Indigenous Stories Research Articles

Complementary Worldviews Aligning: A Relational Approach to STEM Education

Abstract: Educators in Canada face federal and provincial mandates arising from the TRC Calls to Action (2012) to incorporate First Nations, Métis, and Inuit (FNMI) perspectives across the curriculum. Yet it is not uncommon to hear K–12 educators as well as some university faculty asking, "How do I incorporate Indigenous culture into science? Is it even possible?" This paper not only describes how it is possible but also explains why it is necessary, providing a theoretical framework and practical examples of how Western approaches to science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) knowledge can be braided with Indigenous treatments of these knowledge categories and disciplines. Historically, Niitsitapi (Blackfoot) and other Indigenous worldviews have been systematically and systemically dismissed by the sciences and primarily confined to the humanities. Therefore, to move beyond merely learning about Indigenous cultures and lean into learning from them (i.e., learn through the lens of Indigenous cultures), we must (1) teach Niitsitapi and other Indigenous stories beyond the humanities classroom; (2) better engage the etiological, ontological, epistemological, axiological, and practical traditions of Niitsitapi and other Indigenous Peoples; and (3) operationalize pedagogical and methodological models that acknowledge, respect, and embody Indigenous ways of knowing and being in STEM education.

“Loud, Wonderful, Funny, Passionate Indigenous Voices”: An Interview on Indigenous Comics with Alina Pete (Nehiyaw)

ABSTRACT: In this interview, I speak with Alina Pete (they/them), a Nehiyaw (Cree) comics artist, writer, and editor from the Little Pine First Nation in Saskatchewan. Alina is the creator of the Aurora-winning webcomic Weregeek (2006–2021), as well as multiple themed anthologies of Indigenous comics, most recently Indiginerds: Tales of Modern Indigenous Life (2024). This interview focuses on Alina’s process in creating these anthologies (the design, curation, organization, and unification of the disparate comics in a collection), as well as on how these anthologies evoke certain kinds of graphic Indigeneity: What kinds of Indigenous stories and knowledge lend themselves to the comics medium? What gets lost? What potential does the comics anthology hold for graphic Indigeneity and storytelling? We begin, of course, by speaking about Alina’s comics origin story, as well as themes of queerness, Indigenous futurism, anthropomorphism, and hope that permeate their illustrative work. Along the way, Alina speaks about how they unite First Nations creators to tell graphic narratives in themed, focused manners through digital crowdfunding platforms like Kickstarter and Backerkit: myths and folktales from North America; contemporary, modern Indigenous joy; post-apocalyptic hope; and more. Befitting Alina’s work, we end on a note of hope about the future of Indigenous comics: Alina tells me about the newly minted Indigenous Comic Creators Program that they helped to create in partnership with the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian.

A novel framework for Indigenous eye health care in New Zealand: Ngā Mata o te Ariki

ABSTRACT Clinical relevance Development of an Indigenous eye health framework could offer the opportunity for eye health professionals to enhance engagement with Indigenous populations. Background Indigenous populations globally experience disproportionately poorer eye health outcomes than non-Indigenous peoples. Incorporating Māori perspectives of eye care and pre-existing Indigenous models of health offers potential to enhance Māori experience and engagement with eye health services. This study seeks to develop and refine a practical framework for eye health care that incorporates nine established Indigenous health principles. Methods Qualitative methodology, guided by Indigenous Māori research principles, was used to evaluate interviews with five leading senior Māori academics surrounding the ongoing development and refinement of a Kaupapa Māori (Māori worldview centric) framework for eye care in Aotearoa New Zealand, created following Māori health consumer consultation. Interviews were semi-structured and analysed using reflexive thematic analysis. Results Seven key themes arose in relation to the development of a Kaupapa Māori framework for eye care in Aotearoa New Zealand: 1) vision is critical to Māori well-being, 2) cultural safety is important, 3) Māori health beliefs must be upheld, 4) achieving pae ora (healthy futures) is important, 5) key concepts and focus of the framework must be clear, 6) pūrākau (traditional Indigenous stories) are valuable resources in developing health frameworks and 7) embedding Matariki (fundamental Māori) principles is valuable. Conclusions Using Kaupapa Māori principles allowed development and refinement of a framework that encourages clinicians to consider Indigenous health principles when engaging with Māori patients who seek eye care. Application of this framework may contribute to enhancing cultural safety and responsiveness of eye care for Māori.

