CLAS Acts January 2022

Monthly newsletter of the TT faculty of CLAS

A Note from Dean Drake

At the turn of the year, Naomi Shihab Nye offers us a poem called “Burning the Old Year” in which she imagines—or records—burning her calendar, that compendium of to-dos.

The new year offers the chance for a reset, and new starts are also undergirded by what has come before.  Just prior to the break, Betty and Monica launched a resource intended to help faculty and staff support students more effectively. Thanks to the Unit Head Agenda Committee and the CLAS Faculty Council for clarifying this need. We hope that the one-stop shop webpage Supporting Students: Quick links for Faculty and Staff (filed under Resources) enables you to make referrals, and that it lets you know about at least one service that was not yet on your radar.

I thank the units for spending some precious time over fall term discussing the CLAS draft visioning document.  We are working on the next iteration of the CLAS plan with an eye on prioritizing a focused set of initiatives and developing reasonable implementation processes. I will share updates with you early in the winter term, and I’ve set aside funds to support the work starting this summer.

The Faculty Teaching and Learning Center has been doing a great job of listening to the needs of the faculty and designing workshops and learning communities to meet those needs.  A long time ago Steven Covey said that one of the habits of successful people was “sharpening the saw.”  The FTLC provides a teaching and learning community and excellent tools, so I hope you’ll take a moment to have a look at all they offer.

The GVSU Arts Celebration lecturer this year is Hanif Abdurraquib.  Poet, essayist, cultural critic, music critic, and MacArthur award winner, he examines personal and political histories and can be incisive all the way to the bone.  He also finds joy, noting that “It is one thing to be good at what you do, and it is another thing to be good and bold enough to have fun while doing it.”  As we turn towards 2022, I am inspired by Abdurraquib’s call.

Wishing you a happy New Year,

Jen

The Joy of Multiple Ways of Knowing

“This course was an absolute joy,” begins Megan Woller-Skar, associate professor of biology, about Biology 280.

“It was successful because Lin [Belinda Bardwell, Office of Multicultural Affairs, her co-convener] worked very hard to bring in Indigenous experts from her trusted network to speak at GVSU. It was also successful because people at GVSU and FTLC were willing to take a chance on a course that didn't follow the traditional western/colonial blue print.” 

This course, Biology Seminar: Anishinaabek Gaganoondiwag-dibaa (Conversations about Judgements and Measurements), rather emblematically carries a title that did not fit in Banner.  This online seminar focused on Indigenous science and knowledge conveyed by a series of guest experts on Native/Indigenous Ways of Knowing.  There was no required text because the very heart of the knowledge the students were seeking is handed down orally and through deep experience residing in experts of a kind who don’t have CVs bristling with peer reviewed publications.

So the very things that make the course exciting for students and especially affirming for Indigenous students also make it challenging to run.  For instance, forms requesting appropriate compensation for the guest speakers ask for the kind of credentials that are ubiquitous in universities. Flexibility on the part of FTLC proved critical.  Lin was reaching deep into her community and putting her reputation on the line so that the worlds of Indigenous and academic science could meet for the purpose of enriching our students’ perspectives.

“We felt very strongly that Indigenous speakers, as experts in their field, be paid equivalent to people with PhD's (we're trying to build trust and student opportunities).”

The speakers addressing the class (and their topics) were:

Eric Hemenway (The Odawa and their Connection to Water)

Joseph VanAlstine (Agriculture, Food Sovereignty and the Ziibimijwang Farm)

Linda Black Elk (Ethnobotany)

Roger LaBine (Manomin)

Kristy Philips (Indigenous Education and Chemistry)

Blair Topash-Caldwell (Anthropology)

 

From previous experience, Lin knew that these challenges emerge as the worlds meet.  For instance, while working on a documentary with elders, they ran into what she terms, “the vacuum of solidifiable western documentation.  The oral community crossed with the higher education people wanting data and written sources.”

Lin appreciates the challenge.  “Colleges require PhDs and in Michigan I can count on one hand the number of Indigenous people with PhDs.  Decolonizing the campus and the curriculum to create a space where my students feel welcome and appreciated rather than being a footnote,” is her goal. 

The course seems to be achieving this goal from the perspective of students.  With permission we share one of the thank you notes that students wrote to Roger LaBine:

Chi-Miigwech for taking the time to speak to our class last week to teach us about Manoomin. I really appreciate the time you spent sharing your knowledge about Manoomin and explaining its harvesting process and how it’s an integral part of Anishinaabe culture, identity, and livelihood. Your talk gave me a lot more insight and knowledge about the ecological and cultural importance of Manoomin, and as a tribal member majoring in Environmental and Sustainability Studies, this information is fundamental to my studies and how I understand myself as a Native person. Again, Miigwech for sharing your knowledge and time, your talk helped me better understand my own history as an Anishinaabekwe and I greatly appreciate it.

Manoomin has been called the only North American native cereal[i] and is sometimes incorrectly called “wild rice” in English.  The student clearly got more out of Roger LaBine’s talk and the ensuing discussion than just a better understanding of an aquatic plant.  The student’s thank you note indicates that the course learning objective to expand disciplinary perspectives has spilled over into areas of cultural identity that would be hard for most university faculty to achieve alone.

Lin and Meg explain that in order to continue and expand these types of courses, we will need faculty and staff to work with leaders and administrators at GVSU to decolonize the structure of higher education and prioritize inclusive education.

Recent visioning work in the college suggests commitment to having these conversations, making it easier for productive collaborations such as that of Lin and Meg to take place, and having the hard look within for the barriers that may get in the way of expanded disciplinary perspectives.

 

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[i] Manoomin is also a topic of cooperative study by a Canadian University of Guelph researcher and Knowledge Keepers at Niisaachewan Anishinaabe Nation.