AlterNative: An International Journal of Indigenous Peoples

The First Nations and Métis Organ Donation and Transplantation Network (the Network) facilitates Indigenous-driven, culturally-informed, and safe research, policies, education, and advocacy regarding organ donation and transplantation through the building of collective intelligence among Indigenous peoples in Canada. The Network’s think tank comprises Indigenous Elders, thought leaders, and persons with lived experiences of organ donation—living donors and organ recipients—as well as healthcare professionals, outreach workers, and university-based researchers. The Network responds to the failure of governmental institutions to reduce health disparities facing Indigenous peoples, and the dispersal of Indigenous collective intelligence caused by changing federal or provincial and territorial leadership and priorities. The collective intelligence of Indigenous peoples regarding end-stage organ failure and organ donation and transplantation is central to improving patient experiences, increasing the number of Indigenous organ donors and recipients, and finding pathways for advancing healthcare reforms that prevent and treat end-stage organ failure.

Drawing on fieldwork, this article investigates the interplay between the environmental and civilizational crisis at the dawn of the Anthropocene. We explain how in the lower Cauca region in Colombia, possibilities of overcoming the environmental crisis are crushed by power constellations that delegitimize traditional ecological alternatives to extractive systems of governance and production. These alternatives are Indigenous and peasant knowledges and practices, which emerge from ontologies preceding and or later resisting European conquest and exploitation. Ecological alternatives may delineate paths to overcome the mastery of nature and subsequent environmental crisis, but they are under threat. Indeed, by privatizing and destroying ecosystems and violently displacing subsistence communities, extractivism is effectively eradicating entire cultures, valuable ecological knowledge, and perpetuating human suffering on a massive scale. We seek to explain how this process unfolds and also to identify possibilities for intervention and the empowerment of traditional ecological alternatives in the lower Cauca region.

Cardiovascular disease is one of the leading causes of death in Aotearoa (New Zealand). Life expectancy for Māori (Indigenous people of Aotearoa) is 7 years less than that for non-Māori. Maintaining a healthy nutrition lifestyle is vital to reduce cardiovascular disease risk and improve overall well-being. Though diet and nutrition campaigns are standard parts of health promotion and campaigns have been developed to target Māori, little is known about the way Māori navigate nutrition advice. This review explored mātauranga Māori (Māori knowledge) and western science as bodies of knowledge for nutrition advice and social media as a platform to disseminate nutrition information to understand how communities get their nutrition advice. The findings suggest that for Māori to navigate nutrition advice and messaging effectively, advice needs to be tailored in a way that is acceptable to a Māori worldview while working within the interface of mātauranga Māori, western science, and social media.

This study explores the experiences of grief and identity development of American Indian individuals following foster care and adoption compared to their non-American Indian White counterparts. Secondary data analysis was utilized to explore differences in grief and identity development among formerly fostered and adopted American Indian (n = 129) and White (n = 166) individuals. Chi-square and logistic regression analyses suggested a significant relationship between race and grief. More American Indian participants reported experiencing grief because of their time in foster care or adoption than did non-American Indian White participants. The relationship between race and level of impact of adoption on identity development was statistically significant in both a t test and ordinary least squares regression. American Indian participants’ identity was more significantly impacted by adoption than their White peers. Findings suggest a need for attention to the unique grief experiences and identity development of adopted and fostered American Indian individuals.

The Alberta Indigenous Mentorship in Health Innovation (AIM-HI) Network was developed by Indigenous faculty members as an intergenerational mentorship programme for First Nations, Métis and Inuit (FNMI) scholars engaged in health research training programmes. Through activities and funding programmes, the AIM-HI Network provided opportunities for these scholars to strengthen their personal and professional resources and gain resilience along paths to academic success. While generating evidence on wise practices for Indigenous mentorship, we also advocated for systemic change to enable Indigenous scholar promotion and success in academia and in health research more broadly. In this article, we describe the philosophical approach to mentorship and the organizational structure to deliver aligning activities and supports to students. We also reflect on the successes and learnings from our leadership of the Network, including the impact of the coronavirus-19 pandemic on FNMI scholars, and the ways in which the Network adapted to address these challenges.

