum spaces and standards,

16:35.735 --> 16:38.275
Canada certainly does seem more progressive.

16:38.815 --> 16:43.035
Um, but I think also we, you know, the authors, we recognize

16:43.225 --> 16:47.475
that, you know, this, this might be,

16:47.615 --> 16:51.715
simply settler colonialism, you know, shifting strategically

16:51.715 --> 16:52.915
with each generation.

16:53.055 --> 16:56.355
And so, you know, naming things genocide, you know,

16:56.355 --> 16:58.835
in the Canadian Museum for Human Rights may seem

16:59.235 --> 17:01.835
progressive, but you know, these labels,

17:01.895 --> 17:04.355
and some of the efforts that we've seen around curricula

17:04.375 --> 17:07.715
and other efforts in museum spaces do very little

17:07.855 --> 17:09.235
to actually unseat

17:09.235 --> 17:13.645
or upset current power relations within either state,

17:13.865 --> 17:15.205
within either context.

17:16.025 --> 17:20.365
And so I think we're, you know, we return to, you know,

17:20.365 --> 17:24.005
this, this, tension, this paradox of, of repair.

17:24.545 --> 17:27.955
And, but I do think we end the piece with this kind

17:27.955 --> 17:30.395
of hopeful note that, there are folks

17:30.425 --> 17:31.995
that are laboring in these spaces,

17:32.105 --> 17:33.795
both indigenous and non-indigenous.

17:34.495 --> 17:39.315
And we also recognize that, you know, that naming,

17:40.715 --> 17:44.475
violence as genocide, building awareness of this,

17:44.545 --> 17:47.995
history and the contemporary realities in both contexts is

17:47.995 --> 17:49.715
important and could be seen

17:49.715 --> 17:51.915
as an important step towards a better future.

00:00 - This study looks at reparative justice in, Manitoba, Canada and Minnesota in the United States. And we think about reparative or restorative justice as addressing past harms. So it's efforts, it's thinking about and efforts towards addressing past harms in society.

00:21 - And we're specifically looking at, education and thinking about not only addressing those past harms through education, but also the legacies of those past harms in the violence that was perpetrated. And, we both in Canada and in the United States and Minnesota and Manitoba, we are thinking about indigenous genocide or genocide perpetrated against indigenous peoples in both societies. And, you know, this has long been, under

00:49 - recognized in both Canada and the United States. And we, you know, are, are part of, you know, this group of scholars who are trying to bring recognition to this, these past events. And, we're interested in how public education specifically, can address these harms. And so that's how we think about reparative justice. I guess in terms of motivation for this work, I'm coming from Minnesota

01:15 - and, we're just just south of Canada, and we often hear the narrative that Canada is far more progressive, or Manitoba. The province in Canada that's just north of Minnesota is far more progressive than Minnesota in terms of addressing these histories and legacies of mass violence. And I think we were really interested in exploring that question. Is Canada more progressive, in terms of their approach to addressing these things?

01:40 - And certainly we're aware of in the United States and in Minnesota, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in Canada, and we don't really have anything comparable in the United States as a nation or even in, in Minnesota as a state. And so we took this as, as a starting point, to think about the ways in which perhaps the truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada has advanced reparative justice, especially in education.

02:03 - Yeah. So we're focused, largely on the province of Manitoba and the state of Minnesota, but we use in the article, you know, two even more local, sites to kind of explore this history of dispossession and genocide, and then ultimately work that's being done around reparative justice. And so we're focused on, Minneapolis and St. Paul, and specifically we talk about beddoe, which is the confluence.

02:30 - So it's the Dakota term for the confluence of the Minnesota and Mississippi rivers. And it's right in the center of these two bustling cities now, Minneapolis and St. Paul. And this was for, you know, generations, a site of indigenous, activity. it was a cultural site. It was a commercial site for, the Dakota and the Anishinaabe. And it then, you know, unsurprisingly becomes a site

02:57 - of commercial and cultural activity for early settlers who settled the region. It still is a site for both of those things today. And, at, at one point there was a fort built there, Fort Snelling. and there's still the, the remains of Fort Snelling on this site. And so, this fort, importantly for us, in 1862, hosted a concentration camp for Dakota men, women, and, and children, who were, sent there

03:27 - after a, a really brief war in Minnesota, the US Dakota War in 1862. they were about 1800 individuals were sent to this concentration camp at Fort Snelling. And, before they were exiled from the state, ultimately the following year. And so we kind of framed this, Bodo as a, a genesis for the, you know, for the Dakota people, but also the site of their genocide as well. and then we look at a very,

03:56 - similar site in Manitoba. it's called naia, and it is the confluence of two rivers again, here, the red and the Asbo rivers. And, this very similar to Beddoe has been a meeting place for the Cree, the Anishinaabe, the Dakota peoples that lived in Manitoba. And so it was a center, very similar similarly of commercial and cultural activity. And, also then a, a site of early settler activity.

