Abstract
As Indigenous academics from different places in the world (U.S/Canada and Aotearoa), we set out to center Indigenous ways of knowing, being and doing. As invited guest editors, we wanted to highlight the unique and important work that is being done in our communities by the people and for the people. Some Indigenous scholars choose not to participate in publishing as a way of disseminating knowledge. Western knowledge and methods of doing has steam rolled over Indigenous people and diminished our ways of doing and being. Western research and publishing standards can be caustic to Indigenous people and the ways they do their work that honors their own traditions and community norms. There has been great resistance to our thinking through our methodologies and worldviews.
This special issue serves as a marker of how far Indigenous methodologies have evolved and put into use. Mary Kate remembers reading the sentinel work, Decolonizing Methodologies by Linda Smith in her doctoral program (originally published in 1999). Later, she used Indigenous methodologies by Kovach (2009) in her dissertation research which was used in collaboration with Lakota elders. As she embarked on her academic career there was a great deal of push back and questioning if these methods were legitimate and able to be replicated. In the decades since these Indigenous methodologies were published, we are now editing a special issue with a wide range of ideas, research and methodologies. We hoped to provide a welcoming space for the variety of work that is possible and to provide a review process that also embodies our Indigenous values. This is not an easy task and is likened to putting a square peg in a round hole.
A great deal of volunteer Indigenous labor went into this special issue. We framed the issue so that it was written and reviewed by and for Indigenous people, globally. As guest editors, we could not have done this alone. We send great gratitude to our colleagues who submitted and revised their manuscripts, to those who reviewed the manuscripts and the guest editors interfacing with the journal to realize our vision. We hoped to broaden the boundaries of what is customarily published. We included a section that is a sharing circle, where practice and research could be shared in a more informal and relatable storytelling. This is an adaptation of a practice that First Nations people in Manitoba (and other places) use regularly. Additionally, we have empirical and conceptual scholarship highlighting practice and research.
Sharing circle
Across Indigenous cultures there are times when we gather and share stories, knowledge and information and seek advice, for some Indigenous people, including those in Manitoba, this is a called a sharing circle. In an effort to bring these practices into this special issue, we created a section where social work practitioners and scholars could share personal or social work practice stories. Imagine these folks from the US and Canada coming together, sitting in a circle, starting with a smudge ceremony and then each of these authors taking turns to share what was important to share with an international audience about their lives and their work and afterwards they would share some food and good conversation. We encourage readers to contact the authors, share any thoughts or comments related to these experiences, thus continuing the sharing the circle beyond the pages of this special issue. Asher BlackDeer and Klymochko share their academic journeys and what contributed to their enrollment in Indigenous social work programs in the US and Canada. Others focused on their innovative practice in their communities. The literature is often behind in documenting social work practice that is happening everyday and is tailored to each community’s culture and needs. Patterson and Binkley jointly shared how they work together to blend traditional medicine and spirituality with social work practice to address the individual’s mental, emotional and spiritual needs. Two articles shared information about the practice of community organizations where they center their local Indigenous culture and practice. Nicole Wemigwans, Opheila O'Donnell, and Paula Pelletier centered the knowledge and power of Ojibwe women and elders to adapt the services to their population in Canada. Evon Taa’ąįį Peter, Charlene Aqpik Apok, Jessica Saniguq Ullrich, and Jessica Black shares lessons learnt in a project addressing suicide in rural Alaska. The article discusses relationships and authenticity, centering the strengths and attributes Indigenous youth carry. Emphasis is placed on practice approaches that recognize hope, love and possibility.
Practice and research
The conceptual and empirical articles are organized into research and practice. All of these focus on Indigenous cultures and how to effectively work with Indigenous people, either in gathering data for research or practicing with individuals and communities.
Practice
The articles related to practice provided a range of issues related to Indigenous people, families and organizations and they face a global pandemic, governmental systems such as child protection. Resilience was a theme for a study from Canada. Christianson, Still and Soulymanov report on a study in Canada related to health, HIV and adaptions participants made to cope with the COVID pandemic as they participated in ceremony and cultural gatherings while adhering to the public health restrictions. Kerri Cleaver offers insights into designing a Kāi Tahu Māori organisation to work with state child protection services with a focus on Indigenous self-determination and delivery. The paper provides an overview of Taiki Taoka, designed by community members who had intergenerationally experienced the child protection system. Mary Kate Dennis and Finn Bell offer lessons from the COVID pandemic, the effects of climate change, and a framework for the future of social work practice which rests on Indigenous knowledge and incorporating anticolonialism.
Research
While we have placed these articles together in a subsection of research, we acknowledge that they are also practice related to varying degrees. The research articles all forefront Indigenous methodologies and methods with a strong theme of developing local theory and practice, in tune with lands and people. The authors, centering their knowing, being and doing share research that at its heart is about people, relationships and land.
The first article by Michael Wright, Michelle Webb, Cheryl Davis, Beverley Councillor, Ashton Ramirez-Watkins, Tanya Jones, John Fielder, Tilsa Guima Chinen, and Margaret O’Connell presents a decision-making framework developed during COVID-19 in Western Australia. The framework underpinned by Aboriginal research methodology, Debakarn, Koorliny Wangkiny, privileges Aboriginal voices, elder knowledge and relationships. An analysis of the frameworks success and developed principles is presented through a trial with the state government. The next article by Suzette Jackson, Laura Ann Chubb, Simi Paris, and Irene de Haan present a Māori methodology, Te Wāhi Whangai, developed in program work with wāhine Māori (Māori women) overcoming substance abuse. Through arts-based engagement, using the creative space of traditional Māori weaving processes, strength-based relationships and storying is developed. This piece is a methodological exploration providing beautiful pictures and quotes, ending with a set of principles “conditions for successful cultivation of Te Wāhi Whangai”. In the article by emerging scholar and social worker, Janelle Hayden and Paule Ruwhiu the foundational document, Puao-te-ata-Tū, templates the backdrop of an analysis of the current child protection system in Aotearoa, New Zealand. Haydon provides a thorough literature review and current political analysis useful to anyone undertaking research in an Aotearoa child protection context. Haydon and Ruwhiu’s article provides excellent important background information to the Cleaver article, exploring the development of a service in response to Puao-te-ata-tū and current legislative provisions. Meschelle Linjean and Annette Semanchin Jones’s research with adoptees in North America using the Indigenous Connectedness Framework and a Two-eyed Seeing approach shares the journeys of four Indigenous adoptee experiences. The focus of this paper is sharing the strengths and struggles narratives of adoptees seeking a sense of belonging. This is an important research piece, holding the ongoing pervasive nature of colonial child removal practices in the forefront of the minds of practitioners. We finish off with an article by Levi Fox presenting his Indigenous methodological analysis tool developed in his PhD. The tool, Ara Wairua draws on spirituality and Māori language and customary knowledge while applying it to a research space.