Amxsame’ su sa ‘Nawalakw (the supernatural spirit wraps around us): impacts of Kwakwaka’wakw regalia making on identity, wellness and belonging in ‘Yalis, British Columbia

In this article, we share findings from a community-based Participatory Action Research project, titled Sanala, which means to be whole in Kwak’wala—the language of the Kwakwaka’wakw (Kwak̓wala-speaking people; a First Nation from what is now called Canada). In response to community priorities, the Sanala team initiated regalia as a weekly programme where people from the ‘Namgis tribe and other surrounding Kwakwaka’wakw Nations on the northwest coast of British Columbia, Canada, come together to create regalia. Participants learn about family crests, design and sew button blankets and dance aprons, and learn oral histories belonging to individuals and families, all within the context of Kwak’wala language revitalization and regalia making. We outline the impacts of this programme on identity, belonging, wholistic health and collective wellbeing, as well as implications for Participatory Action Research and community-led research aimed at strengthening individual and collective health and wellness through Indigenous languages and cultural continuity.

The Batwa Trail: developing agency and cultural self-determination in Uganda through Indigenous tourism and cultural performance

This article examines how Batwa—the Indigenous peoples of Southwestern Uganda—negotiate agency and cultural self-determination through touristic cultural performances held during the Batwa Trail, an Indigenous tourist attraction in Mgahinga Forest, Southwestern Uganda. I take a theoretical model that approaches Indigenous tourism and touristic cultural performances as a site of social interaction where identity and representation are negotiated. The touristic performances are crucial in articulating Batwa performance culture and as a forum where counter-narratives against the stereotypes and marginalities associated with Batwa culture are constructed. I argue that touristic performances are a strategic form of experiential and embodied practice through which Batwa identity is negotiated and expressed.

Papakū Makawalu and grounded theory: a combined and collective analysis for Hawai’i land stewardship—Honuaiākea

Kia’i (protectors) opposed to the building of a Thirty Meter Telescope on the summit of Mauna Kea, a profoundly sacred site and ecologically vital one, impeded its construction to date. The sanctity of Mauna Kea and its implications for Hawai’i’s sovereignty and land ownership are central to the struggle, yet what are the Indigenous ecological laws of Kanaka Maoli (Native Hawaiian) that ground opposition to the Thirty Meter Telescope? To construct a land stewardship policy, the Edith Kanaka’ole Foundation leadership bridged Papakū Makawalu, a Kanaka Maoli methodology, with grounded theory. Edith Kanaka’ole Foundation leaders organized a series of events where experts collectively and individually merged the two methods to analyse chants. Our article presents a discussion of (a) the struggles over land use on Mauna Kea, (b) the processes for merging methodological traditions, and (c) reflections on Kīho’iho Kānāwai (restoring Kānāwai for Island Stewardship), the final document of Honuaiākea (Earth in Expanse).

Indigenous people’s self-determination in the context of COVID-19 in northern Mexico

This article presents various transformations registered in the political sphere and community participation due to the COVID-19 pandemic on Indigenous territories in northern Mexico. It explores the challenges of the Rarámuri and Ódami Indigenous people’s experience in guaranteeing their political rights and self-determination in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, specifically when organising festivities and ceremonies that were unable to celebrate to comply with official health care guidelines. The article gives firsthand accounts of the political relations between Indigenous groups’ community responses and the Mexican government’s actions to mitigate the effects of the new coronavirus. The article draws on the argument that the current health emergency context is inserted into a complex network of pre-existing and structured power relations that largely define the scope of the actions taken because of the pandemic. Critically, the community responses emanating from Indigenous groups show crucial cultural differences in ways to deal with the disease.

Indigenizing Forum Theatre through a strength-based approach

Strength-based approaches with Indigenous populations are recognized as empowering and promoting change, but there are minimal published explicit examples in Indigenous health in Canada. Working with three First Nations community partners in Alberta and the Northwest Territories, we explored an Indigenous strength-based application of Forum Theatre as a tool for mental wellness. Forum Theatre is differentiated by the interactive participation of the audience, who can change the play outcome. Collectively, community members were trained as community facilitators and used an Indigenous strength-based approach to indigenize Forum Theatre activities. We share strengths highlighted in our approach including inclusivity, relationality, language revitalization, intergenerational connectivity, team facilitation, partnerships, protocols, safety, empowerment, resilience, community connection, community-specific strengths, and relational responsibilities. An Indigenous strength-based approach must include the Indigenous group leading the project and has multiple benefits to the participants, facilitators, and community at-large, particularly when intertwined with relational, communal, and cultural assets unique to the Indigenous group employing the approach.

Bringing research back home: exploring Indigenous Melanesian tok stori as ontology

Indigenous knowledge is generally understood to be knowledge developed by a particular group in their specific environment over an extended period of time. In academia generally, bodies of knowledge of differing origins are not often understood. This article employs ontology as a ground for developing relational clarity in the academy by considering two oral traditions—talanoa (a Polynesian conversational form) as represented in research and Melanesian tok stori (a Melanesian form of discursive group communication) understood through an Indigenous Solomon Islands ontology. The discussion of tok stori offers a window into the complex ontological thinking required of the academy when seeking to learn from the knowledge of Mala’ita Solomon Islands specifically, and from Indigenous groups generally. The value to the wider research community suggests that bringing research back home through approaches constructed on the way people act can capitalise on the logic of aligning ontology and practice in research.

Collaboration in research: weaving Kaupapa Māori and computer science

We describe a collaboration between Māori (Indigenous people of Aotearoa/New Zealand) and Tauiwi (non-Māori) researchers on a software engineering project. Te Tiriti o Waitangi (The Treaty of Waitangi) provides the basis for Māori to lead research that involves Māori as participants or intends to impact Māori outcomes. Through collaboration, an extension of the traditional four-step software design process was created, culminating in a nine-step integrated process that included Kaupapa Māori (Māori ideology) principles. The collaboration experience for both Māori and Tauiwi highlighted areas of misunderstanding within the research context based on differing worldviews and our ability to navigate and work through this. This article provides context, guiding principles, and recommended research processes where Māori and Tauiwi aim to collaborate.

Forming strong cultural identities in an intersecting space of indigeneity and autism in Canada, the United States, Australia, and New Zealand

Through its hegemonic ideologies, colonialism and its constituent underpinnings of religious and racial superiority, necessitates the erasure of the cultural identity of people outside the dominant Euro-Western culture and as non-normative groups, Indigenous Peoples and autistic people disabled per colonized paradigms, experience oppression, and subjugation harmful to self-identity and mental health. This article discusses culturally responsive interventions aimed at supporting strong cultural identity formation and safeguard Indigenous and autistic people from stigmatization, misrepresentation, and erasure of identity. Promising research uses Indigenous knowledges in education and arts programming to disrupt patterns of social injustice, exclusion, and cultural genocide while promote positive identity formation, pride, and resilience for Indigenous autistics. While Indigenous and autistic people exist globally, this article reviews literature from Canada, the United States, Australia, and New Zealand.