Ixchel Bennett's Journey - Part 1: Living the Land Acknowledgment
Host: Ryan Neepin
In this episode—part 1 of a 2-part conversation—Journeys host Ryan Neepin is joined by Ixchel Bennett to discuss her journey with and through Indigenous education. In this first part, Ixchel shares her early journey: her student experience, the beginnings of her career, and the relationships and teachings that shaped her pathway and purpose. Listen along to learn what Ixchel describes as "living the land acknowledgment."
Resources mentioned in this episode:
- Marie Battiste. Decolonizing Education: Nourishing the Learning Spirit. https://www.ubcpress.ca/decolonizing-education
- Sandy Grande. Red Pedagogy: Native American Social and Political Thought. https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/red-pedagogy-9798881879136/
- Linda Tuhiwai Smith. Decolonizing Methodologies: Research and Indigenous Peoples. https://www.bloomsbury.com/ca/decolonizing-methodologies-9781786998125/
About the Guest
Ixchel Bennett
Guided by kinship, land, and responsibility, Ixchel is a Nahua/Zapoteca, Indigenous educator, tía, esposa, hermana, hija, amiga, sobrina from Turtle Island, born in Tenochtitlán (Mexico City).
With over twenty years of experience as a teacher, seconded faculty member, and educational administrator, she has worked primarily within First Nations, Métis and Inuit educational contexts across rural and urban communities and school boards.
She is a PhD candidate focusing on the experiences of Indigenous teacher candidates in the Waaban Indigenous Teacher Education Program. Her methodology is the tlayōlli (maize) cycle as a pedagogical approach to listening, understanding, and making meaning of shared stories.
Informed by her roles within family and community, her work centers Indigenous wisdoms of care, accountability, transparency and resurgence in education, affirming Indigenous knowledge as living knowledge rooted in community, land, and responsibility.
