May 5-6, 2022 (online)
Deadline: March 31, 2022
organised by the Emerging Scholars‘ Forum (NWF)
While in standard literary analysis discussion of one’s position is rarely identified and
discussed, it is, I suggest, a necessity in Indigenous Studies. (Reder 8)
In this workshop, we wish to reflect on how to respectfully engage with Indigenous critical and creative thought from European localities, positionalities, and perspectives. In this sense, we take up Deanna Reder’s (Métis) call for rigorous self-reflection. At the same time, we heed Sam McKegney’s warning that non-Indigenous scholars who use positionality as a critical lens may ultimately perpetuate “strategies of ethical disengagement” (81), an evasion of accountability, and an escapism into self-centered introspection of the critic’s own inadequacies that fails tochallenge the academic status quo.
This workshop perceives Canada as a framework that demands critical interrogation. It builds on the understanding that Canadian national borders do not align with Indigenous concepts, knowledges, relations, and sovereignties. Furthermore, it understands Indigenous Studies as a discipline in its own right, on its own terms, that centers Indigenous ways of knowing, communities, and cultures. While as such Indigenous Studies is established in its own, expanding departments across Turtle Island, institutional contexts in Europe, for the most part, lack a departmental structure that recognizes the position of Indigenous Studies as an independent discipline. Lee Maracle’s (Stó:lō) and Kimberly Blaeser’s (Chippewa) critical reckoning with Eurowestern academia in the early 1990s thus resonates today in, as Margaret Kovach (Nêhiyaw and Saulteaux) writes, “an academy that is still colonial” (175).
This workshop’s exploration of its four key elements—methodology, positionality, accountability, and research ethics—is based on the critical awareness that studying Indigenous thoughts and cultures from within Europe takes place within uneven power structures. This understanding also includes the complex ways in which European institutions, including universities, have been implicated in the enduring legacies of genocide, colonialism, capitalism, Christianity, and patriarchy, among others. Even though these systems have been key to dispossessing Indigenous peoples and marginalizing their knowledges, Indigenous peoples have been resisting such oppression for a long time. Within the specific contexts of engaging with Indigenous literatures and theories in Europe, we are interested in discussing the possibilities and limits of practicing solidarity in scholarship in terms of “uneasy” solidarity based on incommensurability (Tuck and Yang 3) and forms of “critical c o-resistance” (Coulthard and Simpson 250).
Format & Submission:
This workshop will take place online from May 5-6, 2022, and features contributions by Dr
Renae Watchman (Diné & Tsalagi) and Prof Dr Hartmut Lutz as confirmed speakers. In
conversation with their talks, the workshop includes panels for scholars of all levels—BA, MA, PhD, Postdoc—to present their research projects and work in progress, which engage with Indigenous critical and creative thoughts. This workshop is designed in particular for early career researchers as it aims to provide a safe space for them to discuss their specific needs, challenges, and difficulties, which they might encounter or have encountered during their research, including their questions and concerns regarding methodology, positionality, accountability, and research ethics. We invite contributions in the form of short talks or alternative formats, such as artwork, video-clips, or collaborative work.
Please submit the following until March 31:
• an abstract of ca. 250 words
• a short bio of ca. 100 words
• a response of ca. 250 words to the question: How have you come to study Indigenous
literatures and cultures?
To submit your proposal, please send your abstract, bio and response in a single file
(.doc/.docx/.pdf) to the organizing committee at indigenousstudiesworkshop@gmail.com
Should you have any further questions, please feel free to contact the organizers at
indigenousstudiesworkshop@gmail.com
Speakers:
• Dr Renae Watchman (Diné & Tsalagi) (McMaster University)
• Prof Dr Hartmut Lutz (University of Greifswald)
Workshop organizers:
• Atalie Gerhard, Saarland University / IRTG Diversity: Mediating Difference in
Transcultural Spaces
• Johanna Lederer, Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt / RTG Practicing Place:
Socio-Cultural Practices and Epistemic Configurations
• Manuel Sousa Oliveira, University of Porto / CETAPS
• Alisa Preusser, University of Potsdam
Contact: indigenousstudiesworkshop@gmail.com
Works Cited:
Blaeser, Kimberly. “Native Literature: Seeking a Critical Centre.” Looking at the Words of Our People: First Nations Analysis of Literature, edited by Jeannette Armstrong, Theytus Books, 1993, pp. 51-62.
