Mapping Drama and Theater Strategies for Teaching Indigenous Topics in British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario, and Quebec, Canada

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Abstract

This research speaks to the need identified by Indigenous scholars, including Wilson (2008) and Kovach (2009), for non-Indigenous students and scholars to learn about Indigenous research frameworks. This paper focuses on mapping drama and theatre education strategies used by Professors in Drama Education across Canada to teach Indigenous topics to pre-service teachers. To create a space for change in Canadian classrooms and society, we posit that in order for in- and pre- service teachers to incorporate Indigenous topics across the curriculum, they need to have a socio-emotional connection to the issues, and experience them through embodied ways of knowing. We argue that this connection can take place through transmediation (Siegel, 1995) and the imaginative space of drama/theatre education (Carter, 2015).

Authors

• Alisan Funk, McGill University

• Mindy Roberta Carter, McGill University