04:26 - And it remains the center of the bustling city of Winnipeg today. And it's, been renamed or rebranded, the Forks. so thinking of these two rivers. And, it's also a site of the Canadian Museum for Human Rights, which is a national museum, but not located in Ottawa, the Capitol, but, located in Winnipeg. And so it's interesting that this site exploring human rights and indeed genocide is located,

04:53 - this museum is located on this site. Yeah. So there is a small but growing, body of work around education and reparation or reparative justice, and a lot of this is focused outside of the United States and Canada. and so for instance, there's, quite a bit of this literature focused on Rwanda, and so how education can serve as a vehicle, both for and as reparative justice after the Randan genocide.

05:20 - And, and so, we are looking at some of that literature certainly, but we're interested in, you know, how can we think about reparative justice within a settler colonial nation state? And there's been very little work done looking at settler colonial nation states and education. And so I think that's, you know, a gap that we hope to situate this study within. Yeah, so we, what we term the paradox

05:45 - of repair is this tension that exists in education. and when we talk about education, we're not just talking about K 12 education, you know, elementary and secondary education, but We think, think about education a little more broadly, and we're looking at museum spaces, and especially, institutions like departments of education in states like Minnesota or provinces like Manitoba that, have some control over what happens in classrooms.

06:12 - I guess perhaps for an international audience. you know, the, the education in both Canada and the United States is incredibly decentralized. And so a lot of these decisions are made by, you know, what to teach and how to teach. These decisions are made by individual classroom educators. but there is some influence coming from these outside organizations, especially museum spaces, departments of education. And, but when we think about this paradox of repair,

06:39 - we think about this tension that exists between folks that are talking about reparative justice, and often these are indigenous folks that are thinking about decolonization and especially land return. And so they think about this idea that, reparative justice is land return, is decolonization. And I think on the other side of this, there are folks that are laboring in this space, some indigenous, but often non-indigenous, educators that think about,

07:08 - reparative justice. As you know, these changes to society changes to institutions that are about inclusion. So including indigenous voices or including other voices, marginalized communities into these spaces and into, into the work and into these discussions. And, often focused on things like diversity and multiculturalism and inclusion. And so I think there's this tension here

07:35 - where you have some folks that see reparative justice work as land return, as decolonization. And the other side, you have folks that, see these kind of, you know, these slower changes to institutions and society, and that that is reparative justice or, you know, that these changes are part of this reparative justice process. And, you know, often you have these folks that are working side by side within these institutions. And so this is something that we are really keen to,

08:03 - to understand, and especially because a lot of the literature in the theory, you know, when, when decolonization is talked about in a settler colonial context, it seems to be a real dead end that, you know, how how do we then, move forward short of land return? And so in the United States and Canada, is there no path, you know, short of land return to enact some sort of reparative justice, social justice work? And so certainly there are educators that, think

08:31 - otherwise and are trying to do that work, you know, despite calls for decolonization and land return. Yeah. So this comparative case study, we really looked at two things. So we analyzed, standards, so formal education, the standards that are, passed by, the respective legislatures and then, enacted in classrooms. And so these are really lists of things that should be taught and

08:57 - how they should be taught in both states. And we then also did key informant interviews with educators, both in schools and departments of education, and then in museum spaces and some folks that are working in this space, but outside of these formal institutions. And so when it came to the standards, we really looked at, I mean, we did look at the standards, from kindergarten all the way to grade 12, but we focused for this article specifically on

09:23 - grades four through eight. So a little elementary, a little middle school in both, Manitoba and Minnesota. And the reason for that is this is, you know, things get a little more complicated in high school where students have more choice. but when we talk about fourth to eighth grade, we can be relatively sure that every school, every student in Minnesota and Manitoba, you know, is,

09:44 - is enacting these standards, as written. And so it's, it's interesting looking at the differences Minnesota's standards. we're looking specifically at social studies standards, but Minnesota's standards were written in 2011, Manitoba in 2003. And there are mark marked differences between the two. So, Minnesota, they're really focused, the, the social studies education is really focused on the disciplines that comprise the social sciences history,

10:16 - geography, economics. And so even at that young age, they're broken into these, these different disciplines. And Manitoba, there's really more of a, you know, kind of an inclusive emphasis on social studies and really with an aim at developing citizens, so citizenship education and less so in Minnesota, the citizenship piece. and so in Minnesota we find that these standards, we looked at, you know, indigenous,

10:48 - in coverage of indigenous issues, so history and contemporary realities, pre and post 1900 and so in, in Minnesota. And we picked that date, 1900 to think about, the idea that often in settler colonial societies, we think about indigenous peoples as existing in the past and not in the contemporary. And so we thought this would be an interesting date then to, to use. And indeed, we found that in Minnesota,

11:14 - roughly two thirds of the standards are pre that cover indigenous issues are pre 1900 and about a third or post 1900 in Canada. Interestingly, in Manitoba it's about 50 50, so 50% pre and 50% post 1900. and yeah, so there is more coverage, but there's also then more contemporary coverage of contemporary issues. And so in Minnesota, often

11:43 - students encounter indigenous peoples, the Dakota and the Anishinaabe in the past, whereas in Canada, they are, students are presumably getting some education around contemporary issues. and certainly the, the TRC, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission is called for even more of that for students to understand the contemporary realities, within Manitoba, within Canada. Yeah. And so we look at the interviews that we did with, educational actors.

