Implementing Diversity

Rose Fine-Meyer, PhD (rose.fine.meyer@utoronto.ca)Kate Zankowicz, PhD Candidate (kate.zankowicz@mail.utoronto.ca)Implementing Diversity in the Classroom:Challenging Collective MemoryThe materials used in this presentation are for educational purposes only and not for publication.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 useStrategies for Implementing an Inclusive Lens Avoid tokenism: authentic inclusion involves questioning the standard cultural lensAvoid heroism: the lives of everyday individuals and community-based achievement is historically significantNaming the names: avoid categorizations of peopleWomen, indigenous communities, minority cultures are embedded in local and global historiesStarting a lesson with what is often a peripheral narrative as your central beginning point is a holistic strategy for inclusion

Fine-Meyer and Zankowicz, 2012Viewing Racism/Sexism/Cultural /Ableist Biases of the Past People were just stupid back then...Identifying false equity: were all equal nowBe 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 pastits honest history!Avoid victimization narratives: acknowledge various empowerments

Fine-Meyer and Zankowicz, 2012How to Connect to Historical Thinking Concepts in the New CurriculumEstablish historical significanceUse primary source evidenceIdentify continuity and changeAnalyze cause and consequenceTake historical perspectivesUnderstand ethical dimension of historical interpretation Source: Historical Thinking Project (www.historicalthinking.ca)

Fine-Meyer and Zankowicz, 2012Pedagogical Steps to TakeSeek out multicultural, multi-ethnic narrativesMaterials 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 storiesLocal and global perspectives about history should be integrated: move beyond the standard Eurocentric or North American-centric frameworkKnow 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, 2012How?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 citizenshipProvide deep historical context

Fine-Meyer and Zankowicz, 2012Unidentified 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 InterpretationFine-Meyer and Zankowicz, 2012

Click to see a larger image (143K)Unidentified woman, [ca. 1875]Alvin D. McCurdy fondsReference Code: F 2076-16-4-5Archives of Ontario, I0028818Sophia Pooley was born a slave in Fishkill, New York, the daughter of slaves Oliver and Dinah Burthen. At a young age, Sophia and her sister were taken to Niagara, where they were sold to Mohawk chieftain Joseph Brant. Brant brought the two Black girls to his home on the Mohawk reserve in Upper Canada.

7Title 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

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Sophia Burthen Pooley: First-person account of slavery in Upper Canada-- historian Adrienne Shaddwww.herstoriescafe.caPooley says, 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.

Joseph Brant, (Thayendanegea)Chief of the Six NationsReference Code: S 2076Archives of Ontario, I0013621Digging DeeperFine-Meyer and Zankowicz, 2012

Celebrated Mohawk leader who allied with the British during the War of 1812, American Revolutionary War. Chief of Six Nations Alan Taylors The Civil War of 1812Sophia Burthen Pooleys masterTeacher resources for War of 1812 see approachingthepast.caHistory is Complicated Advertisement, Niagara Herald, 28 August, 1802Reference Code: N23Archives of Ontario

Fine-Meyer and Zankowicz, 201210Complicating the Great War Narrative World War I gave women the opportunity to work in factoriesWomen were nurses Men were soldiers/ warriorsAll Canadians supported the war effortInternment camps only happened in World War IIThose who survived are the lucky onesWar is in the trenchesDiverse communities played a supportive roleWomen got the vote because of the warThe Roaring Twenties brings happiness to everyone

Fine-Meyer and Zankowicz, 2012The Diversity of Womens 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]

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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, 2012Source : Buxton National Historic Site and Museum, official marching song of the Canadian first world war soldiers. 13Women in a Textile Plant 1908Women in a Textile Plant, 1908, City of Toronto Archives/James Collection: 137/SC244-37

Fine-Meyer and Zankowicz, 2012Gender-Specific Roles: The Sacrificing Female [Water Alwards Mother Canada Statue at the Vimy Memorial in France]

Fine-Meyer and Zankowicz, 2012Hidden 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, 2012Excerpt from war measures act hand out16Victory?: Human and Environmental Consequences--Veterans in Christie Street Hospital, Toronto [Canadas Nursing Sisters by GWL Nicholson, Toronto, 1975]

Fine-Meyer and Zankowicz, 2012