This article discusses findings from a dissertation research project in the Palestinian village of Ni’lin in relation to the synthesis of an actor-oriented methodological approach with Indigenous theory. Through this synthesis, the article proposes a theoretical and methodological approach for studying settler colonialism and social transformations in Palestinian contexts. It also adapts the methodology, allowing enriching development theory to account for settler colonial settings and the case of Palestine. It shows the value of critical events, as sites to study historicity, violence, and resistance, highlighting the important interaction of individual and collective actors with culture and larger frames of meaning in relation to Indigenous resurgence.

Enacting a research project that is beneficial and meaningful for Indigenous communities and agencies in Australia remains a challenge in both the research and nutrition fields. This article describes how the Mums and Bubs Deadly Diets project is embedding Indigenous ways of knowing and doing and partnering with Indigenous communities to co-design mobile health technology. Each step in the process of developing and implementing this project has been actively conscious of the intentions of the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies Code of Ethics and the National Ethics Standards for working with Indigenous Australians. Describing the project’s approach, methods of negotiation and responses to challenges, administering institutions and Indigenous communities, including coronavirus disease-19, provides the opportunity to reflect and forward plan for future projects.

Contending against colonial and liberal explanations of racialized identity, the authors offer new articulations of race and Indigeneity as a journey from roots to reefs. This work is inspired by the author’s relationships as communities born from Moana Nui (the Pacific Ocean) and Abya Yala (Latin America). The article begins with the theoretical genealogies of trans-Indigeneity as conceptualized by Chadwick Allen and the Tongan (Indigenous people of Tonga) Tā-Vā (time–space) theory of reality. Drawing and applying trans-Indigenous scholarship allows them to use art or poetry to demonstrate pathways of inter-connections among both communities with tā-vā as a conceptual lens to identify relational moments in time and space. Their work is informed by a K’iche’ Maya (the largest group of Mayan peoples currently living in Central America) scholar with Pacific Islander relationships as a relational praxis that is possible among both communities.

The text analyzes school practices based on territory, Indigenous knowledge and communal life carried out by teachers, students and elders in Indigenous schools in the state of Oaxaca, Mexico. Based on ethnographic data from 2014 and 2022 in Indigenous middle schools at the North Sierra of Oaxaca is presented the centrality of territory, relationality, respect and reciprocity in school life; mainly through walks through the community, drawings and texts created by the students and interviews with elders. The intention is to discuss the possibilities of land-based education as a way of perpetuating communal knowledge of territory as a form of Indigenous peoples’ resistance.

This article explores the development of an Aboriginal basket-weaving theoretical-methodological framework developed as part of a doctoral study that explores Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander teachers’ aspirations towards school leadership in Australia. Aboriginal basket weaving framed as theory-methodology is positioned through the cultural lens of Indigenous and post-structural theoretical frameworks. Connected and relational ontology is woven through the methodologies of storying and yarning that are held by the basket-weaving theoretical framing yet to be enacted in the fieldwork and analysis. This article is a first look at the framework developed by the lead author in concert with her doctoral supervisors.

Educators have been called to follow the tide of advancing research that upholds Indigenous voices. In the spring 2019, we embarked on a cross-cultural exchange that profoundly changed our lives. We wanted to document this deep and personal learning through a collaborative self-study, detailing our unique journeys of relationship-building, informed by Indigenous Knowledge paradigms. Told through a relational approach, our self-study is grounded in our conversations about the interweaving of our experiences. A holistic approach was at the heart of making meaning through our experience by following the teachings within the Nēhiyawak (people of the land) Medicine Wheel framework. This self-study has invited us to learn more about educational possibilities, at both personal and professional levels, and has the potential to inform practicing and pre-service educators about the impact of intra-community engagement between Indigenous and settler groups.

