Being your own best teacher in the light of being an other

This study Being your own best teacher in the light of being an other is a phenomenological studio and essay inquiry. Its autobiographical content is based on two years I spent teaching eight native women living in a small community in northern Quebec. I combined into collages, selected photographs taken throughout this teaching experience. Ways in which the photographs impacted each other determined the content of the layering of images and the final texts in the collages. A language evolved from the structure of the collages, which fostered my understanding of how I functioned, as a teacher, who my students were, and how I could grow to be the teacher they needed. Few jobs revealed my inner self so ruthlessly. Diverse challenges which caused me to question both who I was personally and professionally resulted in my becoming stronger, more self-defined, and better articulated. This thesis provides me with the words and images to express these experiences

"How to approach collaborations?" A Freirian journey honouring Cree relationships, skills, and values

This thesis presents research carried out in the Cree Nation of Wemindji (James Bay), Northern Quebec. Wemindji, not unlike other northern Indigenous communities, is living through a time of great social change. At stake are questions of Cree identity, customs, traditions, values and knowledge as the community attempts to shed the tethers of colonization and navigate new pathways for the 21st century. Two questions have guided and shaped this research: (i) how can collaborations between Indigenous and non-native research partners be improved?; and (ii) how does the changing social context in which the community finds itself affect the customary artistic practices of a group of women involved in the Wemindji Traditional Skills Group (WTSG) and how their work is valued? Participatory Action Research (PAR), derived from Freirian liberatory theory, was used to explore these questions because of its capacity to foster forms of collaboration that would allow the construction of reciprocal social relations that privilege Indigenous research methodologies, epistemologies, and agendas. In this respect PAR was informed by locally generated initiatives on research collaborations, particularly The Wemindji Iiyiyiuch Core Values project.The thesis demonstrates how evidence of the group's artistic contributions and research processes are contributing to local and regional questions informing the practice of Cree artistic heritage. Using the examples of smoke-tanned moose hide and spruce bark basketry, the thesis asserts that the traditional practices involved in these processes are not only an expression of self-determination in the face of ongoing colonial pressures, but key to WTSG educational planning and development as a local institution concerned with the preservation and advancement of living traditions serving Cree youth and future generations.Cette thèse présente la recherche effectuée auprès de la nation Cree de Wemindji (Baie James), dans le Nord du Québec. Comme d'autres collectivités autochtones du Nord, Wemindji vit une époque de changements sociaux importants. Les enjeux sont les questions de l'identité Cree, ses coutumes, ses traditions, ses valeurs et ses connaissances alors que la communauté tente de se défaire de la colonisation et de découvrir de nouvelles voies pour le 21e siècle. Deux questions ont guidé et façonné cette recherche : (i) Comment améliorer la collaboration entre les partenaires de recherche autochtones et non autochtones? (ii) Comment l'évolution du contexte social dans lequel se trouve la communauté influence les pratiques artistiques coutumières d'un groupe de femmes impliquées dans le Groupe Wemindji des Compétences Traditionnelles (Wemindji Traditional Skills Group ou WTSG) et la façon dont leur travail est valorisé? La méthode de Recherche-Action Participative (RAP), dérivée de la théorie libératoire de Freire, a été utilisée pour explorer ces questions, en raison de sa capacité à favoriser des formes de collaboration qui permettent la construction de relations sociales réciproques et qui privilégient les méthodologies de recherche, épistémologies et agendas autochtones. À cet égard, la RAP s'est nourrie d'initiatives générées localement sur les collaborations de recherche, en particulier le projet sur les valeurs fondamentales Wemindji Iiyiyiuch (Wemindji Iiyiyiuch Core Values).En travaillant avec des partenaires du WTSG, cette thèse démontre comment les réalisations des contributions artistiques du groupe et les processus de recherche jouent un rôle dans les questions locales et régionales influençant les pratiques du patrimoine artistique Cree. En utilisant les exemples de la peau d'orignal fumée et tannée ainsi que de la vannerie d'écorce d'épinette, la thèse affirme que les pratiques traditionnelles employées dans le processus ne sont pas seulement l'expression de l'autodétermination face aux pressions coloniales en cours, mais aussi un facteur déterminant de la planification de l'éducation et du développement par le WTSG, en tant qu'institution locale soucieuse de préserver et de faire avancer les traditions vivantes au service des jeunes Cree et des générations futures

Doing participatory evaluation in Indigenous contexts

In countering the legacies of colonisation, aboriginal communities across Canada are beginning to mount their own locally inspired and developed initiatives in business, health, welfare and education to address needs that they have identified. This paper reports on one such initiative created and launched by the Cree Nation of Wemindji (in Quebec, Canada), called COOL (Challenging Our Own Limits) or Nigawchiisuun.2 The paper briefly outlines the creation, development and implementation of COOL and the theoretical and methodological framework that supports the project. The paper is organized into three sections. First, a brief background and discussion of the origins, impetus and eventual launch of COOL; second, a general theoretical framework situating participatory evaluation (PE) in relation to the broader field of participatory action research (PAR); and third, the implications and potential of this methodology for indigenous research. The paper concludes with remarks on participatory evaluation as an indigenous alternative to mainstream program evaluation and related managerial technologies

Doing Participatory Evaluation: from “Jagged World Views” to Indigenous Methodology

Abstract The paper will present findings from a Social Science and Humanities Research (SSHRC) funded participatory evaluation conducted over the past four years in the Cree nation of Wemindji in Quebec, Canada. COOL (Challenging Our Own Limits) or “Nigawchiisuun” in Cree, was launched in 2003 as part of a broader program of governance initiatives within Wemindji. As a key component of this new governance program, COOL was to address the need for after-school care within the community for parents, as well as to engage with the recurring problem of low retention rates in school. In consultation with the Band Council of the Cree Nation of Wemindji (James Bay), the Deputy Chief at the time (Rodney Mark) – who was elected Chief in 2006 – established a COOL committee to oversee the design, organisation, implementation and running of the program. Unlike the other eight Cree communities of the James Bay, Wemindji decided to fund and run its own program based on values, customs, and traditions that have been established through consultations with elders, parents, and other interested groups within the community. This has made COOL a distinctly homegrown, autonomous, self-determined Cree program. The paper will not only report on principal themes and issues connected with the establishment and administration of COOL, but will also discuss why a participatory evaluation has been used to assess its effectiveness as a social/educational program