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Colonial Entanglements and Decolonizing Strategies

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What:
Regular session
When:
9:00 AM, Thursday 25 May 2017 (1 hour 30 minutes)
Breaks:
Pause | Break   10:30 AM to 11:00 AM (30 minutes)
Where:
Themes:
communitiesdomestic architecturesocial relationsdecolonizationindigenous issuesmodernismmethodologypedagogyarchitectural practice

As a marker within territory, architecture stakes a claim over that territory on behalf of those who design and build. In Canada, this dynamic inscribed colonial powers onto the land in the wake of Indigenous dispossession, and this architecture is often celebrated as reflective of settler nationhood. Yet other architectures also emerge out of this colonial past: those specifically constructed to further Canada’s attempts to assimilate First Nations, Inuit and Métis communities into the dominant culture. In June 2016, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) of Canada released 94 Calls to Action to redress the legacy of residential schools and the state’s long history of other oppressive practices against Indigenous peoples. The TRC did not, however, comment on architecture and design, yet these practices have undoubtedly played a significant role in the settler-Indigenous relationship. How can architecture, as a discipline, become re-indigenized and more equitable? How can non-indigenous architects, designers, and architectural historians contribute to projects of decolonization and social responsibility in productive ways, without appropriating the cultures and efforts of Indigenous peoples in these fields? In what ways can architectural history and complex historic sites benefit from the concept of decolonization? This session will explore Canadian architecture in the (post)colonial context, thinking through the ways that architecture has been used to further colonization and examining what decolonization can mean in the fields of architecture, history, and theory today.

Sub Sessions

9:00 AM - 9:20 AM | 20 minutes
communitiesMétis architecturedomestic architecturesocial relations

The blurring of the private and public realms within the Métis home is a concept intrinsic to understanding the historical underpinnings of the culture. It is well documented that one of the defining characteristics of Métis folk homes in 19th century Saskatchewan was an open interior floor plan.[1][2]  Not only did this type of design provide flexibility due to its ample interior but it also allowed for expedient construction, ‘warmth, low building cost, possibilities for expansion’, and ...

9:20 AM - 9:40 AM | 20 minutes
communitiesindigenous issuesmodernismmethodology

In her 2010 publication Unsettling the Settler Within: Indian Residential Schools, Truth Telling, and Reconciliation in Canada Paulette Regan defines the settler inability to comprehend Indigenous knowledge as the space of “not knowing”1 and suggests that the settler scholar harness this as part of a decolonial stance that moves beyond mere reflexivity or passive empathy into an actively vulnerable and unsettled realm.2 She outlines what she refers to as an “unsettling p...

9:40 AM - 10:00 AM | 20 minutes
decolonizationindigenous issuesmethodologypedagogy

To change the way we build, we must first change the way we learn to build. Historically, architecture has played a significant role in asserting settler colonial power over Indigenous peoples. These entrenched colonial structures persist, now affecting not only Indigenous peoples, but also new immigrants and the perspectives they carry. At the University of Waterloo School of Architecture (UWSA) our education is built on a foundation of cultural history. However, amid a culturally diverse st...

Amina Lalor

Participant

Samuel Ganton

Participant

Paniz Moayeri

Participant

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