Indigenous Genealogies of Relational Knowledge: Cedar Tree and Gray Squirrel as Important Relatives and Teachers

Indigenous peoples have education systems thousands of years old that have sustained our peoples in respectful relation with place. The backbone of our education systems is our stories and storytelling traditions. Beyond mere intellectual or analytical “texts” or “literature”, our stories place us in webs of relationships with sacred responsibilities. In this article, we discuss the importance of Indigenous genealogies of knowledge from both personal expertise and Indigenous Studies scholarship. We then describe a project on Yakama homelands in which Sahaptin storytelling is honored as a knowledge system that guides leaders and educators in their work. This project demonstrates the important role Indigenous stories can play in fostering more respectful and responsive systems. We argue that if educational programs or institutions wish to develop and remain in respectful relationships with Indigenous peoples and place, leaders and educators must learn to value, learn from, and lead with Indigenous knowledges.

Centering Indigenous Brilliance in “The Stories We Tell”☆

AbstractIndigenous stories are the backbone of Indigenous education systems. While Indigenous communities are still grappling with settler colonial‐imposed violence, many Indigenous Nations are engaging in what Leanne Betasamosake Simpson describes as Indigenous resurgence. In our paper, we draw from our own Indigenous communities' teachings and discuss our peoples' ongoing storytelling traditions as important forms of resurgence, which contribute to a process Dene scholar Glen Sean Coulthard describes as grounded normativity. After setting the context for understanding Indigenous stories as a form of resurgent education, we then pay special attention to a well‐known collection of stories, first published in the book Anakú Iwachá in 1974, with a second edition published in 2021. We analyze the history of the project, examine key principles that make it a strong example of resurgence, and explain how it is a particularly instructive data source for social scientists to (1) better understand Indigenous knowledges within our storytelling traditions, (2) engage place‐based learning, and (3) imagine futures beyond settler colonialism. These aims, already central in Indigenous sociology, are currently at the margins of mainstream social sciences. We argue these aims provide a particularly hopeful remedy for U.S. sociology, which has generally ignored Indigenous Peoples' knowledges.

Kiskisom

As an urban Indigenous academic, I struggle to comprehend and work within the schism between Indigenous and Western ways of knowing and being. Kiskisom, a Cree verb meaning 'to remind [someone],' argues that the cultivation of a plastic brain provides a unique opportunity for Indigenous sovereignty through the decolonizing action of reading Indigenous stories. The understanding that we have the power to rewire the brain through the mindful engagement of colonial ontology, or neurodecolonization, is a unique opportunity for change.

Cultural Preservation in the Digital Age: The Future of Indigenous Folktales and Legends

Innovations in second language teaching are essential for sustaining students’ interest and motivation in the classroom. This paper presents an innovative project that integrates the reading of folktales from the Semai, an indigenous people of Malaysia, into ESL learning to enhance both linguistic skills and cultural awareness. The project involved 30 diploma students enrolled in a proficiency class, where reading is a key component of the syllabus. Students were introduced to ghost stories from The Myths of Semai, which they were required to read, comprehend, and respond to personally. As part of the project, students retold these stories by creating animated videos, utilizing storyboards to dramatize the tales and video editing apps to compile the storyboards into completed animations. These videos were then presented in class and uploaded to YouTube, making them accessible to a wider audience of ESL learners. In addition to the video creation, students were asked to write reflective journals detailing their learning experiences with the Semai folktales. The reflections were systematically analysed to identify emerging themes, revealing the profound impact of this innovative approach on students’ engagement and learning outcomes. The findings suggest that incorporating indigenous stories into ESL curricula can significantly enhance cross-cultural awareness and foster acceptance of diverse traditions. This approach not only strengthens language skills but also enriches students’ understanding of cultural diversity. Future research could further explore the application of such methods across various educational contexts and among different learner groups.

