Collaboration Is an Olive Branch: Hold It Out and Offer Your Unconditional Support

• In Event: Doing Narrative Inquiry: Unearthing New Understandings

Abstract

We advocate for a stronger Indigenous research paradigm that promotes learnings and teachings as knowledge flowing from the source up (i.e. Aboriginal community members, researchers, and youth through Elders), rather than solely from the top down (i.e. some non-academic professionals and policy-makers). We offer such discourse through the pragmatic lenses of ‘being ourselves’ (i.e. Author #1 is an advocate for Aboriginal peoples leading Aboriginal research; Author #2 focuses on journeys of finding our cultural identities; and Author #3 brings forth individual and collective voices of urban-living Indigenous youth. Our intent is to articulate how Indigenous and Western collaborations can be like an Olive branch: hold it out and offer our/your unconditional support—gained through our learnings and passed forward in our teachings.

Authors

• Donna Lester-Smith, The University of British Columbia

• Georgina R. Martin, The University of British Columbia

• Amy Marie Parent, The University of British Columbia

• Roberta Price, Capilano University