Over centuries, Hmong people have moved from mountain to mountain, home to home, country to country, crossing rivers and valleys in search of an escape from oppression. The Txiv Xaiv (Plig) ritual and chant has survived serial exodus and diaspora that Hmong people have experienced. This ritual encodes Hmong historical and cosmological understandings as an oral text, passed down from master to student, and performed at funerals to apply that understanding in the management of souls--ultimately to send them home. The Txiv Xaiv (Plig) serves as a glue, connecting the past generations to the generation of today and the generations of tomorrow. A funeral without a Txiv Xaiv is like a tree without its roots. Its ability to preserve Hmong history, morals, and traditions is unparalleled, but the dispersion of Hmong communities across a now global diaspora threatens the vitality of this oral text. An ethnographic film constitutes a critical and central empirical element of this thesis. This film, entitled Returning Home, draws on the affordances of visual and sonic mediums to both depict this oral text and the practices associated with it, and to unpack the cosmology of personhood encoded in the text, which Hickman (2014) calls "ancestral personhood". The film centers on a particular form of the Txiv Xaiv Plig that was preserved by a paramount Master, Shong Ger Thao, who passed down a critical version of the ritual to the director of Returning Home (and author of this thesis) before he passed away. This version of the ritual has the unique capacity to manage the soul of a person who did not receive a complete funeral and proper burial when they passed away, such as the post-1975 exodus from Laos, when Hmong families had to flee for their lives and many people were killed in the jungle along the way. By fate or coincidence (most Hmong would err on the side of fate), the first time that the director of this film was called upon to perform this Txiv Xaiv Plig was for an ex-post-facto funeral for Master Shong Ger's wife, Kia Yang, who had passed away during the lock-down phase of the Covid-10 pandemic, when large gatherings (necessary for a proper Hmong funeral) were not permitted. This film draws on this poetic circle of the passing down of knowledge and putting it into practice, in order to demonstrate the value of the knowledge that Master Shong Ger had preserved, specifically through the use of that knowledge to manage his own late wife's soul, thus completing the circle from one generation to the next in Master Shong Ger's family. This project--the written thesis in conjunction with the film--advances a "Hmong Oral Knowledge" approach that is critical to both understanding and preserving Hmong cosmology. This approach puts Hmong cosmology and philosophy into dialogue with scholarship being produced about Hmong communities across the world which tends to treat Hmong ideas as mere data-to-be-analyzed. The thesis focuses on the substance of Master Shong Ger Thao's philosophy (derived from Hmong oral ritual), in order to "look" and not just "see" (MacDougall 2019) human experience from a Hmong theoretical perspective. Given the primacy of oral and physically performative ritual practice, this thesis employs the medium of film in order to engage with Hmong ritual knowledge and practice in its own terms. The film provides a 'thick depiction' of these practices, and seeks to explicate the cosmology of the 'three souls' model of personhood that underpins these practices, while also focusing on the legacy of Master Shong Ger Thao, who cultivated and preserved the details of this cosmology and the oral texts that encode it.

This research examines the applicability of the Kindernothilfe self-help group approach among the Ngäbe indigenous people in Panama from the perspectives of complex system theory and development as empowerment. It is based on an extensive literature review and an empirical qualitative study with focus group discussions and expert interviews following the grounded theory method. The dissertation displays the multiple dimensions that have reverberated to poverty and to the failure of development and most group approaches in the Ngäbe region. Nevertheless, it indicates that a culturally fitting self-help group concept could become a promising approach to empowering the Ngäbe people. Some crucial adaptations, however, are necessary. The most significant change regards the suggestion to work with mixed-sex ‘family groups’ that combine peer group meetings and joint gatherings. It represents the most suitable approach both from the perspective of the Ngäbe people and from the viewpoint of gender mainstreaming and complexity. / Development Studies / M.A. (Development Studies)

