Lectio Divina: A Call for Salah & Poetic Being

I reflect back on the ARTS Pre-Conference 2017 of the Canadian Society for Studies in Education. It was a day full of non-linear knowledge exchanges, conversations, creations, contemplation and arts-based activities. Collaborators dwelled in, engaged, and emerged together spiritually, poetically, and musically to rekindle their learning, coexistence and mystical understandings. I was in my fasting state with dry mouth, hungry stomach, and thirsty soul combined with contemplative sessions, plus my scholarly and poetic inspirations in the flesh. It was purely an epoch of unbridled spirit tenderly wrapped in creative and contemplative ways of being present in the moment, with the flawless beauty of a flute in the backdrop. I stood in a single corner of a square room. I began my Lectio Divina. I entered Salah. I reached contemplation through praying poetically

We-Relation: Narratives of Emergence, Education and Resistance

The educational landscape and curriculum are shifting tremendously as educators attempt to grapple with systemic and global issues, growing divisions, humanitarian crises, institutional and political violence, racial and religious injustices, and righteous and dangerous resistance which are surfacing during these intense times brought forth by the COVID-19 pandemic. Presently, educators face many frustrations and disappointments whereby working to create needed change becomes inevitable. In this position paper Momina and Irteqa as mother and daughter, Canadian Muslim women of South Asian ethnic decent, writers, poets, and critical scholars, share the truth of our knowing as an alternative way of knowing and initiating dialogue. By breaking the silence on oppressive systems and ideologies and reimagining and renegotiating curriculum, pedagogy, histories, and epistemologies from racialized perspectives we can transcend our collective suffering

O CANADA, WHOSE HOME AND NATIVE LAND? AN AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL NARRATIVE INQUIRY INTO THE CRITICAL ROLE OF CURRICULUM IN IDENTITY AFFIRMATION

The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms (1982) guarantees fundamental freedoms of conscience, religion, thought, belief, and opinion. However, the interpretation of such freedoms, and the extent of accommodation within the context of secular public schools, is not always clear (Shariff, 2006). I am a mother of four children who hold multiple identities, languages, nationalities and beliefs as Canadians. In this autobiographical narrative inquiry fused with poetic representation, I explore my ‘mother stories’ of my children’s experiences with curriculum in schools. Through this research, I examine the critical role of curriculum, implementation of curriculum, and shared curriculum making in affirming the identity of ethnically diverse students. The narratives of my experiences from immigration to citizenship, from multiculturalism to eurocentrism, from parent involvement to parent engagement, and from a racialized mother to a researcher are narratives of “gaps, silences, and exclusions shaped in the bumping places children and families experience in schools” (Clandinin, Huber, J., Huber, M., Murphy, Pearce, Murray-Orr, & Steeves, 2006, p. 173). Our lives are lived, and stories of our lives are told, retold, and relived on storied landscapes (Clandinin & Connelly, 2000), landscapes on which larger social, cultural, political, and institutional narratives are simultaneously unfolding (Murphy & Bengezen, 2015). Seeing narrative as a “way of organizing episodes, actions, and accounts of actions” (Sarbin, 1986, p. 9), I engage in constructing “juxtapository narrative” (Bhabha, 2006) and “counter-storytelling” (Solorzano & Yosso, 2002) to challenge dominant stories of curriculum. I aim to sensitize readers – educators, curriculum and policy makers, parents, and community members – to the issues of identity politics and to experiences shrouded in silence in order to deepen individuals’ capacity to respond to the place and voice of people who are different from them (Ellis & Bochner, 2000). Growing up between two cultures and languages, living in in-between spaces, balancing cultural identities and a sense of belonging is a highly complex process for racialized children. Teachers, curriculum makers, and schools all play a fundamental role in shaping students’ identity. Too often, schools are places in which the complex conditions of minority parents’ and children’s lived experiences and their right to be heard are excluded and ignored. Practically, socially and poetically, this inquiry has the potential to positively impact the lives of racialized students, parents, and families by reimagining curriculum in ways that include multiple narratives, identities, realities, perspectives and practices and, thus, a place for their equal rights, voices on this land and in their home, Canada

The Blossoming Existence

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Foliar applied proline and acetic acid improves growth and yield of wheat under salinity stress by improving photosynthetic pigments, physiological traits, antioxidant activities and nutrient uptake

Salinity stress (SS) is serious abiotic stress and a major limiting factor for crop productivity and global food security. In this context, the application of osmolytes is considered as an environmental friend approach to improve plant growth under SS. Thus, the present study was conducted to determine the impact of foliar applied proline (Pro) and acetic acid (AA) on growth, yield, physiological traits, photosynthetic pigments, ionic homeostasis and antioxidant activities of wheat under SS. The study contained SS levels 0, 6 and 12 dS m-1 and foliar spray of Pro and AA; water spray, Pro (75 mM), AA (15 mM) and AA (30 mM). The study was conducted in a completely randomized design with the factorial arrangement. Salinity stress significantly reduced wheat growth and yield, by decreasing relative water contents (-49.07%), photosynthetic pigments, free amino acids (FAA: -44.79%), total soluble proteins (TSP: -15.94%) and increasing the electrolyte leakage (EL: +27.28%), hydrogen peroxide (H2O2: +51.86%), and malondialdehyde (MDA: +36.91%) accumulation. The foliar spray of Pro and AA markedly improved the wheat growth and productivity through enhanced photosynthetic pigments, RWC, FAA, TSP, antioxidant activities (catalase: CAT, ascorbate peroxide: APX: peroxidase: POD), K+ and Ca2+ uptake and decreasing EL, MDA and H2O2 accumulation and restricted entry of toxic ions (Na+ and Cl-1).  Therefore, foliar application of AA and Pro effectively improves the growth and yield of wheat under SS by strengthening the antioxidant defense system, and maintaining ionic homeostasis and physiological performance

Unpacking Self and Silence: Looking Inward, Looking Outward, Looking Through

Looking inward as a mother, I see that autobiographical narrative inquiry has further deepened my understanding that my children’s dual identity (Muslim Canadians) is not breaking them apart, rather putting them together. Looking outward as a researcher, poetic representation has given me a voice where, instead of fearing silence, I am able to “inhabit a more ambiguous and flexible sense of self” (Boler, 1999, p. 176). I am able to act as an interpreter between the chaos of my experiences and an assembly of unbroken monologues and sporadic dialogues. Finally, looking through as an amateur poet, I practice poetry “as a method of inquiry to move into [my] own impossibility, where anything might happen—and will” (St. Pierre, 2005, p. 973). I create opportunities for meaning making and insights as my stories and poems resonate for others, and in how my stories inform, enhance, and deepen parents’ and educators’ knowledge and conceptualizations of an inclusive school community