Call for Papers – Special Issue: Indigenous Knowledges

KULA: Knowledge Creation, Dissemination, and Preservation Studies
Special Issue: Indigenous Knowledges

Guest Editors
Ry Moran, Director, National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation

Carey Newman, OBC, Multidisciplinary Artist, Master Carver, and Audain Professor of Contemporary Art Practice of the Pacific Northwest in the Department of Visual Arts, University of Victoria

Shelagh Rogers, OC, Broadcast Journalist, Host and a producer of CBC Radio’s The Next Chapter, Honorary Witness for the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, and Chancellor, University of Victoria

Andrea Walsh, PhD, Associate Professor of Anthropology, University of Victoria

Guest Advisor
Rob Hancock, PhD, LE,NOṈET Academic Manager, Office of Indigenous Academic and Community Engagement and Adjunct Assistant Professor of Anthropology and Environmental Studies, University of Victoria

Editorial Assistant
Samantha MacFarlane, PhD, Associate Editor, KULA: Knowledge Creation, Dissemination, and Preservation Studies and Publications Assistant, University of Victoria Libraries

Abstracts and expressions of interest: rolling, through 30 November 2019
Notice of acceptance of abstracts: February 2020
Deadline for final submissions: June 2020
Anticipated publication: Spring 2021

Contact email: kulajournal@uvic.ca

KULA: Knowledge Creation, Dissemination, and Preservation Studies (https://kula.uvic.ca/) is a peer-reviewed, open-access online journal that publishes multidisciplinary scholarship about the creation, dissemination, and preservation of knowledge. We invite abstracts for contributions to a special issue of KULA on Indigenous Knowledges, to be published in 2021.

The Building Reconciliation Forum is an annual national forum that works toward implementing the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada’s Calls to Action within post-secondary institutions. In November 2018, the University of Victoria hosted the fourth annual forum, the theme of which was Ts’its’u’ watul tseep, a Hul’q’umi’num teaching that means “to help one another.” In direct response to the forum, as part of its commitment to implementing the TRC’s Calls to Action in universities, the University of Victoria Libraries made “Building Reconciliation through Archives” the topic of its annual University Librarian’s Lecture. The 2019 lecture presented a panel discussion with Ry Moran, Carey Newman, and Shelagh Rogers about the past, present, and future of Indigenous documentary heritage. The panelists considered questions such as: What is the relationship between documentary heritage and oral history, land, and historical context? Does ceremony have a role in animating archives? Should documentary heritage held by institutions be returned to communities? How can our approach to Indigenous archives deepen our understanding of the meaning of truth and reconciliation?

Some of the issues the panelists raised during this discussion include:

• the complicity of archives in the deliberate, violent erasure of Indigenous languages and cultures and the myth of archives as an antidote to the “loss” of cultural heritage

• the importance of living heritage, particularly the knowledge of Elders (e.g., in addressing inaccuracies in colonial narratives about the history of land and land use, which are preserved in the written record of agencies such as Parks Canada), and the need to create space in libraries and archives for the preservation of intangible cultural heritage as well as documentary heritage

• the Indigenous perspective of land as a source of knowledge and wisdom, connected to culture, language, and world view–a kind of archival record–and environmental destruction as a threat to the land and the knowledge it holds.

• the challenge of building a future based on reconciliation when many non-Indigenous people still do not understand Canada’s colonial history or how the concentric harms of colonial genocide continue to affect the lives Indigenous Peoples

• the various ways that individual Indigenous communities view ownership of tangible objects/land and intangible stories/songs

This special issue is inspired by the panelists’ discussion, and it aims to expand the scope of that conversation by considering the broader category of Indigenous Knowledges. We have deliberately titled the issue Indigenous Knowledges, and we seek to include a range of diverse contributions that reflect this plurality, both in subject and format. We encourage submissions on diverse aspects of Indigenous Knowledges and ways of knowing, including but not limited to:

• Language; language revitalization; translation
• Art, literature, and music
• Governance, laws, Protocols, and justice systems
• Educational systems
• Traditional Knowledges, including medicinal and environmental knowledge
• Oral Traditions
• Spiritual beliefs and practices
• Preservation, protection, and custodianship of documentary heritage, intangible cultural heritage, and cultural and ceremonial sites
• Repatriation of documentary and cultural heritage, including ceremonial objects and human remains
• Ethics of exhibiting and digitising documentary and cultural heritage; the right to privacy
• Teaching methods in elementary, secondary, and post-secondary education, including content development and best practices for teaching curricula about the history and legacy of residential schools, the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, and Treaties and Indigenous rights
• Librarianship
• Methods, politics, and ethics of data collection and access to data related to Indigenous Peoples
• Research practices and methodologies
• Knowledge systems and policy design in academic and research institutions
• Editing and publishing
• Media
• Health and healthcare
• Gender and sexuality
• Architecture
• Histories of suppressed or destroyed knowledge
• Citational practices and politics

We are seeking contributions in diverse formats: short- to medium-length scholarly articles; book reviews; project reports; teaching reflections and syllabi; and creative text, image, video, and audio pieces. We invite submissions that incorporate or propose innovative citational practices. We also welcome submissions from youth contributors. Please note that proposals about any non-Indigenous-led projects that do not express clear Indigenous participation, consultation, and relationship from inception will not be considered.

Please submit abstracts of 300-500 words to kulajournal@uvic.ca by 30 November 2019. Based on these abstracts, we will then invite authors to submit full pieces for editorial consideration and, if applicable, peer review.

KULA is an open-access journal requiring no author publication charges (APCs). Authors retain full copyright to their works, which will be published under a Creative Commons license: https://kula.uvic.ca/about/submissions/