Going Beyond Diversity and Inclusion: A Day with Dr. Kim TallBear

As part of the Faculty of Communication, Art and Technology’s (FCAT) Community in Practice speaker series, Dr. Kim TallBear presented her lecture, “Beyond Diversity and Inclusion in the Academy: Restoring Indigenous Land and Life” on January 4th to a combined audience of 250 at The Wosk Centre for Dialogue and online.

Dr. TallBear shared precise definitions of decolonization, reconciliation, and Indigenization, including reviewing some of the calls to action laid out in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s report. Referring to Gaudry and Lorenz’s “Indigenization as inclusion, reconciliation, and decolonization: navigating the different visions for indigenizing the Canadian Academy,” she explained that reconciliation indigenization goes beyond mere Indigenous inclusion by attempting to alter the university’s structure and educating faculty, staff, and students to change how they think about and act toward Indigenous people.

Through her work as Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Peoples, Technoscience, and Society at the University of Alberta and through leading initiatives including the Indigenous STS research group and Summer Internship for Indigenous Peoples in Genomics (SING), TallBear is focused on restoring Indigenous land and life in a material way.  

The lecture concluded with perspectives from Chelsea Watego, Professor of Indigenous Health at Queensland University of Technology and author of Another Day in the Colony, with TallBear emphasizing the point that decolonization is more than a mindset — it’s an action. 

In the afternoon, Dr. TallBear joined FCAT Indigenous faculty, staff, students and alumni for an intimate lunch and conversation, followed by a reflective discussion with members of the FCAT Dean’s Office, Event Advisory Committee, and Equity, Community and Care working group. 

FCAT faculty and staff can watch a recording of Dr. TallBear’s talk via the faculty and staff portal. 

About Dr. Kim TallBear

Kim TallBear (Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate) is Professor and Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Peoples, Technoscience, and Society, Faculty of Native Studies, University of Alberta. She is the author of Native American DNA: Tribal Belonging and the False Promise of Genetic Science. In addition to studying the implications of genomics for Indigenous peoples, Dr. TallBear studies colonial disruptions to Indigenous sexualities. She is co-founder of the Indigenous sexy storytelling and cabaret show, Tipi Confessions. She is also a regular panelist on the weekly podcast, Media Indigena. You can follow Dr. TallBear’s research group at IndigenousSTS.com. You can also find her on Mastodon @KimTallBear@mastodon.social.

About FCAT Community in Practice

Community in Practice (CiP) is an initiative led by FCAT’s Advisor, Equity, Community and Care. It encompasses our active work to respond to and demonstrate our commitments to decolonization, Indigenization, truth and reconciliation, and the wide range of issues within the equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) compass. As the title emphasizes, it is a practice, and it is something we are doing collectively as a faculty to provide the time and space for FCAT faculty, students, administrators and staff to listen and learn together, to disrupt our regularly scheduled programming to discuss important topics affecting academic work life and student life—and to reflect on how we work together.