Can We Digitize Ceremony?
Date
Monday September 20, 20216:00 pm - 7:00 pm
Location
Virtual
Dr. Shawn Wilson, Southern Cross University, Australia
Dr. Shawn Wilson, Opaskwayak Cree Nation, currently lives on Bundjalung land on the east coast of Australia. He is Senior Lecturer in Indigenous Knowledge at Gnibi College of Indigenous Australian Peoples at Southern Cross University and Adjunct Professor of Psychosocial Work at Østfold University College in Fredrikstad, Norway.
Would you attend an online sweat lodge? What about an online pipe ceremony? How about a talking circle? Hold an interview or conduct a focus group? Covid19 has pushed us all online into this digital space. We need to recognize how Internet protocols interact with and impact ceremonial protocols. Digital communication is great for transmitting content but as Indigenous Knowledge is relational, we really need to consider the process and relationships that lie beneath the online experience. If research is ceremony, what aspects of ceremony can be digitized?
I was fortunate enough to spend my Queen’s Alternative Practicum in Uganda, engaging in one of many projects from the Africa Sustainable Tourism Care Foundation (ASTCF). This organization works on a vast range of projects pertaining to the environment, wildlife, education, women’s rights, and social justice.
This reflection from alumnus Allan Shaw on the relationships he fostered over his career is even more meaningful given Mac Freeman’s passing on August 27, 2020. Allan’s story reminds us of the lasting impacts educators can have long after we leave their classrooms.
