Initiating a New Story

Abstract

In May 2011, at the seventh annual gathering of the Congress of Qualitative Inquiry (QI), Norman Denzin organized two town hall meetings for anyone interested in exploring the idea of creating an Indigenous Qualitative Inquiry preconference day. In this article, we share the story of a small group that met to imagine into being the first Indigenous Qualitative Inquiry preconference day at the Eighth QI Congress in May 2012. We share the call that connected our work with others, describe the events of the preconference day, and share our hope for Indigenizing the academy – a journey of hope that we acknowledge requires careful navigation as we endeavour to move respectfully and in a good way for and toward transformative change.

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“…I am learning to tell my story with truth and clarity and above all, listen to be changed. (Lewis, Montgomery, Campbell, Ritenburg, & Diversi, 2013). Towards this aim, we can draw purposefully from indigenous knowledges, part of the "collective genius of humanity" (Battiste & Henderson, 2009, p. 13).…”

Teaching Qualitative Research as Transgressive Practices

“…It is well-established that in conjunction with cultural, economic, and political mechanisms, research is one of the key axes through which non-Aboriginal actors colonize Aboriginal communities (Bishop, 2005;Kovach, 2009;Smith, 1999). Aboriginal scholars who have entered into the Eurocentric academic world have described themselves as "a circle in a square" (Kovach, 2013, p. 495), referring to the fact that they are made keenly aware that the routinely enacted normative principles of confrontation and contestation in Eurocentric academic settings are incongruent with norms and practices in IK system that honors connection and relations (Lewis, Montgomery, Campbell, Ritenburg, & Diversi, 2013). It remains challenging for these scholars to survive and succeed in academia without compromising the integrity of their respective communities and their own positions within them.…”

Finding Courage in the Unknown: Transformative Inquiry as Indigenist Inquiry

“…Increasingly, this work is all I know to do. I invite all educators and academics to consider actively "initiating a new story" (Lewis, Montgomery, Campbell, Ritenburg, & Diversi, 2013). Towards this aim, we can draw purposefully from indigenous knowledges, part of the "collective genius of humanity" (Battiste & Henderson, 2009, p. 13).…”