The impact of education about historical and current injustices, individual racism and systemic racism on anti‐Indigenous racism

Abstract

Anti‐Indigenous racism is a pressing issue in Canada. Education on historical and contemporary Indigenous topics is a common strategy to challenge such racism. Despite the existence of education‐based programmes intended to address anti‐Indigenous racism, there is limited evidence that they are effective. To this end, we report the results of two longitudinal experiments (N1 = 639, N2 = 1099) assessing the effect of education on anti‐Indigenous racism. In both studies, we assessed the impact of five conditions on Indigenous‐related outcomes in samples of non‐Indigenous students. All experimental conditions included information on historical and current injustices toward Indigenous people. In some conditions, we added content on individual racism, systemic racism, or both individual and systemic racism. Results indicated that the experimental conditions improved Indigenous‐related thoughts, feelings, knowledge and behaviours. Further, the conditions containing systemic racism content outperformed the other conditions. These studies showcase the potential of education to reduce anti‐Indigenous prejudice.

The influence of Survivor stories and a virtual reality representation of a residential school on reconciliation in Canada

“…One possible reason is that the mode of delivery did not matter as much as the content of critical historical knowledge. Gaining such an understanding certainly has many prosocial consequences for how people think, feel, and behave toward outgroup members (Hill and Augoustinos, 2001;Adams et al, 2008;Nelson et al, 2012;Salter and Adams, 2016;Bonam et al, 2019;Neufeld et al, 2021;Zell and Lesick, 2022;Efimoff and Starzyk, 2023). Another possibility is that the school was not maximally immersive.…”

“…As well, Neufeld et al (2021), who either measured or manipulated critical historical knowledge (via the length or processing of a written passage) in five studies, found non-Indigenous participants who knew more reported empathy toward Indigenous people and were more likely to believe that residential schools continue to cause harm. Finally, in two experimental longitudinal studies, Efimoff and Starzyk (2023) found brief critical historical knowledge videos positively improved non-Indigenous participants' knowledge, attitudes, feelings, and behaviors toward Indigenous people.…”

“…People are more likely to perceive privity if the harm seems or is, in fact, recent (Burns and Granz, 2022) or if they are more politically liberal (Banfield et al, 2014). Particularly relevant to this study, critical historical education links past harm and present suffering (Neufeld et al, 2021;Efimoff and Starzyk, 2023). If people perceive privity, they are also likely to feel sympathy (Starzyk and Ross, 2008), a component of empathy, and political solidarity (Starzyk et al, 2019), both of which predict support for outgroups.…”

“…Rather than highlight individual instances of racism, critical historical education focuses on racism from an intergroup perspective in historical context, often explaining how it is enduring and systemic (Nelson et al, 2012;Bonam et al, 2019;Neufeld et al, 2021). We focused on residential schools in Canada (see also Neufeld et al, 2021;Efimoff and Starzyk, 2023).…”

“…Such reframing may be one mechanism in critical historical education too, at least for those who identify as belonging to a group that has experienced harm. A critical historical education can, however, cause even those who belong to a privileged group, by racial/ethnic membership standards (e.g., White, undergraduate students born in Canada), to feel more political solidarity with Indigenous people (Efimoff and Starzyk, 2023). Now, a field of study is emerging examining the effects of virtual reality on empathy and solidarity, the proponents of which believe the platform can increase both (e.g., Wang et al, 2022).…”