Decolonization & Anti-Racism

One of the plans for UBC's path on Decolonization is the Indigenous Strategic Plan (ISP). This guide was created to assist researchers learn about decolonization, anti-racism, and how to partake in the ISP goals through research. The Faculty of Education has also created a fantastic resource on Decolonizing Teaching & Indigenizing Learning!

X̱wi7x̱wa has created the following toolkit to assist researchers in assessing resources:

"Decolonization brings about the repatriation of Indigenous land and life; it is not a metaphor for other things we want to do to improve our societies and schools." (p. 2)

Decolonization "is accountable to Indigenous sovereignty and futurity." (p. 26)

With incommensurable goals achieved by, "removing the asterisks, periods, commas, apostrophes, the whereas’s, buts, and conditional clauses that punctuate decolonization and underwrite settler innocence." (p. 36)

Tuck, Eve & Wayne Yang, (2012). Decolonization is Not a Metaphor. Education & Society, 1(1) 1-40.  Retrieved from https://jps.library.utoronto.ca/index.php/des/article/view/18630 

"Decolonization, which sets out to change the order of the world, is, obviously, a program of complete disorder. But it cannot come as a result of magical practices, nor of a natural shock, nor of a friendly understanding. Decolonization, as we know, is a historical process: that is to say it cannot be understood, it cannot become intelligible nor clear to itself except in the exact measure that we can discern the movements which give it historical form and content." 

Fanon, F. (1963). The Wretched of the Earth, Grove Press.

"Decolonization demands more than understanding the predatory modes of settler colonialism for resistance to them (as is often the stated goal within settler colonial studies), but also the resurgence of alternative modes of being, alternative futures."

Ritskes, Erik, (2016). Beyond and Against White Settler Colonialism in Palestine: Fugitive Futurities in Amir Nizar Zuabi’s: “The Underground Ghetto City of Gaza”. Cultural Studies, 17(1) 78-86. doi: https://doi.org/10.1177/1532708616640561

"Systemic racism is the product of an entire system of long-existing structures in Canadian society. It manifests itself in our public institutions, including our healthcare system, where stereotypes, biases, and prejudices can have real life consequences. Denying that systemic racism exists is a barrier to reconciliation and contributes to further harm to Indigenous peoples."

Canadian Human Rights Commission. (2020 October 2). The Time to Address Anti-Indigenous Racism is Long Past Due [Press release]. https://www.chrc-ccdp.gc.ca/en/resources/the-time-address-anti-indigenous-racism-long-past-due

"Anti-Racism is strategies, theories, actions, and practices that challenge and counter racism, inequalities, prejudices, and discrimination based on race."

Retrieved from Anti-Oppression: Anti-Racism available https://simmons.libguides.com/anti-oppression/anti-racism

The Aboriginal Borrower Card is:

• Free to any Aboriginal person living in Canada (First Nations, Métis or Inuit)
• Not for business purposes
• Non-transferable; for the cardholder’s personal use only

With access to:

• Basic reference assistance, access to most library eResources using library branch computers, collections use and study spaces are available to everyone in the libraries free of charge.
• Remote access to most library eResources is restricted by licensing agreements to current UBC students, staff and Faculty. For library eResources available to all users, click here.
• Most books can be borrowed for 2-weeks and are renewable if not requested by another borrower.
• Certain materials cannot be borrowed including course reserve items, journals, reference books, and some videos subject to licensing restrictions.
• Interlibrary loans and Document Delivery requests are available as fee-based library services.
• The maximum number of items on loan at one time is 50.
• Fines are charged on all overdue loans.

To apply fill out the following PDF and contact X̱wi7x̱wa to start the process, or contact Koerner directly at: library.cards@ubc.ca