Reconciliation and education: Artistic actions and critical conversations

Land acknowledgements are common practices in higher education in Canada. These rote statements read before classes, presentations, and other institutional gatherings in the name of reconciliation rarely do much beyond superficial recognition. However, as Indigenous scholars and artists argue, recognition of Land is crucial and part of the meaningful work of reconciliation. This chapter examines Indigenous artistic actions and engages in critical conversations regarding the politics of reconciliation and land acknowledgement in higher education, specifically attending to a newly curated Indigenous artist-in-residence initiative at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE), the University of Toronto. Thinking-with the inaugural artist-in-residence, Vanessa Dion Fletcher’s work the chapter argues that acknowledgements must shift from inserting the ghosts of the past into the settler’s curriculum or educational space towards a future haunting that is about Indigenous futurity.