EDST-561A (021) – Hybrid Course
Practicum Course
Education, leadership and solidarity building through an intersectional colonialities praxis
This course is open as an elective to all student in EDST and across UBC.
Theoretical and thematic focus of the course
Building on Kimberlé William Crenshaw’s (1989) ground-breaking scholarship in the field of Law, which has achieved significant traction in recent years in the field of education, this practicum course aims to institutionalize community advocacy and solidarity building through a decolonizing approach rooted in what I call Intersectional Colonialities — a theoretical framework and praxis that demands intersectional consciousness and action for solidarity building (Gill, forthcoming). The main themes of our course will include education, leadership and advocacy for Indigeneity and intersectional anti-oppression.
General Information for interested participants
Each participant will be invited to engage with a local nonprofit organization (NGO) or in a workplace/ school/school district institution that supports Indigenous, racialized or marginalized populations in order to develop an advocacy relationship with them that will ideally continue beyond the term of this course. It is expected that participants will have met/reconnected with their chosen anti-oppression organization/ school/district contact for their “internship” before the course begins in an area that they may already have some advocacy engagement or an area that they hope to pursue in their graduate studies. If support is needed in finding an organization course participants should contact the instructor at hartej.gill@ubc.ca
ASAP to begin introductory relationship building with one of the instructor’s community partners/groups/lower mainland school/district connections. Once the initial logistics are finalized, the remainder of the course will be co-created with course participants in order to make the teaching/learning as meaningful as possible for all.
Course Format:
Each participant will be required to spend 25 hours working with their NGO/school/community partners throughout the term and participate in the monthly class teaching/learning circles via Zoom. As the instructor, I will be meeting with each participant’s community/work-place based/school/district partners (in the community) approximately bi-weekly. The remaining university-based dates of this course will involve full class and individual meetings (please see below). The dates for these meetings will be determined with course participants.
The course hours will be as follows:
- 25 hours over the term at the practicum site (these hours should be co-organized with the site-supervisor/mentor)
- 4 monthly Zoom classes on Wednesdays 4:30-7:30PM which will focus on the theory and understanding of ethical community engagement, Indigeneity, intersectional anti-oppression, allyship and solidarity building.
- 4 (30 minute) biweekly individual meetings with Hartej to discuss/reflect on practicum progress
Assignments will include:
- Class participation and successful completion of your 25 practicum hours
- A personally selected reading which could include sections of a book or a collection of articles relevant to participants’ own areas of interest related to their practicum and our class focus
- One small group praxis presentation emerging from our class readings
- A culminating reflection on the participant’s practicum bringing together the learnings advocacy engagement/reciprocity initiatives from the practicum, the personally selected reading and our class readings, discussions and teaching/learnings.
- Alternative final projects organized with the practicum site supervisor/mentor and Hartej to support the needs of practicum organization/institution will be encouraged.
If you have any questions about EDST-561 please do not hesitate to contact me at: hartej.gill@ubc.ca