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Creative Research as Story-Telling: An Indigenous visual culture course from the perspectives of a librarian, a professor and students

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 November 2020

Howard Munroe  and
Daniel Payne
Howard Munroe
Affiliation:
Assistant Professor & Chair, Industrial Design Faculty of Design, OCAD University 100 McCaul Street Toronto, OntarioCanadaM5T 1W1 Email: hmunroe@faculty.ocadu.ca
Daniel Payne
Affiliation:
Head, Reference & Instructional Services Dorothy H. Hoover Library, OCAD University 100 McCaul Street Toronto, OntarioCanadaM5T 1W1 Email: dpayne@ocadu.ca
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Abstract

Located on Treaty #13 (Toronto Purchase) territory, OCAD University offers an Indigenous Visual Culture (INVC) program that leads to a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree or an interdisciplinary minor. The curriculum combines courses in the cultural, social and political history of Indigenous peoples, preparing students to engage in global discourses in contemporary art practice through a profound understanding of story-telling as the foundation of visual culture.

A narrative framework is used to present an information literacy interaction with an INVC course from the perspectives of a librarian from the Canadian settler population and an assistant professor, who is a member of the Métis Indigenous nation. Research and evaluation models are presented; ones that emerged from traditional information literacy concepts informed and transformed by Indigenous knowledge systems. Finally, student learning outcomes from the course are presented through an exhibition of artworks and artist statements that display their visual story-telling skills.

Type
Research Article
Information
Art Libraries Journal , Volume 45 , Issue 4 , October 2020 , pp. 128 - 142
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of ARLIS

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References

1. “Indigenous Visual Culture,” OCAD University, https://www.ocadu.ca/academics/undergraduate-studies/indigenous-visual-culture

2. “Anishinaabemowin: Ojibwe Language,” The Canadian Encyclopedia, https://thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/anishinaabemowin-ojibwe-language

Anishinaabemowin is part of the Central Algonquian language family, which is a group of closely-related Indigenous languages (such as Ojibwe, Odawa, Potawatomi, Cree, Menominee, Sauk, Fox and Shawnee) with similar sounds, words and features. The word Anishinaabeg (plural form) can be used to represent the concept of Indigeneity or a distinct Indigenous identity as a nationality. The singular version used for individuals is Anishinaabe.

3. Duarte, Marisa E. and Belarde-Lewis, Miranda, “Imagining: Creating Spaces for Indigenous Ontologies.” Cataloging & Classification Quarterly 53, no. 5–6 (2015): 679CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

4. Métis peoples view their heritage as emanating from both Indigenous and European cultures, not as separate lineages but as a fusion that has created a distinctly new identity. This is most directly represented by the Métis language, Michif, that blends linguistic characteristics from Anishinaabemowin and the French language. The course description describes the Métis as a distinct Indigenous people with “a unique history, culture, language and territory whose struggle to assert their collective identity helped define Canada's nationhood.” They are one of the three recognised Indigenous peoples in Canada, along with the Inuit and First Nations (peoples that have signed treaties with the Government of Canada). To be acknowledged as Métis, a person must: a) self-identify as Métis; b) have an ancestral connection to a historic Métis community; and c) be accepted by a contemporary community that exists in continuity with a historic rights-bearing community.

Adam Gudry, “Métis,” The Canadian Encylopedia, Historica Canada, last modified September 11, 2019, www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/metis

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8. Gordon Hughes, “Coming into Sight: Seeing Robert Delauney's Structure of Vision,” October no. 102, (Fall 2002): 90. Also, Rosalind E. Krauss, The Optical Unconscious (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1993).

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11. Duarte and Belarde-Lewis, 679.

12. “OCAD University Academic Plan: Transforming Student Experience, 2017–2022,” OCAD University, www.ocadu.ca/sites/default/files/legacy_assets/content/governance/Academic-Plan-2017.pdf

13. Zina O'Leary,“Deductive/inductive reasoning,” The Social Science Jargon-Buster (London: Sage UK, 2007), https://search.credoreference.com; also see: “How do I Research?” Dorothy H. Hoover Library, OCAD University, http://ocad.libguides.com/HowToResearch

14. Linda Besner, “In Their Own Words: The Fight to Preserve the Cree Language,” The Walrus 13, no. 2 (March 2016): 39.

15. Ibid.

16. James Niigaanwewidam Sinclair, “K'zaugin: Storying Ourselves,” Centering Anishinaabeg Studies: Understanding the World through Stories (Winnipeg: University of Manitoba Press, 2013), 87.

17. Noam Chomsky, Language and Mind (Cambridge University Press, 2006), 93.

18. Anton Antonov, “Loan Verb Integration in Michif.” Journal of Language Contact 12, no. 1 (2019): 27.

19. Tanya Talaga, All our Relations: Finding the Path Forward (Toronto: Anansi Press, 2018).

20. Jack Elliott, email message to authors, May 6, 2020. See also, Jack Elliott, “Hivernant Buffalo Hunters and Hide Workers in the Cypress Hills,” Virtual Museum of Metis History and Culture, Gabriel Dumont Institute of Native Studies and Applied Research, 2014, www.metismuseum.ca/resource.php/14934.

21. “asin,” The Ojibwe People's Dictionary, Department of American Indian Studies, University of Minnesota, University Libraries, https://ojibwe.lib.umn.edu

22. Heather Conn, “Powley Case,” The Canadian Encyclopedia, Historica Canada, last modified December 3, 2018, www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/powley-case

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25. Garneau, David, “Necessary Objects,” Canadian Art 36, no. 3 (2019): 172Google Scholar.

26. Nurming-Por, Yasmin, “DEEP TIME,” Canadian Art 35, no. 3 (2018): 111Google Scholar.

27. Gaudet, Janice Cindy, “Keeoukaywin: The Visiting Way - Fostering an Indigenous Research Methodology,” APS – Aboriginal Policy Studies 3, no.2 (2019): 49Google Scholar. https://journals.library.ualberta.ca/aps/index.php/aps/article/view/29336/pdf

28. Howard Munroe has used the seven principles to inform a design process model; further research in this area is currently underway with the potential of publishing his results.