Coulthard, Glen, and Leanne Betasamosake Simpson. “Grounded Normativity/ Place-Based Solidarity.” American Quarterly, vol. 68, no. 2, 2016, pp. 249-55.
Kovach, Margaret. Indigenous Methodologies: Characteristics, Conversations, and Contexts. U of Toronto P, 2009.
Maracle, Lee. Memory Serves and Other Essays: Oratories. NeWest P, 2015.
McKegney, Sam. “Strategies for Ethical Engagement: An Open Letter Concerning Non Native Scholars of Native Literatures.” 2008. Learn. Teach. Challenge: Approaching Indigenous Literatures, edited by Deanna Reder and Linda M. Morra, Wilfried Laurier UP, 2016, pp. 79-87.
Reder, Deanna. “Introduction: Position.” Learn. Teach. Challenge: Approaching Indigenous Literatures, edited by Deanna Reder and Linda M. Morra, Wilfried Laurier UP, 2016, pp. 7-17.
Tuck, Eve, and K. Wayne Yang. “Decolonization Is Not a Metaphor.” Decolonization: Indigeneity, Education & Society, vol. 1, no. 1, 2012, pp. 1-40.
Additional information:
Following feedback for which we are thankful, we are delighted to publish the CfP in French as well and apologize for any confusion. We would like to underline that while our workshop is an international workshop, we seek a common language that most participants speak. Yet, we dearly welcome presentations in Indigenous languages, settler colonial languages, and all other languages worldwide. Although the four organizers can offer support in eight languages which are English, French, German, Portuguese, Finnish, Italian, Spanish, and Romanian on different levels of competency, if the language of your presentation is not English, we politely ask you to organize an own translation into English.
Thank you very much. We hope to see you soon in our workshop.
May 5-6, 2022 (online)
Deadline: March 31, 2022
organised by the Emerging Scholars‘ Forum (NWF)
While in standard literary analysis discussion of one’s position is rarely identified and
discussed, it is, I suggest, a necessity in Indigenous Studies. (Reder 8)
In this workshop, we wish to reflect on how to respectfully engage with Indigenous critical and creative thought from European localities, positionalities, and perspectives. In this sense, we take up Deanna Reder’s (Métis) call for rigorous self-reflection. At the same time, we heed Sam McKegney’s warning that non-Indigenous scholars who use positionality as a critical lens may ultimately perpetuate “strategies of ethical disengagement” (81), an evasion of accountability, and an escapism into self-centered introspection of the critic’s own inadequacies that fails tochallenge the academic status quo.
This workshop perceives Canada as a framework that demands critical interrogation. It builds on the understanding that Canadian national borders do not align with Indigenous concepts, knowledges, relations, and sovereignties. Furthermore, it understands Indigenous Studies as a discipline in its own right, on its own terms, that centers Indigenous ways of knowing, communities, and cultures. While as such Indigenous Studies is established in its own, expanding departments across Turtle Island, institutional contexts in Europe, for the most part, lack a departmental structure that recognizes the position of Indigenous Studies as an independent discipline. Lee Maracle’s (Stó:lō) and Kimberly Blaeser’s (Chippewa) critical reckoning with Eurowestern academia in the early 1990s thus resonates today in, as Margaret Kovach (Nêhiyaw and Saulteaux) writes, “an academy that is still colonial” (175).
This workshop’s exploration of its four key elements—methodology, positionality, accountability, and research ethics—is based on the critical awareness that studying Indigenous thoughts and cultures from within Europe takes place within uneven power structures. This understanding also includes the complex ways in which European institutions, including universities, have been implicated in the enduring legacies of genocide, colonialism, capitalism, Christianity, and patriarchy, among others. Even though these systems have been key to dispossessing Indigenous peoples and marginalizing their knowledges, Indigenous peoples have been resisting such oppression for a long time. Within the specific contexts of engaging with Indigenous literatures and theories in Europe, we are interested in discussing the possibilities and limits of practicing solidarity in scholarship in terms of “uneasy” solidarity based on incommensurability (Tuck and Yang 3) and forms of “critical c o-resistance” (Coulthard and Simpson 250).
