Putting It All Together

Overt, hidden, and null curricula can create a space of belonging or a space of violence.

Listen Up!

An (2020) argues that the exclusion of the integral role of Asian peoples in the building of the settler nation of the United States creates a curriculum of violence, one which implicitly encourages the bullying, isolation and exclusion of Asian Americans. In this regard, the histories of the United States and Canada are contemporaneous.

Ask yourself the following:

1. Although in 1988, former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney officially apologized for the internment of Japanese Canadians during World War II, what implicit messages continue to be communicated when the only history about Japanese people enters the curriculum through the bombing of Pearl Harbour?

school notebook on a blue background, spiral notepad on a table

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2. In what ways has this "null" curriculum contributed to the violence against East Asian peoples during the current COVID-19 pandemic?