A Collective Approach To Indigenizing Community Empowerment: Genealogical and Geographical Kinship Ties

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A Collective Approach To Indigenizing Community
Empowerment Genealogical and Geographical
Kinship Ties

• Gail Cheney, MS, PhD Student
• Tina Ngaroimata Fraser, M.Ed, PhD (c)
• Shana Hormann, MSW, PhD

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Interwoven Perspectives

• Locating the Self Indigeneity
• Cultural Preservation and Sustainability
• Kinship Ties as Catalysts for Community
  Empowerment and Transformation
• Collaborative Approach to Leadership
• The Collective Vision is Ours to See

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Locating the Self Indigeneity

• Durie (2004) asserts
• Neither colonization nor socio-economic
  disadvantage is considered to be
• the most defining element of indigeneity.
  Instead, most indigenous peoples
• believe that the fundamental starting point is a
  strong sense of unity with
• the environment. This appears to be the most
  significant characteristic at least as defined by
  indigenous writers. People are the land and the
  land is the people. We are the river, the river
  is us. (p. 1139)

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A Time Prior To Colonization

• PRIDE of our Ancestors
• CRIES of our Grandfathers
• ANGER of our Fathers
• STRENGTH of our Children

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Ancestral Knowledge

• Knowledge Transmission
• Knowledge Translation
• Knowledge Exchange

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Linking the Past and the Present to the Future
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Cultural Preservation and Sustainability

• Language, Songs, Dances,
• Drumming
• Oral Traditions and Traditional Knowledge,
  Creation Stories
• Legends, Mythology
• Customs, Values, Beliefs,
• Protocols, Traditions
• Spirituality

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Translating Values

• Story Outside The Door
• Linking past and present to future

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Linking Past, Present and Future

• Translating appropriate indigenous values into
  all of our contexts is vital to collective
  empowerment.
• Use and trust native processes of dialogue and
  democracy
• Translate academic learning back to the community
  and reshape it with traditional frameworks and
  knowledge
• Practice individual leadership by asking hard
  questions
• Be willing to be true to the value of culture and
  tradition but do not be tied to the way it has
  always been done

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Collaborative Approach to Leadership and Change

• You can begin to make changes in your sphere of
  influence TODAY.
• Arlie Neshahi (2008)

• Spirituality
• Commitment to the work
• Community

Leading during trauma From trauma
to healing
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Theme Spirituality

• Empowerment is to decide, to know in a spiritual
  way that the direction that youre going is the
  right one and to be secure in that spiritually
  based direction and do itfor the good of the
  people, for improving the quality of life for the
  people
• Lorelei DeCora (2002)

• Faith in Spirit, God, Higher Power, Creator
• Spiritual practices
• Private/Community

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Theme Commitment to the Work

• Some cases are pretty heavy. It can be a
  close family member so we try to be supportive
  for each other. We do cultural practice like
  cleansing if thats their desire. We do have
  therapists here on the reservation and then we
  have traditional healers who can work with them
  Anonymous

• Called to work with victims and their families
• Personal history of violence and want to give
  back
• Making change local and global

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Theme Community
The best thing I could do was to listen.
Listening to someone does not give you permission
or the right to speak into that persons life ...
I was present, I listened, I sometimes shared my
perspective. -Anonymous

• Important for support
• Important for service delivery
• Internal and external communities

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The Collective Vision is Ours to See
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Thank you

• Gail Cheney, MS, PhD Student
  gcheney_at_antiochsea.edu
  [phone]

Tina Ngaroimata Fraser, M.Ed, PhD (c)
frasert_at_unbc.ca [phone]
Shana Hormann, MSW, PhD shormann_at_antiochsea.
edu [phone]