kindred spirits or wild horses: there is more than one way to indigenize academia
TRANSCRIPT
Greg Riehl RN, BScN, MA
Informal MENtorship: Supporting Nursing Leadership
AcknowledgmentsFor further Information, References or Requests:
Sharon AhenakewSharon Ahenakew [email protected]@saskpolytech.ca Greg RiehlGreg Riehl [email protected] [email protected]
What do We Do?•Through Kindred Spirits and Wild Horses we indigenize by wholistically integrating Aboriginal ways of knowing, teaching, and learning within all of the institutional practices, procedures and services that we provide to students, staff, and communities.
•This results in Aboriginal people seeing themselves and their realities reflected in our institutional practices. •It also results in non-Aboriginal people gaining the skills and knowledge that enable them to work with and live alongside their Aboriginal neighbors knowledgeably and respectfully. •Most educational institutions are based on western conceptualizations and knowledge bases.
Research•Title -A sequential mixed methods study exploring the Aboriginal student experience of self-declaration and self-identification in a post-secondary institution.•Purpose of Study - Based on concerns expressed by current nursing students, our research team scanned the literature for the student experience of self-declaration and self-identification, looking for motivations for, or against, doing either, and description of the experience. Not all Aboriginal students choose to self-declare or self-identify and if they do it is inconsistent. We feel that self-declaration is separate from self-identification and the experience of expressing either is unique.•Self-declaration is a formal act of declaring Aboriginal status for the purposes of providing information to an external source such as a government agency or workplace. For example, Damion is filling out his registration form for an educational institution in Saskatchewan. He chooses to check the box on the application form confirming his Aboriginal ancestry. •Self-identification may occur in more informal circumstances and requires a person to convey a sense of self and/or background. For example, the teacher asks the class what they think it would have been like attending a residential school. Amanda chooses to raise her hand and share the story of her Kokum from Ahtahkakoop First Nation. •Therefore, the aim of our research is to understand the meaning for postsecondary Aboriginal students of declaring or expressing their identity.
Challenges•Formalize and focus on expansion and networking•Moving forward it will be important to include ways to decolonize our institutions to include the voices and stories indigenous cultures across Canada. •There will be conflict as there is no one way to mesh the different world views, but through Kindred Spirits, the Wild Horses can come together to find new paths for greater understanding, growth, and reconciliation.•We are still growing and coming to know the Who What Where When Why and How the Kindred Spirits and Wild Horses are coming together.•Our focus is on the students and on wholistic understanding, growth, learning, and building better learning systems.
Who are We•The Kindred Spirits for Indigenization is a grassroots group of faculty, staff and students at Saskatchewan Polytechnic that originated from Aboriginal students’ expressed concerns in the areas of:
– perceived lack of support to self-identify as Aboriginal
–perceived fear of discrimination, Aboriginal health being taught from a deficit-based approach
–perceived lack of faculty education and knowledge in Aboriginal history, culture and ways of knowing.
•The group’s purpose is to move Indigenization efforts forward in order to make the institution culturally sensitive and safe, promoting the success of Aboriginal students.•The group has a large nursing faculty representation, from both Saskatchewan Polytechnic and the University of Regina, with additional representation from nursing students, Aboriginal support counsellors, and advisors from Prince Albert, Regina, and Moose Jaw campuses.•The group’s main focuses are on student support, faculty/staff development, and research.
Kindred Spirits or Wild Horses: There is More than One Way to Indigenize Academia.Sharon Ahenakew RN BScN MN Greg Riehl RN BScN MA