Storying and re-storying: Co-creating Indigenous well-being through Relational Knowledge Exchange

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article presents three Indigenous scholars’ academic research on Indigenous well-being and describes our personal journeys in relation to the knowledge received from our communities. LaVerne Xilegg Demientieff shares the Five Cs of Healing-Centered Engagement, Jessica Saniġaq Ullrich shares the Indigenous Connectedness Framework, and Emma Elliott shares her observations about the relationality of well-being. As Indigenous scholars, we each have put ancestral knowledge and practices about health and well-being into action through our own lives and relationships for better dissemination and utility of the research. In this article, we engage in storytelling about learning, living, and sharing the teachings of Indigenous well-being that highlights the relational knowledge exchange among researchers, knowledge bearers, and beloved community. It is not enough to learn and gain knowledge and new perspectives; this knowledge must be shared and applied to real life so that the social and environmental justice, healing, and relational changes that communities yearn for become a reality.