Resilience and Solidarity Building on Instagram: Exploring Art and Activism With Indigenous Peoples and 2SLGBTQ+ Youth in the Wabanaki Confederacy

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session 13
  In Roundtable Session: Criticality and Activism Using Arts-Based Educational Research Methods

Abstract

Reflecting on two art creation and activism projects in the Wabanaki Confederacy—Atlantic Canada—we highlight the opportunities and tensions in engaging Instagram to disseminate research. Beginning with an inquiry into a quilling project, Author One highlights the ways in which Instagram can be used to share Mi’kmaq art production, language revitalization, and teachings. Author Two describes the ways that Instagram offers a space for participatory archiving in a mail-based project with 50 2SLBTQ+ youth. Seeking to share our art and experiences in using Instagram as a pedagogical space to teach and share findings with larger audiences, we suggest that participant-focused archiving and dissemination practices within our research offers insight into asset-informed approaches in sharing arts-based research with larger publics.

Authors

• Starlit Simon, University of New Brunswick

• Casey Megan Burkholder, University of New Brunswick