New Open Course: Learning from Knowledge Keepers of Mi’kma’ki

MIKM 2701: Free, Indigenous Course for January 2016

Course Description

On June 2, 2015, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada released its executive summary based on a 6-year process of understanding the lasting legacies of the historical and intergenerational traumas inflicted on Indigenous peoples in Canada through the residential school system. A number of the 94 recommendations put forward called for institutions of higher education to work with Indigenous peoples to start to incorporate Indigenous knowledge and ways of learning through the eyes of traditional knowledge keepers and Elders into the curriculum, and to put a significant focus on enhancing intercultural learning and understanding. This course responds to this call, and endeavours to create the foundation for a permanent and required course offering for students at Cape Breton University, as well as the interested public, to learn about the rich cultures, ceremonies, history, knowledge, ways of knowing, and wisdom of Mi’kmaq peoples in Unama’ki and Mi’kma’ki.   Join and share in the experience with course facilitator, Stephen Augustine, Dean of Unama’ki College and Aboriginal Learning and Hereditary Chief on the Mi’kmaq Grand Council, for this exciting introduction to Mi’kmaq history, culture, and ways of knowing, while learning about the meaning and context of Treaties and answer the calls from the Truth & Reconciliation Commission. Topics covered will include the Mi’kmaq Creation story, oral history and traditions, Indigenous governance, the ongoing legacies of residential schools, the impacts of the Truth & Reconciliation Commission, and moving from challenges to strengths and resilience within Mi’kmaq communities.

Course Structure

This course will be run through a dialogical approach to allow for participant engagement and to resonate with indigenous ways of teaching and learning. Each class will be live webcasted, and then archived online, to increase the accessibility and opportunity for participants to join from a variety of locations. Students wanting to receive course credits will be required to submit assignments for grading. Participants can engage with this course through several avenues:

1. As a for-credit in-class CBU course, which would require course registration & completion of academic assignments

2. As an interested participant, open to all CBU students, staff, faculty, and the general public. With RSVP (see below)

3. As an open-access, online course, through live-streaming technologies (for credit options available with registration)

Tentative Outline

Week 1: The Mi’kmaq Creation Story: A Philosophy of Life

Week 2: History and Treaties in Mi’kma’ki

Week 3: Oral History, Traditions, and Ways of Knowing

Week 4: Walking the Medicine Wheel & Four Directions Teachings

Week 5: It’s All About the Land

Week 6: The Legacies of Residential Schools

Week 7: Understanding the Truth & Reconciliation Commission

Week 8: From Challenges to Strengths & Resilience

Week 9: Reconnecting Our Youth to Their Traditional Heritage

Week 10: Indigenous Governance for the Future

Week 11: Indigenizing the University

Week 12: Concluding Thoughts: Moving Forward with Reconciliation

Date & Time

Mondays, from 6:00-8:30pm

Start Date

January 11th. It will go for the regular 12 weeks, with the break for reading week, February 15-19.

MIKM 2701 Brochure (For Download)

Course Registration

If you are taking this as a for-credit CBU course with academic assignments, please register with the registrar’s office. http://www.cbu.ca/come-to-cbu/admissions/registration-information/

If you are taking this course for free as an interested participant, open to all CBU students, staff, faculty, and the general public, please register below: