A new series titled “Fostering Indigenous-Jewish Dialogue in Mi’kma’ki: A Two-Eyed Seeing/Etuaptmumk Approach” begins this Sunday (October 25), bringing together scholars, students, artists and community members from Mi’kma’ki and beyond for cultural exchange and meaningful dialogue about Indigenous and Jewish common ground, heritage and culture.
The three-day series is a collaboration many years in the making between Dalhousie’s Centre for Jewish Studies, the University of King’s College and Mount Saint Vincent University's (MSVU's) NSERC PromoScience Two-Eyed Seeing Program.
Dr. Dorota Glowacka, associate director of Dal’s Centre for Jewish Studies, a professor at King’s, and primary organizer of the series, has travelled around the globe to facilitate conferences and events on Jewish-Indigenous cultural dialogues and difficult histories. It’s been almost a decade, however, since she last facilitated a public event on this topic in Halifax.
“I do so many events all over the world and I never do this in Halifax. So, I thought I owe it to my school and my students to do it here,” says Dr. Glowacka.
Faculty, staff and students from universities throughout K’jiputktuk are invited into these dialogues through pedagogical sessions which explore topics including material culture, reclaiming of ancestral remains and artifacts, and the destruction and revitalization of languages, led by scholars in Indigenous studies and Jewish studies.
Laying a foundation
Dr. Glowacka hopes that the intercultural pedagogical methodologies explored during the workshop sessions for students could lay the foundation for building curricula for future classes in Dal’s newly established Centre for Jewish Studies.
“I am hoping to develop new pedagogical tools that can bring diverse ways of thinking about the world and being in the world together into the space of one classroom,” says Dr. Glowacka.
Dr. Krista Collier-Jarvis, one of the other organizers, is a member of the Pictou Landing first nation and lead of the program at MSVU. She hopes that faculty and staff who are attending the sessions will gain important tools to facilitate safe and inclusive spaces to invite intercultural dialogue and diverse perspectives in the classroom.
“I'm really hoping that people come out of this, any of these sessions feeling confident; that they can have difficult conversations in the classroom and that they're not feeling alone,” says Collier-Jarvis.
Anchoring the dialogue
For Collier-Jarvis and other organizers, the Mi’kmaq concept of two-eyed seeing, which envisions the inclusion of both Indigenous and Western ways of knowing in our work and personal lives, is an important anchor for the week’s events.
“Part of two-eyed seeing is you get to engage with another perspective that is not necessarily yours, which means that you also get to appreciate more about that culture, because otherwise you might not have engaged with it,” says Collier-Jarvis.
Collier-Jarvis notes that she is particularly excited for the art gallery ehibition opening at the NSCAD Treaty Space Gallery (on Monday, October 26). She has been working with students from MSVU and NSCAD for weeks to create unique artistic pieces for the upcoming gallery exhibit, including “Among the Birches” that will be a part of the week’s event series.
“It's the sacredness of the birch tree itself as the thing that's brought us together in these conversations” says Collier-Jarvis.
She describes how the handcrafted birch trees that she and her students have created will be placed throughout the art gallery, alongside pieces by Mi’kmaw artist Jessica Jerome and artists from the Zapomniane Foundation. Both artists will explore the natural landscapes that tie to difficult memories and intergenerational trauma.
“Visitors actually have to walk among the birches in order to engage with the artwork”, Collier-Jarvis says.
After the grand opening, the exhibit will remain open to the public until November 7.
Celebrations and conversations
Public events include a musical performance on October 25 bringing together klezmer musicians, Yiddish dancers, and a fusion of Mi’kmaw and Celtic music, a keynote roundtable on October 26 exploring cultural transmission and preservation of Indigenous and Jewish difficult histories in museums, and a film screening and discussion on October 27 showcasing Mi’kmaw and Jewish films.
Dr. Collier-Jarvis hopes that participants of both public events and scholarly workshops will be inspired by the potential of bringing together scholars and artists across institutions, disciplines and cultures together in conversation.
“Something I've seen in my work too much is everyone's isolated in the things they do; they're in these little silos and doing great work, but they're doing great work in silos rather than branching out and working together," she says.
Echoing her colleague, Dr. Glowacka encourages everyone regardless of their discipline of study or background to attend the events, which she hopes will facilitate an open-minded environment for meaningful dialogue.
“By having these conversations, we can discover these points of intersection and historical trajectories and ways to celebrate our cultures," she says. "We always truly celebrate our cultures in the company of others – that’s what brings us joy.”