Waewae Taku Haere

The sites of spatial design practice are storied landscapes. Most spatial design projects begin with site analysis — a research process of coming to ‘know’ site, context, parameters, and opportunities. Even more fundamental is a process of listening; of attuning. In colonised countries such as Aotearoa New Zealand, the contexts of site include histories of colonisation and the marginalised stories of the Indigenous peoples whose lands, place names, and histories are often overwritten by settler-colonial stories, education systems, and built environments. How might spatial designers attune to Indigenous stories in the land? What new processes, modes, relationships, and understandings are required? How and to what extent should those who are not mana whenua (tribal groups with local territorial rights, relationships, and responsibilities) have access to this knowledge, often located within oral traditions of story and song? How do we prepare to work with these stories — a journey often filled with uncertainty and emotion — and keep ourselves and others safe throughout the process? These are essential skills for spatial designers in a decolonising/reindigenising world. This text-based research essay constitutes a journey of critical reflection and conversation around an experimental studio project the authors ran with third-year undergraduate spatial design students. Led by tangata whenua (Māori), tangata Tiriti (non-Māori treaty partner), and mana whenua researchers, the project was conducted within a bicultural framework informed by mātauranga and tikanga Māori (Māori knowledge systems and protocols). Students were introduced to a waiata pātere — a Māori chant that ‘maps’ places in a landscape — that had been composed for our learning community. They employed embodied methods of research and representation to generate immersive experiences that responded to the pātere and the stories in the land, as a way of coming to belong to, rather than to ‘know’, place.

The search for truth: Filming the battle of Meewah

The Battle of Meewah (One Tree Hill) was fought just outside the city of Toowoomba in September 1843. The battle constituted the first major setback to European settlement in Queensland, though it slowed rather than halted the dispossession of First Nations’ people. It offers an invaluable insight into the ‘Aboriginal way of war’ and challenges the widespread perception that First Nation’s peoples were the passive victims of colonial expansion. The battle is the subject of a currently in-production documentary film with the working title The Battle of Meewah. For this documentary the filmmakers have developed a new approach to documentary film authorship that aligns more deeply with Indigenous story telling culture rather than the Western sole-authorship model.

Arguing for Environmental Education: Sustainability and Decoloniality in Bessie Head’s When Rain Clouds Gather

Environmental education aims to tackle the diminishing engagement between human beings and the natural environment, identify possible remedies, and facilitate positive transformations. Within the context of the early twenty-first century, there has been a growing acknowledgment, both at a worldwide level and particularly among nations of the Global South, regarding the importance of environmental education in understanding, mitigating, and resolving diverse environmental challenges that exist in different communities. Environmental literature plays a significant role in facilitating environmental education. Stories are not only enjoyable for readers but, in their unique ways, build on the emotional connections necessary for enabling understanding. The present article examines Bessie Head’s first novel, When Rain Clouds Gather (Edinburgh: Pearson, 1968) as a compelling work of environmentalism. In delineating the detrimental outcomes resulting from Western concepts of development and colonial intervention in African ecosystems, the novel emphasises the need to question Western epistemic hegemony. It inculcates critical thinking, leading to an understanding of the deeper politics of environmental degeneration in Africa. This article focuses on how the novel exhibits a forward-thinking quality by highlighting the necessity to decolonise and demonstrating methods and narratives around growth and transformation. These are too often assumed to be universal. Finally, the article establishes that literary works of this nature accentuate engagement with indigenous stories, perceptions, and knowledge forms to achieve sustainability in contemporary times.