Format & Submission:
This workshop will take place online from May 5-6, 2022, and features contributions by Dr
Renae Watchman (Diné & Tsalagi) and Prof Dr Hartmut Lutz as confirmed speakers. In
conversation with their talks, the workshop includes panels for scholars of all levels—BA, MA, PhD, Postdoc—to present their research projects and work in progress, which engage with Indigenous critical and creative thoughts. This workshop is designed in particular for early career researchers as it aims to provide a safe space for them to discuss their specific needs, challenges, and difficulties, which they might encounter or have encountered during their research, including their questions and concerns regarding methodology, positionality, accountability, and research ethics. We invite contributions in the form of short talks or alternative formats, such as artwork, video-clips, or collaborative work.
Please submit the following until March 31:
• an abstract of ca. 250 words
• a short bio of ca. 100 words
• a response of ca. 250 words to the question: How have you come to study Indigenous
literatures and cultures?
To submit your proposal, please send your abstract, bio and response in a single file
(.doc/.docx/.pdf) to the organizing committee at indigenousstudiesworkshop@gmail.com
Should you have any further questions, please feel free to contact the organizers at
indigenousstudiesworkshop@gmail.com
Speakers:
• Dr Renae Watchman (Diné & Tsalagi) (McMaster University)
• Prof Dr Hartmut Lutz (University of Greifswald)
Workshop organizers:
• Atalie Gerhard, Saarland University / IRTG Diversity: Mediating Difference in
Transcultural Spaces
• Johanna Lederer, Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt / RTG Practicing Place:
Socio-Cultural Practices and Epistemic Configurations
• Manuel Sousa Oliveira, University of Porto / CETAPS
• Alisa Preusser, University of Potsdam
Contact: indigenousstudiesworkshop@gmail.com
Works Cited:
Blaeser, Kimberly. “Native Literature: Seeking a Critical Centre.” Looking at the Words of Our People: First Nations Analysis of Literature, edited by Jeannette Armstrong, Theytus Books, 1993, pp. 51-62.
Coulthard, Glen, and Leanne Betasamosake Simpson. “Grounded Normativity/ Place-Based Solidarity.” American Quarterly, vol. 68, no. 2, 2016, pp. 249-55.
Kovach, Margaret. Indigenous Methodologies: Characteristics, Conversations, and Contexts. U of Toronto P, 2009.
Maracle, Lee. Memory Serves and Other Essays: Oratories. NeWest P, 2015.
McKegney, Sam. “Strategies for Ethical Engagement: An Open Letter Concerning Non Native Scholars of Native Literatures.” 2008. Learn. Teach. Challenge: Approaching Indigenous Literatures, edited by Deanna Reder and Linda M. Morra, Wilfried Laurier UP, 2016, pp. 79-87.
Reder, Deanna. “Introduction: Position.” Learn. Teach. Challenge: Approaching Indigenous Literatures, edited by Deanna Reder and Linda M. Morra, Wilfried Laurier UP, 2016, pp. 7-17.
Tuck, Eve, and K. Wayne Yang. “Decolonization Is Not a Metaphor.” Decolonization: Indigeneity, Education & Society, vol. 1, no. 1, 2012, pp. 1-40.
Additional information:
Following feedback for which we are thankful, we are delighted to publish the CfP in French as well and apologize for any confusion. We would like to underline that while our workshop is an international workshop, we seek a common language that most participants speak. Yet, we dearly welcome presentations in Indigenous languages, settler colonial languages, and all other languages worldwide. Although the four organizers can offer support in eight languages which are English, French, German, Portuguese, Finnish, Italian, Spanish, and Romanian on different levels of competency, if the language of your presentation is not English, we politely ask you to organize an own translation into English.
Thank you very much. We hope to see you soon in our workshop.
