Embodying All Our Relations

• In Event: The Role of the Body in Indigenous and Decolonizing Research Methodologies

Abstract

In our work since writing two articles (Young & Nadeau 2006, 2008) we have been creating spaces “that provide an opening into the Indigenous world” (Williams and Tanaka, 2007, p.2) by incorporating Indigenous ways of teaching and learning with respectful engagement with Indigenous knowledge systems of the particular community or nations we work in. We will reflect on how we have engaged the whole person (body, mind, spirit and emotions) in a university Faculty Staff Aboriginal Cultural Training Program (University of Victoria, 2009), and workshops for Aboriginal Wellness Providers and for both Indigenous and non-Indigenous in the truth and reconciliation process.
We strive to heal the disconnection with self and all our relatives, the result of racist, sexual and colonial violence, which is experienced in the body as disassociation; and, through restoring the connection to the individual and collective body, giving an embodied sense of what “all our relations” teachings mean – to foster belonging and connection to land and place.
We will share how we incorporate ceremony and song, respecting local protocols to set a tone of involving the whole person and supports working within Indigenous methodologies. We build community as groups move around the space according to the four directions, season of birth, place of origin or animal relatives. We ask participants to embody any response that incorporates Indigenous Knowledge. When working with animal relatives we invite both individuals and the small group to embody the animal they are exploring. There are usually traditional knowledge keepers who can add stories, and in this way the group generates a collective story. We ask people to create gestures, while supporting the development of a collective story. We do this through using Playback theatre techniques, or have participants enact a traditional story and then reflect on its meaning in their lives.
Williams (Lil’wat)(2007) notes that Indigenous ways of learning incorporate learning through doing, ceremony, and collective reflection; as well as inclusivity, community building, and celebrating individual uniqueness. Simpson (2011) reflects that “to access knowledge from a Nishnaabeg perspective , we have to engage our entire bodies.” By working with stories, dreams and visions, “inserting ourselves into the stories,” (p.41) we learn to “wear our teachings.” (Manitowabi, quoted in Simpson, p.42).
We will contribute to this roundtable discussion our work of embodying all our relations, and thus honour our sacred responsibilities for carrying the sacred bundle -KWIYESK TAPIMOTATAYAK KA GE MINIGOZIAK MUSKEGRA.

Nadeau, D. & Young, A. (2006). Educating Bodies for Self-determination: A Decolonizing Strategy. Canadian Journal of Native Education. Vol 29. no.1.
Nadeau, D. & Young, A. (2008). Restoring Sacred Connection with Native Women in the Inner City. in Suzanne Crawford O'Brien (Ed.) Healing in Native America. Westport,CT: Praeger.
Simpson, L. (2011). Dancing on Our Turtle’s Back: Stories of Nishnaabeg Recreation, Resurgence and a New Emergence. Winnipeg: Arbeiter Ring.
University of Victoria. (2010). Le, Nonet Staff & Faculty Aboriginal Cultural Training (SFACT) http://web.uvic.ca/lenonet/sfact/sfact-about.html
Williams, L. & Tanaka, Michele. (2007). Schalay’nung Sxwey’ga Emerging Cross-Cultural Pedagogy in the academy. Educational Insights, “ 11(3).

Authors

• Denise Nadeau, Concordia University

• Alannah YoungLeon, University of British Columbia