Cardinal and the Cedar

Often time’s knowledge of plants is told from a human perspective and not the plants. The limited stories of plants from an attempt to share from their perspective reveal the need to learn more about how to do this in a way that respects the plant and shares their story. To help share the plant prospective students were asked to gather information on a medicine (Cedar, tobacco, sweetgrass, or sage) and share a story from the plant's perspective. The purpose of this paper will be to describe a narrative from the perspective of Giizik (Cedar) and I will use story work and more specifically will tailor it to a child and youth perspective. A benefit of Indigenous story work is it can become a useful method in the translation and dissemination of knowledge (Drawson, Toombs & Mushquash, 2017)

Story-listening as methodology: a feminist case for unheard stories

In light of the ongoing practice of non-Indigenous researchers conducting studies on Indigenous lands, new opportunities are needed for creative alternatives to fieldwork, along with an honest conversation about ethics, intent, and practices of place-based collaborative methods in Indigenous studies. In this paper, I explore the notion of story-listening as a creative methodological alternative to extractive methods for settler scholars in Indigenous communities. Through personal reflection, I argue that decolonizing research strategies should involve practices which minimize settler presence in, and demands on, Indigenous communities. A storied approach to research points to academic expectations of knowledge-production, which contribute to silencing Indigenous voices, while paradoxically setting Settler researchers as a privileged audience of Indigenous stories. Looking for told-but-unheard stories, I argue, is one way to find answers and guidance in research while respecting storytellers’ agency and challenging colonial origin stories. Methodological ideas for unheard stories are explored in three phases: hearing, listening, and sharing. All stages of story-listening involve care and respect for the storyteller.

Reflections of South African educators on the enablement of at-risk learners with protective systems via the Read-me-to-Resilience intervention

Resilience-promoting interventions, such as the Read-me-to-Resilience intervention strategy, that consists of culturally relevant indigenous stories has been shown to encourage resilience in acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) orphans. In this study, educator participants reflected on the protective systems that the Read-me-to-Resilience stories might offer for at-risk learners within their school context. Resilience protective systems include self-regulation, attachment relationships, agency and mastery motivation systems, cultural traditions and religion, cognitive competence and meaning making. The exploration of the Read-me-to-Resilience intervention as a protective strategy was rooted in the social-ecological perspective of resilience, which focuses on positive adjustment to adversity through resilience protective systems. Fifteen South African educators were requested to implement the Read-me-to-Resilience intervention strategy within their school context. Participation in the study was voluntary. An explorative qualitative research approach was used. Three unstructured focus-group interviews were conducted, and research diaries were kept by the participants. The educator participants reported that the indigenous African stories had promoted problem-solving and leadership skills, personal positive strengths and attachment relationships and had stimulated renewed appreciation for resources within the traditional African culture. Relevant literature on protective systems for resilience development supports my research findings. It is proposed that culturally relevant stories, as an inexpensive strategy, should be utilised within the school community to promote adaptive and preventive protective systems for at-risk learners.

Contrasting epistemologies: Biomedicine, narrative medicine and indigenous story medicine.

Narrative Medicine (NM) and Indigenous Story Medicine both use narrative to understand and effect health, but their respective conceptualizations of narrative differ. I contrast the concept of narrative in NM with that of Indigenous Story Medicine. The article relies Western narrative theorists as well as Indigenous epistemologists to frame a discussion-by-contrast of the Judeo-Christian creation myth with a Haundenosaunee Creation Story. I demonstrate that the deficiencies of Narrative Medicine exist because the latter's use of narrative is a mere application in an otherwise reductive field, whereas Indigenous epistemologies rely on story as medicine itself. OMIT. I call for more scholars to take up different narratives to further investigate the ethical space between NM and Indigenous Story Medicine.

A story-net approach to qualitative research: having tea with stories!

