Research Involves

Studying reconciliation initiatives aimed at educating the general public in rural places.

Research Relevance

Most education research happens in K-12 or post-secondary settings, but education for reconciliation is also happening through grassroots movements, collectives, non-profit organizations, online influencers, and more.  This research will deepen understanding about how community-based education is a force for social change.

Supporting Rural Communities’ Engagement Efforts

The research focuses on three areas of rural community-based education for reconciliation:  1) rectifying the disconnect between what students are learning in K-12 schools and postsecondary institutions around the history and ongoing legacy of residential schooling and treaty responsibilities, and the void of opportunities for similar learning within the larger community; 2) the strength, capacity, and diverse lived experiences of Indigenous Peoples, newcomers, and settlers in rural communities and their impact on reconciliation efforts; and 3) the potential of social media to become a vehicle for learning, growth, development, and connection in rural communities.

Reconciliation efforts must be built on the strengths of relationships, telling truths, and attentiveness to the particularities of places, histories, identities, and contexts.  What is missing from many efforts to decolonize education is the opportunity for educators and community members to grapple with their own stories in relation to the larger narratives of colonization, decolonization, and reconciliation and supporting those efforts over the long term.  By building on the idea that reconciliation is personal work, Dr. Lam’s research will create space for individual understandings of personal histories, worldviews, identities, communities, and places.  Then, by combining these individual narratives with relational and place-based approaches, Dr. Lam’s research will enhance broader understandings of each of these levels, in relation to one another.  Dr. Lam will use these insights to generate theory from community-based research that is relevant and applicable to other jurisdictions and countries that continue to be shaped by colonialism.

The CRC features a collection of projects integrated in rural community-based education for reconciliation:  disconnects between student learning and larger community knowledge (Theme 1); diversity of lived experiences around reconciliation (Theme 2); and meaningful engagement through social media (Theme 3).  By integrating knowledge across these themes, Dr. Lam’s research will provide a comprehensive understanding of individual, interpersonal, and community-based dimensions of reconciliation in rural communities.

Like a table with three legs, each project focuses on a different theme of the research program, but they are held together with the overarching goal of deepening understanding of community-based education for reconciliation.  One ‘leg’ explores the current and ongoing community-based education realities, to understand what is working and why.  This first leg is focused on initiatives and programs.  The second ‘leg’ is focused on identity and place as factors in exploring community-based education for reconciliation, weaving together Indigenous, settler, and immigrant stories.  The third ‘leg’ brings online spaces into consideration, looking at the rippling impact of using film and social media to broaden understanding in online spaces.  By including all three ‘legs,’ this research will strengthen understandings of current reconciliation initiatives in rural spaces, what factors are allowing for (or preventing) impact, how different identities and places come into play, and how social media and film intersect with these realities.  Taken together, these form a timely and relevant research program which deepens understanding of community-based education for reconciliation.