Sherry Fukuzawa
Sherry Fukuzawa
Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream
Anthropology
ANT241H: Anthropology and Indigenous Peoples of Turtle Island
This Indigenous Action Group (IAG)* community-led course takes students out of the traditional classroom to learn from Anishinaabe scholars in a local land-based pedagogy. The course is based on critical reflexive methods. Students determine their own learning journey based on individual positionality and interests.
*“The Indigenous Action Group (IAG) is an alliance made up primarily of scholars, Elders, Knowledge Keepers, artisans, teachers, activists, and researchers from the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation (MCFN) with non-Indigenous and Indigenous faculty and staff from the University of Toronto campuses. The IAG’s goal is to engage students, staff, and faculty in truth, through knowledge of Michi Saagiig Nishnaabeg Nations’ history and the importance of Treaties as living documents, and reconciliation, through an acceptance of local Indigenous knowledge systems across the curriculum. This directive means that educational priorities are not only community-engaged, but also community-led. Partnerships between educational institutions and local Indigenous communities go beyond broader Indigenous Studies programs because they promote a place-based educational model that forms the foundation for equity, reciprocity, and respectful relationships.”
Judge, A., Fukuzawa, S., & Ferrier, J. (2021). Local Indigenous Knowledge in the Classroom through Community-engaged learning. Teaching Anthropology Journal, Special Issue: Decolonizing the European Classroom: Anthropology, racism and emotionality, 10(4), 47-57.
Meet five innovative U of T professors who are rethinking their classrooms. University of Toronto News, April 18, 2022.