Representation & White Supremacy in Canada

Co-authored by: M. Keats & M. Solomon

Our most recent #K12Media chat, from February 5, 2018, was focused on the topic of representation. We focused primarily on the definition of representation, from a Media Studies perspective, and included recent examples, including the ad broadcast during the Superbowl, using Dr. Martin Luther King.

The definition of representation we used to frame our discussion comes from “Queensland Senior English”:

"There are two important aspects of representation:

1. Representations do not reflect or mirror, the real world; they are selective constructions or textual choices.

2. These selections or choices are mediated or influenced by the attitudes, values and beliefs of both the writer/shaper/speaker and the reader/viewer/listener. These selections do not give us “reality” but “versions of reality

It is important to recognize that textual representations are re-presented versions of people, places, things, objects and concepts. These selective constructions do not reflect what is in the world. Representations are always influenced or mediated by ways of thinking about the world. They are not fixed but can change."

We explored the ways that public figures may represent themselves, as well as positive examples of representation by groups who may otherwise be underrepresented by mainstream media.

It was such a fruitful discussion, that we decided to continue the conversation for another #K12Media chat, on Monday, February 12. We are glad to be continuing the topic, because representation gets very much gets at the heart of so many of the key concepts of media studies, and it also shapes the ways we are conditioned to see the world itself.

In gathering information about this topic, there was the intention to gather hopeful depictions within mainstream media, looking at the ways that social media is helping to promote and question established norms about representation.

And then a verdict happened.

Many Canadians this week tuned into a court case and the not-guilty verdict of a man charged with murder. The response to this case has peeled back and revealed the ways that Canada, as a colonial nation has been shaped by the representations of First Nations, Inuit, and Métis peoples, as well as how we have represented ourselves. These representations are played over and over, subtly and not so across a variety of media platforms. It shows up in the ways that headlines are written, it shows up in the ways that stories about FNMI often carry powerful undercurrents within.

As women who benefit from white privilege, from settler/immigrant ancestors, we live on land that has been claimed by Colonial Canada. This colonial perspective affords us inviolable rights, rights that are not extended to people who do not look like us, may not speak like us, or may have ancestors who lived on Turtle Island long before most of it became the land currently known as Canada. It is time to really examine the ways that this White Supremacy benefits some and limits many.

So the focus on representation this week will be directed toward the ways the white supremacy is being constructed & reconstructed within and across a variety of media platforms. We have worked to gather a series of entry points and prompts for discussion.

These will be posted to the Media Literacy topic within the discussion forum.

I also invite you to visit the Association for Media Literacy's website, where this post and the materials will be posted in its singular, original format.

Beginnings. Middles. Endings.

As a teacher at a semestered school, the beginning of a new year actually means the end; after returning from our holiday break, we quickly find ourselves facing the final few weeks of the semester. We rush to complete units, prepare students for their end of the semester exams and tasks, and finally, get everything marked and evaluated for what can often be that final limp to the finish line.

I don't often set resolutions for myself during this time of the year--because of the way that January often doesn't feel like a beginning; the busyness towards the end of the semester often means that starting new practices doesn't generally fit successfully into the list of to-do's. But, January's not entirely an end, either.

For me, it also becomes a mid-point. It often becomes a marker of the halfway point in a school year. We are somewhere in-between. Like the space between an exhale and inhale.

This year, I want to use this in-between moment to more purposefully re-calibrate. I want to look at what I've done over the past 5 months and take a short pause to see what I want to carry into that new semester.

And then, I'll be ready to breathe in again and begin anew.

New Year, New Intentions: Amplify

#OneWordOnt #OneWord2018

2017 was a year of transitions and change in a lot of ways for me as an educator.

One of the biggest shifts happened because of a surge of new teachers that joined our department, some of whom were former students. Having colleagues that were once bright eyed grade nines in front of me means that I've passed another threshold in my career.

I'm no longer green, new, or inexperienced. And because of those years of experience, I'm beginning the journey as a teacher to a different group of people; new teachers.

I found myself, more distinctly and consistently throughout the school year, offering guidance, feedback, and materials for teachers who could have been me in my first few years of teaching. I thought a lot about the ways I had been supported and how that support had laid a foundation to help me become a better teacher. That was the intention I had when I sat with young colleagues who were hoping to see the lessons and assignments they were designing succeed within their classrooms.

The side benefit to that new role was the ways it challenged me to see my own current practices and reflect on ways I could also continue to grow. Throughout last year, I explored new projects and developed tools and tasks, I participated in multiple professional development days, explored topics that interested me; I especially focused on my passion for media literacy education across the curriculum.

The one piece that I pondered throughout 2017 was the ways that our network of support is highly dependent on the people we are physically surrounded by (especially in our first few years of teaching). I have wanted to see a network extend beyond the walls of the school (it's part of why I firmly believe in social media like twitter for connecting educators). As a teacher of English, I have lots of other English subject teachers that have resources that I can easily reach out to during the school day. In my other subject areas, however, I'm on my own within my building. That seed or spark that can come from a brief discussion or debate can be harder to find.

This is one of the reasons that I decided to set up a discussion forum for teachers as an additional platform to share ideas and hopefully resources.

So, with that in mind, for 2018, my word is: Amplify.

Its definition is to make larger, greater, or stronger; enlarge; extend. It's also to: expand in stating or describing, as by details or illustrations; clarify by expanding.

That's what I'd like to do this year. I want to amplify great ideas, expand spaces for sharing; help to amplify those voices in my classroom that may otherwise not be heard, strengthen those great ideas happening workrooms, across school boards. This word has me consider the voices that may currently be unheard, and to challenge myself to listen more deeply for them.

I would also like to use online platforms to amplify those speakers and writers and thinkers that help us to think more broadly, more inclusively, and more humanely about our place in the world.

I look forward to amplifying the year ahead!