Possibilities, Challenges, and Complexities of Decolonizing Higher Education

Donna Kahérakwas Goodleaf is Turtle Clan and is a citizen from the Kanien’kehaka (Mohawk) Nation, Kahnawake Territory, which is part of the Rotinonhsión:ni Six Nations Iroquois Confederacy. She is a Kanien’kehá:ka educator and scholar who joined Concordia university in January of 2018 and is the Director of Decolonizing Curriculum and Pedagogy . Her primary role is to develop university-wide training with Concordia faculty on decolonizing and reconceptualize their curriculum and programs of study in ways that re-center the advancement and integration of Indigenous peoples’ diverse intellectual, scientific and cultural knowledge systems, worldviews, epistemologies, histories, research and pedagogies across all academic units. She also serves on the Indigenous Directions Leadership Group.

Her faculty teaching and Indigenous-centered curriculum design experiences in various academic programs in the Humanities span across Canada and the United States. In addition, Donna has vast experiences working in Indigenous communities on a local, national and international level in the areas of Indigenous-centered education, language and cultural revitalization programs. Her current research interests are in decolonization, Indigenous land-based education, protection and promotion of Indigenous language and cultural rights, Indigenous land rights and rights to self-determination and Human Rights.

Ezgi Ozyonum is a Public Scholar of Concordia University. She is currently pursuing her doctoral degree in the field of education. She obtained her Bachelor’s Degree, in Turkey, from Bilkent University and completed her Master’s Degree at Middle East Technical University. Ezgi has taught graduate course at the Department of Education, Concordia University, and has delivered graduate seminars and workshops for Concordia’s Centre for Teaching and Learning and GradProSkills.

Ezgi's doctoral research brings critical and decolonial perspectives to the study and practice of decolonization and internationalization of higher education. Through her work, she seeks to interrupt common colonial patterns of education engagement. She presented her research at many national and international academic conferences including Comparative & International Education Society (CIES), American Educational Research Association (AERA), and Canadian Society for the Study of Higher Education (CSSHE). She organized events in collaboration with the Decolonial Perspectives and Practices Hub and Concordia’s 4^th Space. Through her research, she wants to move Canadian Universities towards a more equitable and inclusive future.