Indigenous youth represent one of the most marginalized demographics in Canada. As such they must contend with many barriers to wellness that stem from oppression, including historical and ongoing colonization and racism. Developing effective health programming requires innovation and flexibility, especially important when programs take place in diverse Indigenous communities where local needs and cultural practices vary. This article reports the findings of an after-school program in 2014 that blended a participatory visual method of research with Indigenous knowledge, methodologies, and practices to provide sociocultural health programming for youth in a First Nation in southern Saskatchewan, Canada. Engaging with youth to co-research wellbeing through the arts was conceptualized as both research and health promotion. Participatory arts methods created a safe space for youth to express their views of health and wellness issues while developing self-knowledge about their individual and cultural identities.

Global health research typically relies on the translation of knowledge (from health professionals to the community) and the dissemination of knowledge (from research results to the wider public). However, Greenhalgh and Wieringa [2011. Is it time to drop the 'knowledge translation' metaphor? A critical literature review. Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, 104(12), 501-509. doi: 10.1258/jrsm.2011.110285 ] suggest 'that while "translation" is a widely used metaphor in medicine, it constrains how we conceptualize and study the link between knowledge and practice' (p. 501). Often the knowledge garnered from such research projects comes from health professionals rather than reflecting the lived experiences of people and communities. Likewise, there has been a gap in 'translating' and 'disseminating' the results of participatory action research projects to policymakers and medical practitioners. This paper will look at how using participatory visual methodologies in global health research with children and youth facing global adversity incorporates the multiple functions of their lived realities so that research becomes a means of intervention. Drawing from a literature review of participatory visual methods as media, content and processes of global health research, this paper raises practical, theoretical, and ethical questions that arise from research as intervention. The paper concludes by exploring what lessons emerge when participatory visual methodologies are integrated into global health research with children and youth facing global adversity.

Life in the city for any youth can be challenging without a proper support network. For Indigenous youth in particular, the unique burden of intergenerational trauma due to the residual effects of colonialism (e.g. residential schools and historical outlawing of traditional practices) can contribute to both unhealthy behaviors and a continuation of “culturally unsafe” spaces. As a response to these challenges, this article examines the positive effects that a grassroots film creation and production program in a major urban centre in Saskatchewan, Canada, had on participating Indigenous youth. Community-based researchers from the Indigenous Peoples’ Health Research Centre observed how a culturally safe space created the conditions to enable youth to become creative through the arts in an environment supported by an intergenerational network of Nêhiyaw (Plains Cree) kinship relationships called wâhkôtowin. The article also argues that the effectiveness of culturally safe spaces can benefit from recognizing the operation of ethnogenetic processes in contemporary environments.

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This article explores the role of the body in decolonizing and Indigenous methodologies through the experiences and perspectives of four researchers and research teams living and working in different contexts in Canada and Aotearoa New Zealand. A methodological overview of these approaches is provided and stories are shared of working with theatre with Indigenous youth; of a pedagogy which affirms the centrality of the body in Indigenous teaching and learning; and an autoethnographic reflection on decolonization in relation to Māori birthing practice or traditions. The threads that are common to all these narratives are the commitment to centring the body in the process of decolonization and indigenization, and an affirmation of bodily wisdom and experience as a critical component of Indigenous methodologies.