The CMS Narratives Group seeks to explicitly set narratives of migration and narratives of Indigeneity, decolonization and belonging in dialogue through its shared research, events, and programming.
The Games and Decolonization Workshop is an interdisciplinary forum dedicated to examining the intersections between board games and discourses of settler colonialism, decolonization, Indigenous sovereignty, and social justice. This two-day event will bring together Indigenous and settler scholars to engage in critical conversations regarding the role of gaming cultures and tarot in the work of decolonization and social justice.
This four-day workshop on Decolonizing and Indigenizing European and Migration Studies challenged Eurocentric understandings of storytelling in higher education. Grounded in Jo-ann Archibald’s seven ethical principles of Indigenous Storywork, reciprocity, relevance, respect, responsibility, reverence, interrelatedness, and synergy, it brought together a diverse group of Indigenous and settler participants for dialogue and provided the opportunity for them to share their story-centred work between August 29 and September 1, 2022. Participants engaged in Indigenous-led talking circles that focused on different but connecting themes: story-centred knowledge sharing, people-centred Storywork, land-centred Storywork, and the application of Indigenous Storywork as an ethical way of embedding relationship building in European and Migrations Studies. At the heart of the workshop was the goal to facilitate sustainable relationships between participants and lay the foundation for future collaborative projects.
The Indigenous Presence and Representation Lecture Series sought to foreground Indigenous experience and Indigenous voices in European Studies. The series featured events with Drew Hayden Taylor, who spoke about his short documentary film Searching for Winnetou (2018), Dr. Renae Watchman (McMaster University), who presented on diasporic Indigenous presence from Turtle Island in Europe, and a lecture by Dr. Shauneen Pete (University of Victoria), who introduced participants to what it means to re-story higher education. Among others, series also featured Indigenous entrepreneurs and board game experts from Pe Metawe Consulting, David Plamondon and Jayde Gravel, who hosted a workshop on issues around Indigenous representation in transnational board game culture, and a virtual visit from Indigenous researcher Keeta Gladue (University of Calgary), who presented her work on Decolonizing Disney Princesses.
Our interdisciplinary workshop brought together filmmakers and scholars who incorporated participant-centred storytelling as part of their work and research. The workshop was an opportunity for participants to discuss current artistic and scholarly collaborative storytelling projects that challenged collective core narratives of diversity, migration and settlement.