Indigenous Innovation and Organizational Change Toward Equitable Higher Education Systems: The Canadian Experience

• In Event: Reimagining the Leadership and Change Playbook: Synergizing Emerging Perspectives on the Cultivation of Equitable Postsecondary Education Systems

Abstract

Indigenous innovation is typically absent in the pursuit of excellence in higher education strategic plans. Grounded in institutional theory and decolonization literature the paper examines how Indigenous individuals in Canada, engaging with Indigenous innovation discourses, have been able to pressure post-secondary institutions towards a shift in organizational norms. Through document analysis of 15 research-intensive Canadian universities (15 strategic plans and 15 Indigenization strategies) and 23 participant interviews the paper analyzes political, functional and normative pressures associated with Indigenous knowledges in Canadian higher education organizations. The paper demonstrates how Indigenous innovation can provide a way for equitable higher education systems, advocating for re-imagining the dominance of market economy by focusing on creativity, community-based learning, ecological awareness and relationship with land.

Author

• Merli Tamtik, University of Manitoba