Dangling in the Glimmer of Hope: Academic Action on Truth and Reconciliation invites and demonstrates actions by academics in relation to some of the Calls to Action of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC). It does this in two ways. Throughout you will find poetry, short stories, and children’s stories. You will also encounter academic chapters. We hope you will find the mixing of personal and academic voices a challenge and engages you to consider what Truth—and Reconciliation—and the Calls to Action—require of each of us. These voices are used to engage both the head and the heart. Change needs the engagement of both to succeed.
The collection includes six chapters of varying styles and more than 10 poetry contributions, some of which are listed in the Table of Contents, and some of which are internal to the chapters themselves and are therefore listed only in the List of Poems. The actions that are addressed in this collection include “Language and Culture,” “Health,” Education for Reconciliation,” “Business and Reconciliation,” “Commemoration,” and “Newcomers to Canada,” notwithstanding that the cover photo itself is a poignant, emotional representation of “Missing Children and Burial Information.”
[...]
One of the aims of this book is to provoke real change. The Calls to Action, published in 2015, make it clear that colonial thinking and pandering to issues rather than addressing them must stop. To this end, we embrace the Indigenous values of all people. It is the voices of the many, aiming at change, that is going to make this country better for all. For “all” includes beginning, experienced, and expert academics. We invited all: those willing and able to invest the time and energy to learn and to, correspondingly, work. There was vulnerability for everyone in this process. By using the priorities of a university related to research and dissemination, we hope we will change the country! This work is academic, albeit also creative (ideally then—using both sides of the brain, and a level of personalization that is often not part of academic writing). It will take a total investment, including all brain capacity and emotional capacity, to do what needs to be done.
This collection is intended to be helpful, to stimulate creativity, and, most importantly, to encourage all to act according to their abilities, interests, and opportunities, on the actions demanded by the TRC Calls to Action. It may be useful in a college or university classroom. It may be useful for Indigenous communities. And it may inspire other works that expand on this concept. In the end, the goal remains the same—change. Change requires personal commitment. We hope we inspire commitment and actions.
Tk’emlúps