Beyond a paradigm shift: a self-study story of an embodied educational experience

Abstract

Educators have been called to follow the tide of advancing research that upholds Indigenous voices. In the spring 2019, we embarked on a cross-cultural exchange that profoundly changed our lives. We wanted to document this deep and personal learning through a collaborative self-study, detailing our unique journeys of relationship-building, informed by Indigenous Knowledge paradigms. Told through a relational approach, our self-study is grounded in our conversations about the interweaving of our experiences. A holistic approach was at the heart of making meaning through our experience by following the teachings within the Nēhiyawak (people of the land) Medicine Wheel framework. This self-study has invited us to learn more about educational possibilities, at both personal and professional levels, and has the potential to inform practicing and pre-service educators about the impact of intra-community engagement between Indigenous and settler groups.