The spirituality of Indigenous Australians is described in this study, showing its distinctness from mainstream religion and its importance for social and emotional wellbeing. Connection and identity in the literature are defining elements in the spirituality of Indigenous people, and this study set out to understand how connections contribute to meaning and healing. Guided by a semi-structured interview, Indigenous spirituality was explored in terms of both meaning and importance. Four primary themes emerged from the interview data which described the importance of connection: to ancestors, family, country, and belief in God. There were also two sub-themes: nature and interior reality. Although spirituality was centred around these primary themes, for many Indigenous Australians, there has been an amalgamation of traditional beliefs with mainstream religion that reflects the history of colonialism. Participants emphasised the importance for mental health practitioners to acknowledge clients’ spirituality and to consider its importance within the therapeutic setting.

This study describes insights shared by Indigenous Elders in British Columbia, Canada, who were asked about kinship care practices involving Indigenous children. It arises from a community-guided research study that set out to explore how child welfare organizations that work with Indigenous children and families can develop kinship care practices that honor traditional Indigenous values, beliefs, and practices around kinship care. In-person interviews took place with eight Elders in the fall of 2022. Thematic analysis revealed three themes: (a) kinship care as a traditional practice, (b) kinship care and current child welfare systems, and (c) creating kinship care practices that uphold traditional Indigenous values, beliefs, and practices. This article discusses these themes and their sub-themes and offers suggestions for child welfare organizations, policy-makers, and practitioners.

This article aims to examine crucial elements that provide a platform for the success of Indigenous businesses based on customary land, drawing on case studies from Fiji. A qualitative, ethnographic, three case study approach was conducted, and talanoa (discussion or talking together in groups or between two people) method was used to collect data guided by the Vanua Research Framework. Four significant themes unfolded from the study in terms of essential strategies for the success of the businesses on customary land: following protocols for safe cultural affiliation of the business; practices of people working collectively; making socio-cultural contributions to the community and contributing to employee well-being. The research implies that Indigenous businesses on customary land tend to define success from a cultural viewpoint that differs from how business success is conventionally defined.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages can be seen as an integral aspect of cultural health. While colonisation has had devastating effects upon Indigenous languages, communities are increasingly reclaiming their languages, as a means to cultural preservation, community wellbeing and healing. Currently, there are no tools that specifically measure the potential positive impacts of language revival on the wellbeing of Indigenous peoples. This article brings together two broad constructs, social and emotional wellbeing and language reclamation, and describes an approach to developing a survey instrument to measure the relationship between Indigenous languages and wellbeing. With an emphasis on decolonising approaches to research, it steps out the key activities undertaken to develop the Indigenous Language and Wellbeing Survey. This article highlights the importance of addressing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander research priorities. It also shows how qualitative material can guide the development of a quantitative survey in mixed-methods research.

In the field of mental health and addictions, there is a lack of research that acknowledges or considers Indigenous needs, preferences, and approaches to the design, development and maintenance of collaborative health and social initiatives in rural communities. This study presents a Kaupapa Māori (Indigenous Māori research approach) qualitative case study in a small rural community. The study focused on three groups involved within service collaboration. These included 10 individuals who were identified as Indigenous community leaders; 10 individuals experiencing substance use and related problems; 12 family members; and two focus groups involving 21 health and social service practitioners working within this community. The study findings present a dynamic whānau (families) and rural community-centred model of collaboration. This model reflects a continuum of collaboration that incorporates service users, their whānau, and culture as core components. The key barriers and enablers to collaboration across the continuum are discussed.

