Kicya7 Joyce Schneider

Biography

Ama sqit. Kicya7 nskwatsitsa, s7entsa Ucwalmicw. Greetings. My name is Kicya7, I am Ucwalmicw. I carry the name Kicya7 for my grandmother, Annie Jim, it means mother to all. The Ucwalmicw unceded and ancestral territories are located in the southern interior of what is known as British Columbia. I am a grateful and un-invited guest on these xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), Stó:lō and Səl̓ílwətaʔɬ/ Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) Nation territories.

I completed my MA in FNST at the University of Northern British Columbia in 2007. "Whispering the Circle Back: Participating in the Oral Transmission of Knowledge" disseminates an exploration of the central tenets of Indigenous Knowledge systems and considers ways to respectfully mobilize them within a colonial and colonizing institution. Building on this work, I utilized the Ucwalmicw loom and weaving process as metaphor and praxis to successfully complete my Ph.D. project, "The Warp and Weft of it all: Ucwalmicw Education emerging out of the Aboriginal Education Tapestry", at the University of British Columbia in 2018. This research centered on the weaving together of Aboriginal education policies with a few of the key contributions shared with me by my Samahquamicw community toward transforming education for Tákem nsnek̓wnúk̓w7a(all my relations).

Indigenist in mind, body, and spirit, I mobilize Indigenous ways of coming to understand in all of the courses that I am privileged to teach. My current research centers on further developing a Tákem nsnek̓wnúk̓w7a pedagogical approach to fostering respectful relationship building in all university classrooms as one pathway towards reconciling education and effecting social change. This includes the creation of activities that are practical for students while also challenging them to have political integrity in their choosing to take INDG courses- to be responsible for what and how they learn. This research interest will expand to develop tools that evaluate how well institutions are meeting their commitments to the Accord on Indigenous Education(2010) and the TRC Calls to action(2015).