Teaching and Professional Practice

M21 - Workshop 'Let's Give Them Something to Talk About'

Date: Jun 1 | Time: 03:15pm to 04:45pm | Location: Classroom - CL 431 Room ID:15725

Chair/Président/Présidente : Alana Cattapan (University of Saskatchewan)

Discussant/Commentateur/Commentatrice : Joyce Green (University of Regina)

Session Abstract: Although political science departments remain largely white, largely settler, and largely male, conversations about expanding, diversifying, and Indigenizing the “core” of the discipline have increased both in number and in tenor. There is growing demand for new research methods, new teaching approaches, and new areas of scholarship that reflect the demographics of Canadian society and the students whom we teach. There is also some recognition that research employing intersectional, anti-racist, Indigenous, or feminist frameworks offer fruitful analytic potential for political science and the potential of revealing new answers to old question. At the same time, loyalty to the canon runs deep, and there are questions about the maintenance of established forms of expertise and knowledge production. Panelists will tackle key questions and debates in this area. Their papers will examine feminist and Indigenous methods in IR, the use of intersectional, anti-oppression approaches in Canadian political science, the possibilities for disciplinary decolonization, and the representation of immigrants and minorities in political science textbooks.

The Future of Canadian Political Science: Boundary Transgressions, Gender, and Anti-Oppression Frame: Megan Gaucher (Carleton University), Nisha Nath (University of Alberta), Ethel Tungohan (York University)
Abstract: In light of the Canadian Journal of Political Science (CJPS) self-reflexive “50th Anniversary” issue on the state of Canadian Political Science (CPS), this article maps the discipline’s engagement with intersectional anti-oppression scholarship. Analyzing abstracts in CJPS and the Canadian Political Science Review, we argue while these journals – and mainstream CPS more generally - tackle questions of diversity, there remains a gap between conversations recognized in these particular forums and the incorporation of what we term an intersectional anti-oppression lens. In its deconstruction of systems of power and privilege, we explore analytic and pedagogical possibilities this lens presents for mainstream CPS.

Narratives of Exclusion: Immigrants and Minorities in Political Science Textbooks: Erin Tolley (University of Toronto)
Abstract: Textbooks introduce students to the discipline; they signal which topics are important and, by omission, those that are unimportant. Past research suggests that American political science textbooks lack diversity and serve to marginalize women, African Americans, and Hispanics as political actors (Cassese, Bos, and Schneider 2014; Cassese, Bos, and Duncan 2012; Olivio 2012; Wallace and Allen 2008; Novkov and Gossett 2007). Canadian research documents similar findings with respect to the representation of women in textbooks (Vickers 2015), but there has been no systematic analysis of other historically under-represented groups. Given the country’s entrenched multiculturalism policy, we might expect Canadian textbooks to integrate the experiences of immigrants and minorities. We conclude that this is not the case. We use text analysis and critical discourse analysis to examine the inclusion and representation of immigrants and minorities in introductory Canadian politics textbooks. We find that while issues related to immigration and multiculturalism appear in politics textbooks, immigrants and minorities rarely appear as political actors, and almost never in the discussion of key institutions, such as Parliament, the executive or bureaucracy. Intersectionality is mentioned only in passing, and issues related to equity are mostly deracialized and depoliticized. Our paper suggests that first introduction to Canadian politics does not reflect the country’s demographics nor of the experiences of the immigrants and minorities who make up a quarter of the Canadian population. More needs to be done to inject diverse perspectives and experiences into our teaching.

Indigenizing College Electives: Teaching Theory Through Lived Experience: Jessica Merolli (Sheridan College)
Abstract: As critical scholars we are called to consider the limitations, exclusions, and violence that emerge from our research. As a community, we have made strides in considering how the canon, and the practices of research and publication intersect with and reify colonialism, white supremacy, patriarchy, classism and so on. But how does this transform the way we teach politics? This paper considers the unique challenge of teaching politics as an elective within the college system in Ontario, where an emphasis on the ‘practical’ over the theoretical abounds. Using an introductory Canadian Politics course as template, it examines how we might transform how the ‘basics’ of Canadian institutions are taught, while also disrupting and challenging their very foundations. In collaboration with the Centre for Indigenous Learning and Support, this paper provides an evaluation of the purposeful reorganization of course content designed to integrate indigenous voices and experiences into each week of the course. We suggest that privileging individual and community lived experiences of institutional frameworks over description of the rules of the game, can serve as an entry point for understanding post-colonial theory specifically, and critical theory generally. It concludes with an analysis of changes to students’ understanding of legacy and current practices of colonialism in Canada.