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to share the story-net approach and to situate it as one that benefits from blending story as Indigenous methodology with non-corporeal actant theory (NCAT). The authors hope it will serve useful in building storytelling communities where Indigenous and non-Indigenous scholars are working to heal together from colonial trauma, reveal the inner workings of historical and ongoing colonial projects, dismantle the agency of colonial projects, and welcome heartful dialogue into the centre of MOS discourse.Design/methodology/approachThe authors employ a storytelling approach which includes mapping the story-net territory and identifying the plot points along the journey. The authors use the story-net approach to story the approach.FindingsThis approach served helpful when engaging within story archives and with storytelling collectives comprised of both Indigenous and non-Indigenous persons, peoples and knowledges. The authors found four key premises, which help to narrate the ontology, epistemology, methodology and axiology of the story-net approach and six plot points, which help in mapping the lessons learned from engaging with stories, storytellers, story listeners and the socio-discursive contexts surrounding story-net work.Originality/valueThe authors story an approach that can be useful to support emerging Indigenous scholars while engaging with their non-Indigenous colleagues to do story-net work. This approach may be useful to navigate the tensions to create safer, more humane, inclusive, relational, strengths-based and trauma-informed spaces for engaging with Indigenous stories, storytellers, story listeners and discourses, as well as, to plot the points of contention so as to set the stage for deepening respectful research relations.

Building Silver Bridges: Paranormal Apparitions, Settler Heritage, and Indigenous Erasure in the Ohio River Valley

"Paranormal heritage" is contested and should be understood as bridging conceptual divides within dark heritage studies and settler colonial studies. Through historic/fictitious narratives, regional legends, and fortean research this article examines paranormal heritage in the Ohio River Valley, connected to the cryptozoological figure of Mothman, as a continued weaving of settler heritage. Using decolonial and Indigenous theory, it argues that through weaving certain paranormal heritages Indigenous stories and landscapes are usurped, and Indigenous Peoples and Title are erased to ‘indigenize’ settler populations. Paranormal settler heritages require attention for their role in the logic of elimination and settler moves to innocence.

Getting it Right: Safeguarding a Respected Space for Indigenous Oral Histories and Truth Telling

ABSTRACT Indigenous stories increasingly challenge the Australian understanding of the relationships between colonizers and Indigenous experiences and perceptions of the postcolonial past. Indigenous oral history is becoming an integral and powerful aspect of oral historiography that includes Indigenous oral histories and stories as important components of Australian history making. Given that Indigenous reclamation of history is essential to the process of decolonization, this paper poses the question of how we can safeguard a respected space for Indigenous oral histories so truth telling can take a rightful place in history making. The paper details examples of a non-Indigenous researcher working with and for Indigenous storytellers and in doing so, elaborates on an Indigenist approach to oral historiography. We provide examples from the Moola Bulla project, an Indigenist methodologically based study collaboratively designed by Indigenous and non-Indigenous researchers around ethical research practices. The authors recommend that to ensure ethical practices and faithful re-storying, researchers engage in training with Indigenous people, thereby enabling the moral integrity and rigor of Indigenous history making in the field of oral history. This paper reiterates the fundamental prerogative for all those in the domain of history making in colonized contexts to work with Indigenous people in the rewriting of postcontact history informed by an understanding of Indigenist methodologies.

