Mi'kmaw and Inuit Storytelling as Pedagogy and Curriculum in Land-Based Learning

• In Event: Indigenous Stories of Place/Land/Water: Relations in Education

Abstract

This research draws on two land-based learning projects and the ways in which storying on the land and stories of the land constitute the pedagogy and the content of the teaching. The first research involves a salmon project that took place in a Mi’kmaw community in Nova Scotia. Community members and students from the local publically funded school gathered with Elders and knowledge keepers, in weekly learning circles along the river, to hear stories of the land, the river, and the salmon. As the work progressed, the stories contributed to repairing and strengthening the relationships between people involved in the project, across the generations of Elders and students, and within the interconnected lives of humans and other life on the land. Collaborative stories about the project were co-created through the shared experiences of Mi’kmaw community members and the staff/ students of the school.
The second research is focused on an Inuit teacher education program in Labrador where land-based learning is as a decolonizing approach to teacher education and to infuse Inuit knowledge into the program. Stories of the land and storying on the land engaged the teacher education students in further exploring culturally relevant education. This included reflecting on their own experiences in a teacher education program as well as considerations of their future roles as teachers within an Inuit governed school system. The pre-service teachers themselves become the storytellers and spoke to the importance of the land, the inclusion of Elders, and the place of storytelling as crucial aspects of Indigenous approaches to teaching and learning.
In both the Mi’kmaw learning circles and the Inuit teacher education, Elders/ Knowledge Keepers shared their teachings with students through storytelling. These narratives were rich and covered areas such as: the life experiences of the storytellers; particular locations within the region; skills such as hunting and fishing; characteristics of the land, including water and weather; lessons learned and lessons taught; cultural values such as responsibilities, respect, and reciprocity; and the relationships between people and across all life forms.

Data, for both research projects, were gathered through shared conversations (Kovach, 2009); through the telling and retelling of stories by the participants (Clandinin and Connelly, 2000); and in the form of personal reflective journaling (Battiste, 2002).

Author

• Sylvia Moore, Memorial University of Newfoundland