Overview

Indigegogy is a term coined by Dr. Stan Wilson, a Cree Elder and Educator. Indigegogy weaves together Indigenous (First Nations, Métis, and Inuit) knowledges, literature, and scholarship centred on land-based education. Indigegogy engages Indigenous methodologies and practices to uplift language, traditional teachings, and ceremonies. It is a decolonizing practice that builds on the resurgence of Indigenous ways of knowing, being, teaching, and learning.

Indigegogy foundationally integrates culture, spirit, and language within its curriculum, emphasizes land-based and place-based kiskinohamakewin (education), and integrates Indigenous knowledge systems and relationality, particularly through the lens of wâhkotowin (the interconnectedness of all life). Understanding First Nations, Métis, and Inuit identities is rooted in Indigenous ways of being and knowing, shaping how we understand the world. The minor focuses on the recovery, revitalization, preservation, and protection of Indigenous knowledges.

The Indigegogy Minor takes a multidisciplinary approach grounded in Indigenous ways of knowing and is available to students in eligible degree programs. Students in the Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Science must complete 18 credits in senior-level courses, including at least 6 credits at the 300- or 400-level. Students in other degree programs may count INDG 100 in place of one course from the “Choose 12 credits” list and must therefore complete 15 credits in senior-level courses, including at least 6 credits at the 300- or 400-level.

Course List

Code	Title	Credits
Minor Requirements
Choose 3 credits (1 course) from the following:		3
INDG 250	Introduction to Indigenous Peoples in Canada
ANTH 250	Introduction to Indigenous Peoples in Canada
INTD 250	Introduction to Indigenous Perspectives
Choose 3 credits (1 course) from the following:		3
INDG 340	Indigeneity in Canada
ANTH 340	Indigeneity in Canada
Choose 12 credits from the following, with a minimum of six credits from INDG 1		12
ARTE 277	North American Indigenous Art History
ENGL 377	Studies in Indigenous Literature
GEND 319	Indigenous and Anti-Colonial Feminisms
HIST 369	First Nations and Canada
INDG 200	Indigenous Relationality and Sustainability
INDG 260	Introduction to Treaty
INDG 300	Reconciling Indigenous Knowledge Systems in Contemporary Social Contexts
INDG 320	Indian Residential Schools
INDG 330	Métis Culture, Heritage, and History in Canada
INDG 350	Critical Indigenous Methodologies
INDG 355	Indigenous Land-Based Learning
INDG 398	Independent Study
INDG 460	Treaty Relationships
INDG 485	Beaded Sexualities
INDG 497	Topics in Indigenous Studies
INDG 498	Advanced Independent Study
INTA 362	First Peoples and The Arts
NEHI 201	Intermediate nêhiyawêwin/Cree I
NEHI 202	Intermediate nêhiyawêwin/Cree II
Total Credits		18

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Students in other degree programs may count INDG 100 in place of one course from the “Choose 12 credits” list 

Program Learning Outcomes

1. Respectfully identify paths to and understand what is needed for decolonization and reconciliation, which may include:

• Describing how Indigenous knowledges and ways of knowing differ from Western scientific or academic forms of knowledge production and how these different ways of knowing can support each other.
• Explaining the structure of settler colonialism and its historical and intergenerational impacts on First Nations, Métis, and Inuit individuals and communities through legislation, policies, and systems that uphold anti-Indigenous racism.
• Describing how Indigenous peoples and communities are revitalizing, reclaiming, and resurging distinctly Indigenous ways of knowing, being, and doing.
• Describing past and contemporary settler colonial-Indigenous relations, including treaties, land claims, self-determination, self-government, and approaches to reconciliation.
• Describing the impacts of Indian Residential Schools, the Sixties Scoop, the Indian Act, and the Pass System on Indigenous sovereignty and nation-building.
• Describing contemporary and historical Indigenous resistance.

2. Apply an Indigenous relational perspective, which may include:

• Describing the importance of the concepts of relationality and interconnectedness within First Nations, Métis, and Inuit perspectives, and demonstrating how these central concepts can be applied to address different contexts and questions.
• Explaining how Indigenous knowledges and ways of knowing include community roles and responsibilities, connection to land and place, Two-Spirit kin, languages, and relations beyond the human.

3. Understand and develop Indigenous research and scholarship skills, which may include:

• Employing research methods that are both uniquely Indigenous methodologies and collaborative research methodologies that include both Indigenous persons and non-Indigenous persons (e.g., Two-Eyed Seeing or community-based participatory research).
• Evaluating research by centering Indigenous voices and lived experiences.
• Selecting Indigenous research methodologies that are appropriate for a topic of study, and demonstrating how research frameworks are relational, respectful, and responsible.
• Using Indigenous research methodologies to address contemporary Indigenous-settler relations.

4. Effectively communicate Indigenous ways of knowing and disseminate Indigenous knowledges, which may include:

• Employing a variety of oral, visual, and literary modes and media through means such as storytelling, song, dance, beadwork, and other art forms (i.e., Indigenous oracy) appropriate for different contexts and audiences.
• Practicing land-based knowledge production through harvesting, crafting, or otherwise engaging with Indigenous land-based experiential learning to understand relationship to the land.

5. Demonstrate Indigenous ethical practice, which may include:

• Practicing respectful protocol and acknowledging the relationships and responsibilities involved.
• Describing how ethical Indigenous research takes place within respectful, reciprocal, and collaborative relationships with partners and communities, wherein Indigenous communities are the holders of their knowledges.