What is DOHR VR?

After a 17-year journey for justice, the former residents of the Nova Scotia Home for Colored Children (NSHCC / the Home) established a Restorative Inquiry with the provincial government. The Inquiry’s purpose was to examine the Home’s history and legacy of racism and work towards reconciliation. Digital Oral Histories for Reconciliation: The NSHCC History Education Initiative (DOHR) is a community-driven project to fulfil the Inquiry’s educational mandate. Former residents – who control the development process and resources – have co-designed with interdisciplinary scholars (e.g., law, theatre, education) a Canadian History curriculum unit for secondary schools. The curriculum engaged students with historical thinking skills and a restorative approach to learning and includes a ground-breaking oral history-based virtual reality experience. DOHR is the first curriculum in Canada to use personal storytelling and immersive technology to address an historical harm.

Key Concepts

African Nova Scotians

Peoples of African descent have been in what is now the province of Nova Scotia for over 400 years. They settled in 52 historic communities. For many, Nova Scotia is the birthplace of Black culture and heritage in Canada, boasting the largest Black community in the country. According to Statistics Canada in 2016, there are approximately 22,000 African Nova Scotians. African Nova Scotians make up the largest racially visible group in Nova Scotia. (African Nova Scotian Affairs, n.d.; Black Cultural Centre, n.d.)

Historical Thinking

Historical thinking is the act of interpreting and assessing evidence from the past to understand, evaluate, and construct narratives about the past. Historical thinking comprises many key concepts for making sense of the past.

Historical Thinking Includes:

• Cause and Consequence
• Continuity and Change
• Ethical Dimension
• Historical Agency
• Historical Evidence
• Primary Sources
• Secondary Sources
• Sourcing
• Historical Perspectives
• Historical Significance

Oral History

Oral history is knowledge about the past that has been relayed by word of mouth from one generation to the next. It is also the recording, archiving, and analyzing of past lived experiences. Oral history includes eyewitness accounts, testimony, traditions, digital storytelling, and more. Oral narratives are deeply rooted in human cultures as it evident by African griots and Indigenous peoples’ storytelling. Oral history is a primary source that centres peoples’ lived experiences of the past. (Llewellyn et al., 2015)

Racism, Anti-Black Racism, and Anti-Racism

Racism is the oppression of people based on race. While racism can be individual discriminatory acts and prejudicial attitudes, it is also institutional and systemic. Institutional racism refers to racism that is built into the ways institutions (e.g., school) work for example through policies and practices. Systemic racism refers to the larger systems in which racism works and that shapes how institutions and individuals operate.

Anti-Black racism is beliefs, policies, and behaviours that oppress Black people from across the African diaspora. The term was first expressed by Dr. Akua Benjamin, a Social Work Professor from Toronto Metropolitan University, to acknowledge Black people’s unique experiences of racism that are rooted in the history of enslavement and colonization.

Anti-racism is the policy and practice of opposing white supremacy and promoting racial equality. (Black Health Alliance, n.d.; Restorative Inquiry, 2019)

Restorative Justice and A Restorative Approach

Restorative justice is an approach to justice that focuses on the impact wrongdoing has on people and their relationships. It is not about laying blame but determining what the individual and systemic responsibilities are for the harms caused from the wrong. The aim of restorative justice is to learn from past harms and address the needs of those involved to make things right for the future. While used as an alternative to the criminal justice system, restorative justice is also used in communities and institutions like schools to address harms and build just relations to prevent harm.

Sometimes the term restorative approach is used to describe the proactive work to prevent harm and promote just relations among people, groups, communities and in institutions and systems. A restorative approach does not use one definitive model or set of practices. A restorative approach can use a range of different processes and practices based on principles that include, but are not limited to, understanding the connectedness of people and relations of power, ensuring meaningful participation with all those who have a stake in an issue, engaging in purposeful discussion of community subsidiarity (i.e., decision-making by those more affected by the outcome), and considering actions that seek to build a better future. (Llewellyn, 2021; Llewellyn & Llewellyn, 2015)

Sankofa

Sankofa is a word from the Twi language of Ghana that is generally translated as “go back and get it” or “it is not taboo to go back and fetch it.” This idea is represented by the symbol of a bird with its head and neck reaching backwards to gather an egg in its beak while its feet face forward. Sankofa is often associated with the proverb, “Se wo were fi na wosankofa a yenkyi,” which translates as, “It is not wrong to go back for that which you have forgotten.” (Restorative Inquiry, 2019)

Virtual Reality

Virtual reality environments are computer-generated illusions that are designed to give the impression we are in a different place than the real world that surrounds us. Normally, we experience virtual reality wearing a headset and using hand-held controllers connected to a computer and motion-tracking sensors. The headset shows a 360-degree image, made using video and/or computer graphics, and plays a soundtrack. The sensors track our movements, so that when we look around, we can see in all directions, and when we walk, we have the illusion that we are moving through the virtual space. The controllers allow us to interact with the virtual environment in limited ways. (Gibson et al., 2022)