After starting his career at UBCO in July 2021, working remotely from Australia due to the pandemic, Dr. Shawn Wilson made the move back to Canada in January 2022 to continue his role in-person as Associate Professor of Indigenous Studies. We caught up with him recently to learn more about his responsibilities in the Department of Community, Culture and Global Studies, his research interests, and source of motivation.
Can you tell us a bit about your educational journey? How did you come to pursue the field you are in?
I completed my Bachelor of Science at the University of Manitoba, but didn’t like it much. I switched fields to do a Master’s of Community Psychology at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, and enjoyed it much more. I finally had some Indigenous profs and other Indigenous students in my classes, plus I liked the focus on community rather than individual. I did my PhD at Monash University in Australia in Indigenous Studies, where I focused on how Indigenous people do research that is more congruent with Indigenous philosophy and worldviews. Integrating my culture and worldview into academia has become my pursuit.
Can you talk about your current roles at UBCO? What do you find enjoyable about them and what do you find challenging?
In addition to my research and teaching, which are my main passions, I’m the program coordinator for the Indigenous Studies program within the Department of Community Culture and Global Studies. I’m also the theme coordinator for the Interdisciplinary Graduate Studies (IGS) Indigenous Knowledges Theme. Along with the strategic planning and development of those programs, I also do a lot of administrative work. What makes it all worthwhile is I get to work with such fantastic colleagues and the students here are great. My biggest challenge is balancing the admin work with the face-to-face components of my roles. I look forward to mentoring the next generation of Indigenous scholars who can help fulfill some of these roles in the future.
What are your research interests and what do you hope to gain/solve/better understand from your research?
My main research area is in Indigenous Methodologies and the application of Indigenous Knowledge across many different fields. Thus, the new IGS Theme really suits me. We can use Indigenous Knowledge to address many of the wicked problems that are beyond the scope of Western science, such as adapting to climate change, as we have systems in place that manage knowledge that is outside the boundaries of what Western science can achieve.
Can you describe your teaching philosophy?
I apply Indigenous pedagogy – that is a way of creating a space so that as a community of learners we can engage with each other and the land to gain more Indigenous Knowledge than any of us hold individually. This way of teaching and learning allows IK to emerge naturally.
What is the main thing you hope your students will take away from your classes?
I hope that the ways they behave and interact with all of their relations, whether that is with the environment, in their research, academic pursuits or in their personal lives, has the potential to change the fundamental nature of the universe—for better or worse, so they need to be acting more intentionally for good.