Implementing Diversity in the Classroom: Challenging Collective Memory

1. Implementing Diversity in the Classroom:Challenging Collective Memory Rose Fine-Meyer, PhD (rose.fine.meyer@utoronto.ca) Kate Zankowicz, PhD Candidate (kate.zankowicz@mail.utoronto.ca) The materials used in this presentation are for educational purposes only and not for publication. All sources have been cited; content is subject to approval for further use

2. Strategies for Implementing an Inclusive Lens • Avoid tokenism: authentic inclusion involves questioning the standard cultural lens • Avoid ‘heroism’: the lives of everyday individuals and community-based achievement is historically significant • Naming the names: avoid categorizations of people • Women, indigenous communities, ‘minority’ cultures are embedded in local and global histories • Starting a lesson with what is often a peripheral narrative as your central beginning point is a holistic strategy for inclusion Fine-Meyer and Zankowicz, 2012

3. Viewing Racism/Sexism/Cultural /Ableist Biases of the Past • “People were just stupid back then...” • Identifying false equity: “we’re all equal now” • Be critical of the ‘progress’ myth [“the present is best”] • Allow people of the past their own equity conscience and agency [“they were all racist back then...”] • The ‘distortion argument’: including diverse voices does not constitute a distortion of the past—it’s honest history! • Avoid victimization narratives: acknowledge various empowerments Fine-Meyer and Zankowicz, 2012

4. How to Connect to Historical Thinking Concepts in the New Curriculum • Establish historical significance • Use primary source evidence • Identify continuity and change • Analyze cause and consequence • Take historical perspectives • Understand ethical dimension of historical interpretation • Source: Historical Thinking Project (www.historicalthinking.ca) Fine-Meyer and Zankowicz, 2012

5. Pedagogical Steps to Take • Seek out multicultural, multi-ethnic narratives • Materials that support multiple voices, values, gender, culture, identity, belief systems • Arts-based materials for history classes [music, drawing, sculpture, architecture etc.] • Teacher knowledge and learning: learn those stories • Local and global perspectives about history should be integrated: move beyond the standard Eurocentric or North American-centric framework • Know the missing voices: who gets left out of the historical account? • Oral testimony, artifacts: look beyond the written document [an embedded cultural bias] Fine-Meyer and Zankowicz, 2012

6. How? • Community-based interviews, oral histories, first-person • Partnerships with public libraries, community centres, places of worship, museums, archives, retail stores [culturally diverse communities] • Recognize the diversity of the students in the class [diversity is already there] • Use of technology [access cultural sites] • Encourage students to see themselves as diverse historical subjects [self-curating exercises] • Complicate the binary structure of historical narratives [Us vs. Them, Good vs. Bad] challenging notions of citizenship • Provide deep historical context Fine-Meyer and Zankowicz, 2012

7. Unidentified woman [1875 F 2076-16-4-5 Upper Canada History: Archives of Ontario, I0028818,] How Do Historians Find Voices From The Past? The Ethical Choices In Historical Interpretation Fine-Meyer and Zankowicz, 2012

8. Title page, Benjamin Drew, A North-Side view of slavery. The Refugee: or the Narratives of the Fugitive Slaves in Canada, Boston: John P. Jewett, 1856 • Sophia Burthen Pooley: First-person account of slavery in Upper Canada-- historian Adrienne Shadd • www.herstoriescafe.ca • Pooleysays, “There were hardly any white people in Canada then – nothing here but Indians and wild beasts... I was a woman grown when the first governor of Canada came from England: that was Gov. Simcoe.” Fine-Meyer and Zankowicz, 2012

9. Joseph Brant, (Thayendanegea)Chief of the Six NationsReference Code: S 2076Archives of Ontario, I0013621Digging Deeper • Celebrated Mohawk leader who allied with the British during the War of 1812, American Revolutionary War. Chief of Six Nations • Alan Taylor’s The Civil War of 1812 • Sophia Burthen Pooley’smaster • Teacher resources for War of 1812 see approachingthepast.ca Fine-Meyer and Zankowicz, 2012

10. History is Complicated Advertisement, Niagara Herald, 28 August, 1802Reference Code: N23Archives of Ontario Fine-Meyer and Zankowicz, 2012

11. Complicating the Great War Narrative “World War I gave women the opportunity to work in factories” “Women were nurses” “Men were “soldiers/ warriors” “All Canadians supported the war effort” “Internment camps only happened in World War II” “Those who survived are the lucky ones” “War is in the trenches” “Diverse communities played a supportive role” “Women got the vote because of the war” “The Roaring Twenties brings happiness to everyone” Fine-Meyer and Zankowicz, 2012

12. The Diversity of Women’s Contributions to the War Effort [Lois Allen Camp in Winona On 1918, NLA, MG 30-C173; Red Cross ambulance, Toronto Archives Fonds 1244 item 885] Fine-Meyer and Zankowicz, 2012

13. Knowing the UnknownHattie Rhue-Hatchett (1863-1958): The Sacred Spot Marching Song Buxton National Historic Site and Museum: From It Was Their War Too, Pat Staton Fine-Meyer and Zankowicz, 2012

14. Women in a Textile Plant1908Women in a Textile Plant, 1908, City of Toronto Archives/James Collection: 137/SC244-37 Fine-Meyer and Zankowicz, 2012

15. Gender-Specific Roles: The Sacrificing Female [Water Alward’s “Mother Canada” Statue at the Vimy Memorial in France] Fine-Meyer and Zankowicz, 2012

16. Hidden War Histories: Internment Camps during World War I[Women and Children in Sprit Lake Internment Camp Quebec, NLA, PA 170 620] Fine-Meyer and Zankowicz, 2012

17. Victory?: Human and Environmental Consequences--Veterans in Christie Street Hospital, Toronto [Canada’s Nursing Sisters by GWL Nicholson, Toronto, 1975] Fine-Meyer and Zankowicz, 2012