We Need a New Story: Walking and the wâhkôhtowin Imagination

Abstract

Inspired and guided by the nêhiyaw (Cree) wisdom concept of wâhkôhtowin, this paper frames walking as a life practice that can teach kinship relationality and help reconceptualize Indigenous-Canadian relations on more ethical terms. I argue that Indigenous-Canadian relations today continue to be heavily influenced by colonial teachings that emphasize relationship denial. A significant curricular and pedagogical challenge faced by educators in Canada today is how to facilitate the emergence of a new story that can repair inherited colonial divides and give good guidance on how Indigenous peoples and Canadians can live together differently. In my experience, the emergence of a new story can be facilitated through the life practice of walking.

Murky Waters: An Arts-Based Inquiry into Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women and Girls

“…This action research is framed within critical, intersectional feminist (Crenshaw,1989(Crenshaw, , 1991 and decolonial approaches, and is informed by Indigenous theories and methodologies (Battiste, 2018;Donald, 2009Donald, , 2012Donald, , 2016Donald, , 2021Kovach, 2009;Nakata, 2007aNakata, , 2007bSmith, 2002;Smith et al, 2019). The National Inquiry emphasizes that a decolonial approach is needed as "a way of doing things differently that challenges the colonial influence we live under by making space for marginalized Indigenous perspectives" (National Inquiry, 2019a, p. 167).…”

“…I traversed the Forks locations and drew upon embodied experiences utilizing a walking methodology (Kerr & Ferguson, 2020;Donald, 2021) which complimented the living inquiry of a/r/tography. During several research walks, I encountered names of women and memories of stories such as Tina Fontaine as I was attuned to erasures and silences.…”

Décoloniser la spiritualité : une démarche à intégrer dans le processus de décolonisation de l’éducation

“…Elle correspond à une prise de conscience profonde chez l'être humain concernant sa connexion ou reliance, au sens d'être relié 3 , à l'Autre, humain (dont soi) et autre qu'humain (Bergeron, 2002;Honoré, 2013). Plus que cela, il s'agit de la prise de conscience d'une interdépendance fondamentale, mettant en avant la notion de réciprocité avec toutes les formes de vie attachées à la Terre-Mère (Donald, 2016(Donald, , 2021Lafever, 2016). Cette interdépendance rappelle à l'être humain à quel point il est un élément d'un ensemble plus vaste que lui-même, selon une dynamique complexe qui le dépasse et l'inclut en même temps (Barbier, 2009(Barbier, -2010.…”

“…Elle revêt une dimension sacrée qui révèle l'identité spirituelle des Peuples autochtones (Battiste et Henderson, 2000). Selon Donald (2021), elle traduit l'approche holistique au monde dans une perspective de réciprocité.…”

Editorial

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Spring is a season of renewal and transformation and each of the articles in this March, 2023 issue reflect that spirit. As curriculum scholar Dwayne Donald reminds us: "A significant curricular and pedagogical challenge faced by educators in Canada today is how to facilitate a new story that can repair inherited colonial divides and give good guidance …" (Donald, 2021). The articles in this issue contribute to our collective understanding of transformative possibility addressed at historic patterns of educational inequality.

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