Elevating the Uses of Storytelling Methods Within Indigenous Health Research: A Critical, Participatory Scoping Review

There is a profoundly troubling history of research being done on Indigenous peoples without regard for their priorities and accompanying calls to decolonize health research. Storytelling methods can privilege Indigenous voices in research. Indigenous people’s knowledge systems have existed for millennium, where knowledge is produced and shared through stories. Our collaborative team of Indigenous and non-Indigenous researchers, and Indigenous Elders, patients, healthcare providers, and administrators, conducted a participatory, scoping review to examine how storytelling has been used as a method in Indigenous health research on Turtle Island (North America), Australia, and Aotearoa (New Zealand). We searched key databases and online sources for qualitative and mixed-methods studies that involved Indigenous participants and used storytelling as a method in health research. Reviewers screened abstracts/full texts to confirm eligibility. Narrative data were extracted and synthesized. An intensive collaboration was woven throughout and included gatherings incorporating Indigenous protocol, Elders’ teachings on storytelling, and sharing circles. We included 178 articles and found a diverse array of storytelling approaches and adaptations, along with exemplary practices and problematic omissions. Researchers honoured Indigenous ways of knowing, being, and doing through careful preparation and community engagement to do storywork, inclusion of Indigenous languages and protocols, and Indigenous initiation and governance. Storytelling centered Indigenous voices, was a culturally relevant and respectful method, involved a healing process, and reclaimed Indigenous stories. But it could result in several challenges when researchers did not meaningfully engage with Indigenous peoples. These findings can guide respectful storytelling research that bridges divergent Indigenous and Western knowledge systems, to decolonize health research.

Training caregivers to make meaningful connections with persons living with dementia: Telehealth strategies from the Pacific island of Guam

AbstractBackgroundAlzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementias (ADRD) are not only characterized by a decline in memory and cognition, but also by marked difficulties in language, communication, and social functioning. As ADRD progresses, it becomes increasingly challenging for persons living with dementia to participate in social interactions with family, friends, and caregivers, adversely impacting their well‐being and quality of life. Despite impairment in social functioning, persons with dementia still enjoy interaction with others and respond positively to social contact even in advanced stages. Thus, there is a need to develop effective strategies for interacting with persons living with dementia in a meaningful way.MethodA telehealth dementia care training initiative was developed in the Pacific island of Guam focused on teaching family and professional caregivers to make meaningful connections with persons with ADRD through a wide range of stimulating, culturally responsive activities adapted to meet their unique needs, interests, and abilities. Activities were designed to provide opportunities for social engagement and simultaneously to help persons with dementia remain mentally and physically active. Examples include: (1) making meaningful connections with persons with dementia during activities of daily living; (2) rediscovering Guam’s history and culture through family‐based virtual museum tours; (3) embracing the oral storytelling traditions of Pacific island cultures by sharing family memories; (4) employing culturally responsive bibliotherapy by reading indigenous stories and picture books together; (5) stimulating the mind through collaborative readings of poetry; (6) soothing the aches and pains that come with aging by providing therapeutic massage; and (7) integrating music, dance, and movement into each day. All trainings were conducted in virtual family caregiver support group sessions as part of a comprehensive telehealth outreach program designed to provide improved access to dementia care support services for persons with dementia and their caregivers in Guam.ResultApproximately 60‐100 family and professional caregivers participate in the program each month.ConclusionProgram outcomes indicate that telehealth training in activity‐based dementia care can be an effective way to help caregivers learn to make meaningful connections with persons living with dementia.

Pulling together: Participatory modes and Indigenous roads to enact anticolonial responsibility in social studies research

ABSTRACT Researchers and practitioners in social studies education have not often taken up responsibilities to Indigenous communities on whose Lands they work and live. Drawing on Indigenous research methodologies, along with specific Indigenous stories and artwork, four authors of varied positionalities, contexts, and regions offer conceptual and methodological insight into disrupting settler colonial research habits and sustaining commitments with Indigenous Communities. Through vignettes describing our own research practices, we propose three attributes of anticolonial participatory research responsibility in social studies. We emphasize the need for Indigenous leaders to drive research processes and planning; integrated, relational views of theory, practice, research, and policy to transcend binary understandings and colonial outcomes of social studies education; and long-term, reciprocal partnerships with community members, to center Indigenous community practices and Knowledges in order to expand possibilities for social studies education. The article explores these features, their demands, and implications for all readers as educators on Indigenous Lands.