Étudier les littératures et cultures autochtones sur l’Île de la Tortue depuis Europe : Questions de méthodologie, de positionnalité, de responsabilité et d’éthique de la recherche
Atelier de recherche en ligne organisé par le Forum de la Relève Académique de L’Association d’Études Canadiennes dans les Pays de Langue Allemande (GKS), 5-6 mai, 2022
Alors que dans l’analyse littéraire standard, la discussion de la position d’une personne est rarement identifiée et discutée, elle est, à mon avis, une nécessité dans les études indigènes. (Reder 8; traduit par IL)
Dans cet atelier, nous souhaitons réfléchir à la manière de s’engager respectueusement dans la pensée critique et créative indigène à partir des localités, des positions et des perspectives européennes. Dans ce sens, nous reprenons l’appel de Deanna Reder (Métis) à une autoréflexion rigoureuse. En même temps, nous tenons compte de l’avertissement de Sam McKegney selon lequel les chercheurs non autochtones qui utilisent la positionnalité comme lentille critique peuvent en fin de compte perpétuer des « stratégies de désengagement éthique » (81; traduit par A.G.), une évasion de la responsabilité, et une fuite dans une introspection égocentrique des propres insuffisances du critique qui ne parvient pas à remettre en question le statu quo académique.
Cet atelier perçoit le Canada comme un cadre qui exige une interrogation critique. Il s’appuie sur la compréhension que les frontières nationales du Canada ne s’alignent pas sur les concepts, les connaissances, les relations et les souverainetés autochtones. De plus, il comprend les études autochtones comme une discipline à part entière, selon ses propres termes, qui met l’accent sur les modes de connaissance, les communautés et les cultures autochtones. Pendant que, en tant que telles, les études autochtones sont établies dans leurs propres départements en expansion sur l’Île de la Tortue, les contextes institutionnels en Europe manquent pour la plupart d’une structure départementale qui reconnaît la position des études autochtones en tant que discipline indépendante. La prise de conscience critique de Lee Maracle (Stó:lō) et Kimberly Blaeser (Chippewa) à l’égard du milieu universitaire euro-occidental au début des années 1990 résonne donc aujourd’hui dans, comme l’écrit Margaret Kovach (Nêhiyaw et Saulteaux), « un milieu universitaire qui est encore colonial » (175; traduit par IL).
L’exploration des quatre éléments clés de cet atelier – la méthodologie, la positionnalité, la responsabilité et l’éthique de la recherche – est fondée sur la prise de conscience critique du fait que l’étude des pensées et des cultures autochtones depuis l’Europe s’inscrit dans des structures de pouvoir inégales. Cette compréhension comprend aussi les façons complexes dont les institutions européennes, y compris les universités, ont été impliquées dans les héritages durables du génocide, du colonialisme, du capitalisme, du christianisme et du patriarcat, entre autres. Même si ces systèmes ont joué un rôle clé dans la dépossession des peuples autochtones et la marginalisation de leurs connaissances, les peuples autochtones résistent depuis longtemps à cette oppression. Au sein des contextes spécifiques de l’engagement avec les littératures et les théories autochtones depuis l’Europe, nous sommes intéressé.e.s à discuter les possibilités et les limites de pratiquer la solidarité universitaire en termes de la solidarité « malaise » basée sur l’incommensurabilité (Tuck et Yang 3; traduit par IL) et formes de la « co-résistance critique » (Coulthard et Simpson 250; traduit par A.G.).
Format & soumission :
Cet atelier aura lieu en ligne du 5 au 6 mai 2022 et comprendra des contributions de Dr. Renae Watchman (Diné & Tsalagi) et Prof. Dr. Hartmut Lutz comme intervenants confirmés. Complémentaire à leurs interventions, l’atelier comprendra des panels pour des chercheur.e.s de tous niveaux – licence, maîtrise, doctorat, postdoctoral – pour présenter leurs projets de recherche et travaux en cours, qui s’engagent avec pensées critiques et créatives indigènes. Cet atelier est conçu en particulier pour des chercheur.e.s en début de carrière, car il vise à offrir un espace sûr pour eux sûr pour discuter de leurs besoins, défis et difficultés spécifiques, ceux qu’ils pourraient rencontrer ou qu’ils ont rencontrés pendant leur recherches, y compris leurs questions, défis et préoccupations concernant la méthodologie, la positionnalité, la responsabilité et l’éthique de la recherche. Nous invitions des contributions sous forme de courtes conférences ou de de formats alternatifs, tel que des œuvres d’art, des clips vidéo ou des travaux collaboratifs.
