Aubrey Hanson

Aubrey Jean Hanson is a member of the Métis Nation of Alberta and grew up in Calgary. Her ancestors trace back to Métis, German, Icelandic, French, Scottish, and English communities. Aubrey earned a BA (Honours) in English from the University of Victoria. She graduated from her BEd at OISE/UT and subsequently taught for the Toronto District School Board while completing her MEd at OISE/UT. After returning to Calgary, Aubrey taught in the Calgary Board of Education and then completed a PhD in Curriculum and Learning here at the University of Calgary. She joined the Werklund School of Education as a faculty member in 2015. Aubrey’s current research focuses on Indigenous literary arts, language arts curriculum, and Indigenous education.

Aubrey Hanson’s research focuses on the relationships between Indigenous literatures, education, and the resurgence of Indigenous communities. She investigates how the imaginative work of the Indigenous literary arts matters to Indigenous peoples' ongoing efforts to sustain healthy communities. In this work, she focuses on gender, sexuality, resilience, and urban space in relation to Indigenous literary arts.

Current Projects:

• Innovative Initiatives in First Nations, Métis, and Inuit Education within Undergraduate Teacher Education (Alberta Education) Collaboration with Dr. Erin Spring
• Fort McKay School: Strengthening Cree and Dene Cultural Teachings as Foundational Knowledges through Parent & Community Engagement (Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada: New Paths for Education) Collaboration with Fort McKay First Nation, Dr. Jacqueline Ottmann, & Dr. Dustin Louie
• Indigenous Arts in Urban Spaces (VPR Seed Grant)
• Reading for Resurgence: Indigenous Literatures, Communities, and Learning (Killam Trusts, Alberta Network Environments for Aboriginal Health Research, Métis Education Foundation)
• Exploring Power and Privilege within Responses to First Nations, Métis, and Inuit Education: Improving our Teaching Practice through "Difficult Learning" Collaboration with Dr. Yvonne Poitras Pratt

PhD, Educational Research, 2017
University of Calgary

MEd, Sociology and Equity Studies in Education, 2008
Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto

BEd, Secondary Education, 2004
Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto

BA (Honours), English, 2001
University of Victoria

Dr. Aubrey Hanson is a member of the Métis Nation of Alberta and sits on the Alberta Métis Education Council. She is an Executive member (Treasurer) of the Indigenous Literary Studies Association (ILSA) and the Co-President, with Dr. Dustin Louie, for the Canadian Association for the Study of Indigenous Education (CASIE), a constituent association of the Canadian Society for the Study of Education (CSSE). She Co-Coordinates, with Dr. Yvonne Poitras Pratt, the MEd Interdisciplinary Option Indigenous Education: A Call to Action. Past service highlights include serving on the Werklund School of Education’s Indigenous Education Task Force, helping to organize ILSA's inaugural gathering in community at Six Nations of the Grand River, and organizing a number of events focused on arts, education, and Indigenous community. Her past and present membership in academic associations includes the following organizations:

• Indigenous Literary Studies Association
• Native American and Indigenous Studies Association
• Canadian Society for the Study of Education
• Canadian Association for Commonwealth Literature and Language Studies

Hanson, A. (2019). Holding home together: Katherena Vermette’s The Break. Canadian Literature, 237, 27-45. (Journal website)

Hanson, A. (2018). Relational encounters with Indigenous literatures. McGill Journal of Education 53(2), 312-330. (Available online)

Hanson, A. (2018). On teaching queer Indigenous literatures. English in Australia: Journal of the Australian Association for the Teaching of English 53(2), 68-72. (Journal website)

Poitras Pratt, Y., Louie, D.L., Hanson, A.J., & Ottmann, J. (2018). Indigenous education and decolonization. Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Education. Oxford University Press. (Online article)

Hanson, A.J. (2017). Reading for reconciliation? Indigenous literatures in a post-TRC Canada. English Studies in Canada 43(2-3), 69-90. (Journal website)

Louie, D.L., Poitras Pratt, Y., Hanson, A.J., & Ottmann, J. (2017). Applying Indigenizing principles of decolonizing methodologies in university classrooms. Canadian Journal of Higher Education 47(3), 16-33. (Journal website)

Poitras Pratt, Y., Lalonde, S., Hanson, A., & Danyluk, P. (2017). Responding to the TRC Calls to Action: Indigenizing a graduate program. In P. Preciado Babb, L. Yeworiew, S. Sabbaghan, & J. Lock (Eds.), Selected proceedings of the IDEAS conference: Leading educational change (pp. 104-112). Calgary, Canada: Werklund School of Education, University of Calgary. (Available online)

Lund, D.L., Holmes, K., Hanson, A., Sitter, K., Scott, D., & Grain, K. (2017). Exploring duoethnography in graduate research courses. In J. Norris & R.D. Sawyer (Eds.), Theorizing curriculum studies, teacher education, and research through duoethnographic pedagogy (pp. 111-129). New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan.

Hanson, A., & Daniels, D.L. (2015, September.) If these walls could talk: The physical traces of residential schools. The Walrus 12(7), 24-33. [Visual essay: Photography by Lana Šlezić.] (Available online)

Beierling, S., Buitenhuis, E., Grant, K., & Hanson, A. (2014). "Course" work: Pinar's currere as an initiation into curriculum studies. Canadian Journal for New Scholars in Education / Revue Canadienne des jeunes chercheur(e)s en education 5(2), 1-9. (Available online)

Hanson, A. (2014). Social perspectives on anti-homophobia education: Capitalism and LGBTQ identities. One World in Dialogue: Journal of the Alberta Teachers' Association Social Studies Council 3(1), 28-39. (Available online)

Hanson, A. (2012). "Through white man's eyes": Beatrice Culleton Mosionier's In search of April Raintree and reading for decolonization. Studies in American Indian Literatures 24(1), 15-30. (Journal website)

• ACCUTE F.E.L. Priestley Prize for Best Article in English Studies in Canada (2019)—Twitter
• University of Calgary Teaching Award for Teaching in Online Environments (2018)—Werklund Media Feature
• Avenue Magazine's Top 40 Under 40 (2017)—Avenue Feature
• Indigenous Graduate Award (2015)
• Izaak Walton Killam Memorial Scholarship (2015)—Werklund Media Feature
• Queen Elizabeth II Graduate Scholarship (2015)
• Alberta Network Environments for Aboriginal Health Research Graduate Student Award, Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Institute of Aboriginal Peoples’ Health (2014)
• Métis Education Foundation Scholar Award (2014)
• Indspire Post Secondary Education Award (2013, 2014)

• Author Spotlight, Canadian Literature Issue 237—Twitter
• International Tweed Day (2018, Winter)—Werklund Media Feature
• Reading for Resurgence (2017, Spring)—Research @ Werklund Story
• Interviewed for The Calgary Journal (2017, April 26)—Properly Acknowledging Treaty 7 territory
  
• Co-organized Indigenous Learning Event (2016, December 3)—Eyes Open, Eyes High: Inspiring Visions in the Midst of Difficult Teaching and Learning