More Than Personal Communication

Lorisia Macleod

doi:10.18357/kula.135

Abstract

In this project report, I introduce the citation templates for Indigenous Elders and Knowledge Keepers that I created in partnership with the staff of the NorQuest Indigenous Student Centre. These citation templates have been adopted/linked to by twenty-five institutions across Canada and the United States. They represent an attempt to formalize something that Indigenous scholars have been doing for decades: fighting to find a better way to acknowledge our voices and knowledges within academia. I outline how the project was developed, highlighting the importance of stable, respectful relationships, before delving into some of the literature and personal experiences that provided the reasoning for why more culturally responsive citation is needed. Part of the background is acknowledging my own experiences as an Indigenous scholar, but I also draw on literature from both Indigenous and non-Indigenous scholars to illustrate the interdisciplinary need for these templates. I provide in-depth explanations of each element in the new citation templates to explain the reasoning behind and/or importance of each element. For example, I outline why including the individual’s nation/community is important for breaking down the pan-Indigenous stereotype and helping scholars to recognize the variation of knowledge across the hundreds of unique Indigenous communities. While the main focus of this paper will be these specific citation templates, I hope that it will also empower, inspire, and provide a case study of how academia can make small changes to improve the respectful recognition of Indigenous knowledges and voices. Given the recent focus in educational institutions on being more inclusive of Indigenous ways of knowing, I think it is only right that we also look at reconsidering how we treat things like Indigenous oral knowledge in academia and whether there are systems in place that implicitly prioritize written knowledge over oral knowledge in a form of ongoing colonialism.

Highlights

In the summer of 2018, NorQuest College created and published templates for how to cite Indigenous Elders and Knowledge Keepers in their APA and MLA citation guides.1 These templates were done only for APA and MLA because those were the two citation styles used at NorQuest; work is currently underway at Xwi7xwa Library to adapt these templates for Chicago style as well
Many of our professors, leaders, and highly regarded academics were trained in a Eurocentric, racist system that falsely asserted the superiority of written Western knowledge over Indigenous oral traditions and ways of knowing. This longstanding academic perspective has presented a barrier to including Indigenous knowledges for too long, and with many educational organizations undergoing Indigenization initiatives it is time to critically regard even our systems of citation to break down those barriers to respectful inclusion
As librarians, we claim that we serve our patrons’ needs, we should challenge standards like official citation styles when we see researchers, scholars, and users noting the limitations of these citation methods (Cook-Lynn 1996; Fixico 1996; Braun et al 2014; Whiteley 2002)

Summary

Introduction

In the summer of 2018, NorQuest College created and published templates for how to cite Indigenous Elders and Knowledge Keepers in their APA and MLA citation guides. These templates were done only for APA and MLA because those were the two citation styles used at NorQuest; work is currently underway at Xwi7xwa Library (at the University of British Columbia) to adapt these templates for Chicago style as well. I complained about the unequal treatment of Indigenous knowledges but was not in a position to recommend changes until I completed my master of library and information studies In most institutions, it is library staff (or, in some cases, the writing centre staffed by those with an MLIS) who answer student questions about citation, maintain citation guides, and generally serve as the entire support system for citation. Some scholars might question the need to create these templates when both APA and MLA style guides have a format for citing personal communications and have traditionally encouraged the use of that format to cite any oral communication without a written or audio recording This is a fair question, especially for those scholars who have never attempted to integrate oral teachings into their academic writing. This longstanding academic perspective has presented a barrier to including Indigenous knowledges for too long, and with many educational organizations undergoing Indigenization initiatives it is time to critically regard even our systems of citation to break down those barriers to respectful inclusion

Background

Conclusion