On November 14th the Office of Indigenous Education and NITEP hosted professor and author Dr. Margaret Kovach at UBC. Over 100 faculty members, students and staff gathered at the First Nations House of Learning to hear Dr. Kovach speak as part of the Land, Language and Learning Speaker Series.
Kovach’s talk focused on Indigenous research methodologies, as well as the importance of collecting and sharing stories with care and respect. “Collecting data is the gift of story. Story is involved in research,“ Dr. Margaret Kovach. In order to use Indigenous research methodologies effectively Kovach strongly feels that the researcher needs to be well versed in culture and knowledge systems. Her talk brought about a lot of interesting questions regarding the use of Indigenous research methodologies, how to discuss the methodologies with those who have little or no cultural awareness and also about the use of these methodologies in the hard sciences.
For those of you who didn’t get a chance to attend her talk the video is available here.
For more information about the Land, Language and Learning Speaker Series or other events being hosted by the Office of Indigenous Education please email indigenous.education@ubc.ca to be added to our mailing list.