Mary Jane Logan McCallum (University of Winnipeg) and Cody Groat (Western University)
Amy Lonetree writes in her book Decolonizing Museums (2012), “Museums can be very painful sites for Native peoples, as they are intimately tied to the colonization process.” The same is true for Archives and an expanding literature supports critical reflection on the current state of archives and how to create of new kinds of archiving and archives with the goals of more accurate representation and access.
Within that context, we submit the outlines of two different independently constructed senior undergraduate courses on Indigenous Peoples and Archives. These courses cover colonial archives, decolonizing archival practices, building Indigenous archives, and practical skills in navigating information systems to reach critically important information about the past. The first course outline was developed by Cody Groat and was offered in Winter 2024 at Western University. The second outline was developed by Anne Lindsay and Mary Jane Logan McCallum, and was offered in Fall 2023 at the University of Winnipeg.