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Canada is one of the states built on settler colonialism that have been confronting this past for a number of years. Among other things, a Truth and Reconciliation Commission conducted research and documentation and developed concrete recommendations for action for politics and society. But how can the decolonization of a country work, whose structures are profoundly and lastingly shaped by its history of violence? And how can the implications of the colonial intrusion, which still persist today, be dealt with in a sustainable way?
This working paper by Rita Theresa Kopp and Sabine Mannitz examines approaches to decolonization in Canadian universities and museums. These institutions play a key role in disseminating narratives and images of the violent past for the present and future. The findings reveal a spectrum of different approaches that demonstrates how contentious and how complex the concern for decolonization is.
Rita Theresa Kopp is a student of political science at the Friedrich-Schiller-University in Jena in the final phase of obtaining her Master’s degree. She completed a three-months-internship at the PRIF under supervision of Sabine Mannitz in 2022.