Veuillez soumettre les suivants jusqu’au 31 mars:
- un résumé d’env. 250 mots
- une courte biographie d’env. 100 mots
- une réponse d’env. 250 mots à la question: « Comment êtes-vous arrivé.e à étudier des littératures et cultures indigènes? »
Pour soumettre votre proposition, veuillez envoyer votre résumé, biographie et réponse dans un fichier unique (.doc/.docx/.pdf) au comité d’organisation à indigenousstudiesworkshop@gmail.com.
Dans le cas de questions supplémentaires, n’hésitez pas à contacter les organisateur.e.s à indigenousstudiesworkshop@gmail.com.
Conférenciers:
- Dr. Renae Watchman (Diné & Tsalagi) (Université McMaster)
- Prof. Dr. Hartmut Lutz (Université de Greifswald)
Organisateur.e.s de l’atelier:
- Atalie Gerhard, Université de la Sarre / IRTG Diversité: Médiation des différences dans les espaces transculturels
- Johanna Lederer, Université Catholique d’Eichstätt-Ingolstadt / RTG Pratiquer l’espace: Pratiques socioculturels et configurations épistémiques
- Manuel Sousa Oliveira, Université de Porto / CETAPS
- Alisa Preusser, Université de Potsdam
Contact: indigenousstudiesworkshop@gmail.com
Bibliographie:
Blaeser, Kimberly. “Native Literature: Seeking a Critical Centre.” Looking at the Words of Our People: First Nations Analysis of Literature, edited by Jeannette Armstrong, Theytus Books, 1993, pp. 51-62.
Coulthard, Glen, and Leanne Betasamosake Simpson. “Grounded Normativity/ Place-Based Solidarity.” American Quarterly, vol. 68, no. 2, 2016, pp. 249-55.
Kovach, Margaret. Indigenous Methodologies: Characteristics, Conversations, and Contexts. U of Toronto P, 2009.
Maracle, Lee. Memory Serves and Other Essays: Oratories. NeWest P, 2015.
McKegney, Sam. “Strategies for Ethical Engagement: An Open Letter Concerning Non-Native Scholars of Native Literatures.” 2008. Learn. Teach. Challenge: Approaching Indigenous Literatures, edited by Deanna Reder and Linda M. Morra, Wilfried Laurier UP, 2016, pp. 79-87.
Reder, Deanna. “Introduction: Position.” Learn. Teach. Challenge: Approaching Indigenous Literatures, edited by Deanna Reder and Linda M. Morra, Wilfried Laurier UP, 2016, pp. 7-17.
Tuck, Eve, and K. Wayne Yang. “Decolonization Is Not a Metaphor.” Decolonization: Indigeneity, Education & Society, vol. 1, no. 1, 2012, pp. 1-40.
Information supplémentaire :
Suite à des réactions dont nous sommes reconnaissant.e.s, nous sommes heureux.ses de publier l’appel à contributions en français également et nous nous excusons pour toute confusion. Nous tenons à souligner que, bien que notre atelier soit international, nous recherchons une langue commune que la plupart des participants parlent. Cependant, les présentations en langues indigènes, en langues coloniales et dans toutes les autres langues du monde sont les bienvenues. Bien que les quatre organisateurs puissent offrir du soutien dans huit langues qui sont l’anglais, le français, l’allemand, le portugais, le finlandais, l’italien, l’espagnol et le roumain à différents niveaux de compétence, si la langue de votre présentation n’est pas l’anglais, nous vous demandons poliment d’organiser votre propre traduction en anglais.
Merci beaucoup. Nous espérons de vous voir bientôt dans notre atelier.