This study explores how a purposively selected sample of mainstream primary schools in regional New Zealand incorporate mātauranga Māori (traditional Māori (Indigenous people of New Zealand) knowledge) into school life to support successful learning. Qualitative semi-structured interviews with five principals of low advantage schools with high Māori student populations identified six themes focused on creating a curriculum built around Te Ao Māori (Māori worldview). They were mainstream curriculum not fit for purpose for Māori learners, blending of mātauranga Māori and western knowledge, mātauranga Māori as learning and educational experiences, mātauranga ā-iwi (local Māori knowledge) and achievement fit for tamariki (children). Mātauranga Māori is incorporated into these schools’ environment to support learning, but the mainstream curriculum can be a challenge for schools wishing to promote Māori ways of being. Some schools, however, supported a He Awa Whiria (braided rivers) approach to education, the interweaving of both western practices and mātauranga Māori.

Disrupting forms of exclusion in higher education requires culturally sustaining practices. However, in some areas of higher education, the notion of culturally sustaining practice remains unexplored. The present study addresses this disparity by exploring the concept of culturally sustaining supervision in the specific case of Pasifika research students in mathematics education. In particular, this case study examines what a group of 22 Pasifika research students in mathematics education valued most about their respective supervisors. Using talanoa (respectful and free-flowing conversation and discussion) to gather data, three characteristics of supervisors that the participants valued most were identified via thematic analysis: (a) being available and accessible; (b) developing the student’s confidence; and (c) providing support beyond the thesis. The characteristics are discussed with respect to the Pacific concept of vā (relationships), which refers to the intricate relational and spatial realm in which connections among people exist and evolve.

Anas Wayuu is an Indigenous-led non-profit health insurance organization in Colombia. It provides health care coverage to approximately 220,000 people, mostly Indigenous Wayuu, the largest Indigenous population in Columbia, living in La Guajira, the northeast region of the country, and in neighboring Venezuela. Anas Wayuu offers several intercultural health initiatives, among them the inclusion of bilingual guides for Wayuu families. The objective of the study was to describe the use of Anas Wayuu’s bilingual guides and determine whether use was associated with access and quality of care. A 34-item survey was conducted in 2020 to 2021 with a final sample of 2,113 Anas Wayuu enrollees and non-enrollees. Study findings demonstrated the relevance of bilingual guides programming. They suggested that bilingual guides improved individual’s capabilities to navigate the health care system, increased access to care, and increased their experience of quality of care. The findings strengthen the case for Indigenous self-governance over health care.

Indigenous knowledge systems play pivotal roles in the lives of Indigenous communities. This study utilises ethnographic methods of talanoa (Pacific method of informal dialogue), memory reconstruction with village elders, household surveys, focused group discussions, and participant observation to draw on the unique and unexplored traditional salt-crafting knowledge and cultural assets such as the māqa (the site holding historical and cultural significance for salt crafting), matoji (well), mahima (salt), dōgō (mangrove) used in the salt-crafting process by the Indigenous community of the Vusama Village, Nadroga-Navosa Province, Viti Levu, Fiji. The study endeavours to examine how such Indigenous knowledge systems and cultural assets can help increase social cohesion, empower women, youth, and children, and stimulate societal responsibility for ecological and community well-being, including the role they can play for informing interventions that can contribute towards environment sustainability and climate resilience for Indigenous communities such as Vusama.

This commentary elaborates on the issues pertaining to absenteeism among Indigenous children and explores their perceived challenges and complexities. The qualitative study focuses on the Malaysian Semaq Beri Indigenous community, with 1 of the 19 Orang Asli (the Indigenous people of Peninsular Malaysia). Data were collected via semi-structured interviews. The findings indicate that despite various initiatives and incentives by the government to increase access to education, their acceptance of the modern education system is still limited, caused by a complex set of underlying factors: distance to school, lack of transportation assistance, less commitment to modern education, enclave cultural demand, socio-economic disparity, and lack of technology readiness. The study recommends more horizontal and vertical policy-making strategies to inculcate a culture of lifelong learning among the young Indigenous generation. These are seen as preconditions to success through consolidating and sustaining the Indigenous community’s cultural beliefs with current education policies.