Wayi Wah! Indigenous Pedagogies: An Act for Reconciliation and Anti-Racist Education

My positionality as a reviewer is a white settler, living on the traditional, unceded Treaty 7 territory of the Niitsitapi (Blackfoot), Nakoda (Stoney), and Tsuut'ina. Wayi Wah! is a comprehensive guide for educators looking to take action and responsibility in their teaching to acknowledge how the current education system has the potential to fail students when we rigidly adhere to what is seen as “classic” schooling, while incorporating meaningful changes in their own practice based on theory and knowledge to help create more culturally sustaining classrooms. The text has eight chapters with focuses ranging from Indigenous principles of learning, to racism in Canada, to using authentic Indigenous resources.

Throughout the text, Jo Chrona has included the following structures: reflection questions, taking action, read, listen, or watch, personal reflection, and voices of non-Indigenous educators. These elements are used throughout each chapter, not just at the beginning or the end, and they help create natural breaks as you are reading to actually pause and think about the information that was presented in the chapter to that point before moving on to continue your learning.

Wayi Wah! is cover-to-cover information to help guide all educators through the discomfort of recognizing how harmful systems in place can be detrimental to students, The contents use clear real-life examples of how to improve educational practices and systems. With that being said, Wayi Wah! is also filled with grace for teachers to make mistakes, learn new information, and apply that information to their own pedagogy. The reflections from teachers are not to showboat or earn praise; they are relatable and help with individual reflection as well as help educators approach difficult conversations with more insight or to see practical examples of more equitable teaching. Chrona’s writing is encouraging and supportive, and the text would work well for educators new to their practice, veteran teachers wanting to continue their learning about Indigenous perspectives, and anyone in between.

Wayi Wah! focuses in on the educational system in British Columbia, particularly in Chapter 7: A Story of One System: Indigenous Education in British Columbia. As a teacher outside of the province, I found the chapter allowed me to make important comparisons between the curricula and approaches to Indigenous education from each province, as opposed to feeling like the chapter wouldn’t apply to my own context. The locality of the information is important to acknowledge, but it does not exclude any readers from outside British Columbia. There is always more learning and more work to do to create classrooms that better serve students; Wayi Wah! shows how systems can change, and how individual learning spaces can change, too.

Wayi Wah! would pair wonderfully with Resurgence to create the beginning of a teaching practice that decentres whiteness and centres Indigenous education and Indigenous texts. Educators in all spheres should be grateful for the resources that are available from Indigenous authors to guide us through lifelong learning.