FNDT 115: Indigenous Presence

This entry-level course introduces students to Indigenous peoples, worldviews, cultures, and ways of knowing through the lens of contemporary Indigenous artists and their cultural expressions. Situated within a basket of Indigenous values, this curriculum privileges Indigenous presence and the gifts that Indigenous cultures have contributed and continue to contribute to the social, ecological, cultural and political fabric of Vancouver, British Columbia, and Canada. Through thematic-based lessons, presentations, interviews, readings and films, we will trace important moments in Indigenous histories emphasizing the diversity of Indigenous peoples in Canada and North America. This course will also track the impacts of Indigenous-settler relations as they inform our current historical moment and aims at decolonizing our lenses and developing an understanding and validation of a plurality of knowledges and alternative histories. A central tenet of this course is understanding the spirit of place and the importance of the local, and the ways in which place informs us as artists, designers, guests and community members. By fore-fronting place and the land, we are situated, as teachers and learners, in a reciprocal, responsible relationship with the Indigenous ethos of "all my relations."