A Qallunaaq on Baffin Island: A Canadian Experience of Decolonizing the Teacher

Abstract

This chapter takes on the colonial baggage that non-Aboriginal teachers must unpack when engaging in educational activities in Indigenous communities. Through narratives and critical reflection on her own six-year engagement with music teaching in Iqaluit, Canada, the author examines the possibilities for decolonizing the work of teaching in Indigenous communities. Personal narratives are placed in dialogue with literature about teachers teaching in remote areas. This allows the author to reimagine a practice that moves beyond re-inscribing colonial, racist and ethnocentric practices to a practice that gives authority to local truths and Indigenous tradition. Implications for teacher education are examined through the experiences of two graduate students who engaged in a residency in the community along with the author. The students reported transformation of ethnocentric and preconceived stereotypic perspectives, leading them to critically examine their own teaching practices. This work is presented as a model for engaging in critical examination of personal teaching practice.