*For detailed PhD Degree Requirements and Regulations see the Academic Calendar.
Course Work
- Students must complete 4.5 credits from: INDG 6600Y, 6603H, 6700Y, 6701Y, 6715H and 6720H
- Students must attain a minimum of B+ in each course. If this standard is not attained and all efforts have been made to assist the student to attain this level, they could be asked to leave the program upon recommendation of the Student Performance Committee of the program.
- Students must complete the Indigenous Language Requirement. One option to complete the requirement is to enrol in two 0.5 credit courses at Trent in one Indigenous language and obtaining a grade of B+ or higher in both courses.
Indigenous Language Requirement
Students must fulfill the Indigenous Language requirement in order to complete the program. See the Policies and Regulations section for details.
Comprehensive Exams INDG 6740
Upon successful completion of the required courses in year two, all students will complete a comprehensive examination (INDG 6740H) in Indigenous Studies, which consists of two components: a written scholarly submission and an oral examination in Indigenous Knowledges. There is one opportunity to sit for the oral exam (May-June) and two opportunities to take the written exam (July & January).
Successful completion of both the Written and Oral Comprehensive Exams is noted on a student’s transcript as INDG 6740.
Written Comprehensive Exam
Students will submit a scholarly paper or Voicethread presentation (option for students in the Knowledge Basket Pathway) in response to exam questions. Student submissions will undergo a peer review process by an examination committee made up of graduate faculty members who teach and supervise within the PhD Program. Student submissions will be evaluated based upon their ability to demonstrate comprehensively their understanding and use of the core comp bibliography through:
- Integration of the four themes (and associated sources) from the bibliography to demonstrate a comprehensive understanding of Indigenous Studies as a discipline; and
- The ability to situate themselves and their work within the discipline of Indigenous Studies.
Oral Comprehensive Exam
The Oral Examination in Indigenous Knowledge (IK) is designed to provide students with the opportunity to reflect on their engagement with IK in year one and two in the program. The examination emphasizes the importance of orality as a pedagogy for expressing knowledge. Students make a presentation to the Traditional Council on their engagement with IK which, along with a paper submitted to the Director of Studies, serve as the basis for questions by the Traditional Council. The examination can take up to two hours in length.
Dissertation Proposal
Both Monograph Dissertation stream and Knowledge Basket (A and B) stream students will produce a dissertation proposal of approximately 25 pages (excluding bibliography) that will include a clear statement of their research problem, including its theoretical significance, a review of relevant literature, a statement of the research plan and methods, an outline of chapter headings and sub-headings for the proposed dissertation, and a bibliography of materials most relevant to the proposal.
Knowledge Basket students will outline also their plan for their creative project.
Proposal Defence
Once their Supervisory Committee has approved the dissertation proposal the student will defend it. In addition to their Supervisory Committee an external examiner will attend the defence with the student.
Ethics
Students in the PhD Program in Indigenous Studies participate in two ethics processes at Trent. The first is the Research Ethics Board (REB) and the second is the PhD Program Ethics Process.
The Research Ethics Board protocol submission should be submitted to the Research Office via the ROMEO platform as soon as your dissertation proposal is complete.
Please see the Protocol Submission Guide and the REB protocol submission and meeting dates on the Office of Research and Innovation website.
Dissertation Defence (Monograph PhD Stream)
The dissertation will be defended by the candidate in an oral examination before an Examining Committee comprised of the external examiner, and two other members of the examining committee.
Round Table Defence (Knowledge Basket Stream)
The Round Table provides an opportunity for the candidate to discuss the dissertation knowledge basket in its entirety with their examination committee. At the conclusion of the Round Table the candidate will be provided with a reasonable amount of time to make the necessary changes required as part of defence process.
*For detailed PhD Degree Requirements and Regulations see the Academic Calendar.