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Redressing Historical Wrongs or Replicating Settler Colonialism? Social Studies Curriculum Reform in Canada

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Historical Justice and History Education

Abstract

This chapter examines recent curriculum reforms in Canada that emphasize historical injustice and reconciliation. Miles relies on concepts from critical Indigenous scholarship and settler colonial studies to examine how settler colonial discourses have been replicated in a revised social studies curriculum in the province of British Columbia. Through an analysis of curriculum documents and interviews with six curriculum writers, Miles explores the ways in which historical injustice and redress mechanisms have been envisioned in the curriculum and the potential consequences for teachers and students. Miles argues that British Columbia’s new social studies curriculum frames colonial injustice as a discrete event that can be isolated from larger processes and structures of settler colonialism.

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Correspondence to James Miles .

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Miles, J. (2021). Redressing Historical Wrongs or Replicating Settler Colonialism? Social Studies Curriculum Reform in Canada. In: Keynes, M., Åström Elmersjö, H., Lindmark, D., Norlin, B. (eds) Historical Justice and History Education. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-70412-4_12

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-70412-4_12

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

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