12:10 - it's interesting. There are, especially indigenous folks that we interviewed, there are folks that talk about, ultimately the goals of their work or the goal of their work is decolonization, and there's this real focus on land and land return. And we don't see that so much perhaps in practice, but they would articulate that their overall goal is land return, is decolonization. And often we do hear these folks talk about trying

12:38 - to indigenize, spaces, so, you know, can we indigenize classroom spaces or curricula? And you know, on the other side, when we talk to, especially non-indigenous, but certainly some indigenous, educational actors, there's a real emphasis on partnership, emerges, from these interviews. And, you know, especially in museums where maybe there wasn't so much a partnership with indigenous communities in the past, there's, you know,

13:05 - with the Canadian Museum for Human Rights or the Minnesota Historical Society, which controls Fort Snelling, this, you know, emphasis on partnering with, local indigenous communities. there's also a really interesting emphasis on, especially in museum spaces, but also in in curricula as well, in naming genocide. So let's recognize and, you know, maybe a, a nod towards truth telling to name

13:29 - this history as genocide, and typically the history less so the present realities as genocide. despite pushback from the larger societies, both in Manitoba and in Minnesota, there has been pushback for these institutions taking up the term genocide, but both firmly use the term genocide today. and I think it's, you know, interesting, you know, talking to, you know, these educational actors,

13:54 - both the folks that are working with the ultimate goal of perhaps or articulating their ultimate goal as land return. and other folks talk about the idea of co-opting these institutions to do good. And so there is this notion that kind of cuts across that, these institutions, museum spaces and formal curricula could be co-opted to do some good within a settler colonial society. I guess in, in Minnesota,

14:20 - the way indigenous peoples are framed, not only are are we discussing them more in the past and less in the present, but there's also this real deficit view, or what we term a deficit view. And the idea that the way the standards are written, which I think does influence how teachers would talk about this history in classrooms, that native peoples are seen as victims, and that's often how they're framed. Whereas in Canada, interestingly, in Manitoba,

14:49 - there's, more of an Approach towards maybe celebrating the indigenous, contributions to the, the creation of present day Canada. And so rather than the victims of history and colonization, there's this kind of celebration of the ways in which indigenous peoples in Canada have contributed to the contemporary Canadian state and contemporary Canadian society. and so I think those are two big differences between, the two and how they appear in the standards.

15:19 - you know, from my perspective, you know, I think many people would say yes, right? Yeah. And, you know, certainly our findings could support that conclusion. But I think, you know, I, I think Canada's maybe further along in these kind of social justice discourses than the United States, and perhaps that's a, a, a bad way to look at this as some sort of, you know, teleological approach towards, you know, whatever.

15:40 - But I think, you know, I, the way I understand it, and you know, critiques that I've heard from indigenous folks both in Canada here and here in the United States, is that this is just settler colonialism Yeah. Shifting strategically with every generation. and so we become more progressive. We use the term genocide to label this violence, but, you know, I think those labels do very little to, or, you know, upset power relations.

16:05 - And yeah. So our conclusions, we, we really, you know, are interested in this question of is Canada more progressive than the United States? And, you know, are they further along in this journey towards reparative or of reparative justice? And, you know, I think certainly our findings show that Canada is moving in a direction that the United States has yet to move. So if we think about the TRC and we think about some

16:31 - of the ways in which indigenous peoples have been framed in museum spaces and standards, Canada certainly does seem more progressive. but I think also we, you know, the authors, we recognize that, you know, this, this might be, simply settler colonialism, you know, shifting strategically with each generation. And so, you know, naming things genocide, you know, in the Canadian Museum for Human Rights may seem progressive, but you know, these labels,

17:01 - and some of the efforts that we've seen around curricula and other efforts in museum spaces do very little to actually unseat or upset current power relations within either state, within either context. And so I think we're, you know, we return to, you know, this, this, tension, this paradox of, of repair. And, but I do think we end the piece with this kind of hopeful note that, there are folks that are laboring in these spaces,

17:32 - both indigenous and non-indigenous. And we also recognize that, you know, that naming, violence as genocide, building awareness of this, history and the contemporary realities in both contexts is important and could be seen as an important step towards a better future.

Faculti AI can make mistakes