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Article scientifique

Shaping Indigenous Spaces in Higher Education: An International Virtual Exchange on Indigenous Knowledge (Alaska and Aotearoa).

While Indigenous faculty in higher education establish and expand ”spaces” for students to engage in discussions around Indigenous knowledge(s) and research, little systematic work has been done on expanding these conversations outside of local institutions, in spite of sometimes extensive interaction between Indigenous scholars in research and governance practices. In this paper we describe four international, virtual exchanges between Alaska and Aotearoa among students enrolled in the University of Alaska’s courses “Documenting Indigenous Knowledge” and “Communication in Cross-Cultural Classrooms,” and Victoria University of Wellington’s “Science and Indigenous Knowledge.” We describe our design and architecture of the collaborative digital spaces, highlighting aspects that facilitated the engagement and learning of our students, and challenges. We describe the key impacts of the initiative through selected student commentary from students’ online forum posts and evaluations. Exchanges produced diverse outcomes for students, but three aspects that motivate us to continue the initiative are that virtual exchanges across international Indigenous spaces convey a critical sense of place, in local and global senses; (re-)orient students in terms of Indigenous identities; and cause students to reflect on their current and future roles in shaping spaces that promote Indigenous safety, participation and emancipation.