My safety: Rethinking safe spaces through intentional community building

In our January blog, Mofi Badmos, Diversity and Inclusivity Coordinator at the Smith School of Business, talks about the importance of community and how creating spaces for BIPoC individuals is key to fostering belonging

We finish our third book club meeting discussing Akwaeke Emezi’s Freshwater, with so much awe and gratitude that I say to my friend and book club member “wow, I can’t believe we continue to make this happen”. I am stunned at how five Black women, in four different countries, across different time zones come together, in community, to discuss books and themes all connected through our different but shared experiences as Black women navigating society.

Our lazily named Best Book Club was intentional on the membership being Black and non-Black racialized women from African countries reading books by other Black and non-Black racialized African authors. Continue Reading »

Unlearning and Relearning the KAIROS blanket exercise: Culturally safe for who?

In our End of Year special, Paige Van Tassel, an Anishinaabe and ᓀᐦᐃᔭᐤ (Cree) registered with Grassy Narrows First Nation doctoral candidate with the Department of Art History and Art Conservation at Queen’s University, tells her experience facilitating the KAIROS blanket exercise and shares the importance of re-learning indigenous lived histories

Paige Van Tassel nindizhnikaaz, Timmins nindoonjibaa. Niin omashkigoowi Anishinaabekwe. Gaawiin inendoodemin. I volunteer a part of my time to co-facilitate Cultural Safety Training within Queen’s University. This training is a three-part workshop involving the KAIROS Blanket Exercise, Relationship Building, and Terminology and Legal Definitions. The KAIROS is kinesthetic learning experience which involves participants walking on blankets while an indigenous narrator and role-playing Europeans conduct a story to learn about 500+ years of indigenous histories and current experiences across Canada. This is an exercise in unlearning colonial perspectives of history taught in the Canadian public education system and re-learning indigenous histories in Canada from an indigenous point of view. Continue Reading »

Disability, more than the Wheelchair

Our December blogger is Xin Sun, a recent Queen’s graduate and an active member of the Queen’s & Kingston communities as a Disability and Social Justice Advocate. In her piece, she discusses the importance of unlearning narrow understandings of disability and accessibility

The International Symbol of Access (ISA) has over 50 years of history. The symbol was originally designed in the 1960s by Danish design student, Susanne Koefoed. The sign is commonly seen as a white icon of a person in a wheelchair, against a blue background. This symbol is used as an indication that a facility is accessible to people with disabilities. For instance, the ISA can be spotted in accessible parking lots, accessible entrances, and accessible washrooms, etc. In recent years, a proposal was put out by a group named The Accessible Icon Project, to redesign the symbol, and came up with the Dynamic Symbol of Access, Continue Reading »

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Eight “Good Practices” for Engaging in Courageous Conversations

Our November blogger, Andrew B. Campbell, Adjunct Assistant Professor at Queens University, shares with us a set of recommendations to navigate the difficult conversations that lead us to positive change

After being involved in a number of conversations at workshops, conferences, and in classrooms, I wish to share eight of my personal principles. Five are postures and positions I have developed throughout my practice over the years, and the other three are from Singleton & Linton (2006).

Share Your Story

Black people, like myself, visible minorities, LGBTQ, Indigenous and the “othered” who do this work, often feel the need to be careful and cautious, often doing this work within predominant white spaces. Story telling of others and self are powerful tools. Our lived experiences are valued. We live our stories. Often, our stories are situated and shared in deficit ways. Continue Reading »

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We See the World as We Are

In this blog, our contributor Kevin Collins, the Student Development Coordinator at Queen’s, writes about the importance of understanding our own identities in order to learn how to navigate differences respectfully

This year’s blog theme is unlearning and relearning. My career has given me the opportunity to try my hand at these things. It’s a process that I feel fortunate to have regular opportunities to engage in.

My background is in international and comparative education. Through living and teaching overseas, I’ve been able to see how different educational systems work based on cultural context. As a teacher in South Korea and Sweden, I felt that I was learning about how different educational systems work. What I didn’t realize at the time was that I was viewing things through my own lens based on my culture and identity. When I saw students in Korea attending school on Saturdays, Continue Reading »

Learning, Unlearning and Relearning

In the first blog of the year, Lauren Winkler, a Kanien’keha:ka student at Queen’s, talks about her journey relearning to love herself in the different roles of her life: daughter, sister, niece, grandchild, and friend

“Education is what got us here, education is what will get us out.” – Senator Murray Sinclair

When I think of university, or post-secondary education, or life for that matter, one word comes to mind: opportunity. Coming to Queen’s I was excited about the opportunity to live on my own, to make new friends, to find myself (because at the time I thought that was something that would just happen… I only wish), and to learn. Sure enough, I have thrived living in my independence, made lifelong friends, and gained a better sense of who I am. What I did not anticipate were the challenges to my own way of thinking that would come from my professors and peers, Continue Reading »