Indigenous (Métis, First Nation, and Inuit) peoples and communities in Canada, especially in the prairies, continue to experience disproportionate levels of tuberculosis (TB) compared to the rest of the Canadian born population. This inequitable distribution of TB disease burden demands effective policy, program, and practice responses. These have so far failed to materialize, perhaps in part because of limitations in the approaches we have taken to understanding the issue. As well, these responses have largely been grounded in western scientific paradigms. Science is the search and the re-search for knowledge and this varies according to the perspectives and paradigms of the researcher(s) and stakeholders. In this project, the student researcher collaborated with the Métis Nation-Saskatchewan (MN-S) and two volunteer health researchers to adapt and ground a western paradigm and methodology (System Dynamics and Group Model Building) to a Métis research paradigm to understand experiences of tuberculosis (TB) among Métis people. Data collection took place in a 2-day Métis-adapted group model building (GMB) workshop. The outcome is a causal loop diagram with associated stories co-created by the team and the workshop participants. The workshop was evaluated using a storytelling and story listening method that explored the appropriateness of adapting GMB within a Métis research context. The approach was determined to be successful methodologically, and substantively new knowledge was created in our Métis community about the determinants of TB. This research was a journey of diversity, working at the intersection of knowledge systems to produce a new understanding of a health issue as complex as TB.

This study used life experience methods to gather the narratives of seven adult Indigenous transracial adoptees who have reclaimed their Indigenous identities after experiencing closed adoption during the late 1950s through to the early 1980s. Participants had been members of Aboriginal (First Nations, Metis, Inuit) communities at birth but were then raised outside their Indigenous nations in non-Indigenous families. Through analysis of their stories, I identified four themes that marked their trajectories to reclamation: Imposed fracture (prior to reclamation); Little anchors (beginning healing); Coming home (on being whole); Our sacred bundle (reconciling imposed fracture). Their stories of reconnecting to their Indigeneity, decolonizing and healing illustrate their shifts from hegemonic discourse spaces that characterized their lived experiences as “other” to spirit-based discourses that center Indigenous knowledge systems as valid, life affirming, and life changing. This dissertation contributes to the debate on state sanctioned removal of children and the impacts of loss of Indigenous identity in Canadian society. My findings indicate that cultural and spiritual teachings and practices, as well as, the knowledge of colonization and its impacts on Indigenous families, communities, and nations, all contributed to adoptees’ healing and ability to move forward in their lives. Key recommendations include: further exploration of the concept of cultural genocide in relation to settler-colonial relations in Canada; further examination of the intersection of counter-narratives, resistance discourse, and colonial violence; increased investigation of the connections between Indigenous knowledge systems, living spirit-based teachings and educative aspects of community wellness; and more research examining education beyond formal schooling, including the formative effects upon Indigenous youth of social values, public policy, and legal frameworks. / Graduate

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This thesis highlights the sociopolitics of English as a dominant/colonial language by focusing on the linkage between language, power, and race. Grounded in critical language theory, comparative education theory, and anti-racism research methodology, this research examines the inextricable relationship between language, power, and race. With this in mind, this thesis argues that language, specifically English, is not a neutral tool of communication but a highly contentious issue that is deeply embedded in sociopolitical ideologies and practices. The contexts of Japan and Trinidad and Tobago are used to illustrate how colonialism continues to impact English language policy, practice, and perceptions. In sum, this research aims to bridge the gap between critical language theory, comparative education theory, and anti-racism studies in a way that (1) highlights the complexity of language politics, (2) explores ideological assumptions inherent in the discourse of the "native" language, and (3) underscores the overlooked ubiquity of race.

This thesis highlights the sociopolitics of English as a dominant/colonial language by focusing on the linkage between language, power, and race. Grounded in critical language theory, comparative education theory, and anti-racism research methodology, this research examines the inextricable relationship between language, power, and race. With this in mind, this thesis argues that language, specifically English, is not a neutral tool of communication but a highly contentious issue that is deeply embedded in sociopolitical ideologies and practices. The contexts of Japan and Trinidad and Tobago are used to illustrate how colonialism continues to impact English language policy, practice, and perceptions. In sum, this research aims to bridge the gap between critical language theory, comparative education theory, and anti-racism studies in a way that (1) highlights the complexity of language politics, (2) explores ideological assumptions inherent in the discourse of the "native" language, and (3) underscores the overlooked ubiquity of race.

Employing decolonized, Indigenous research methods, the author considers Métis Beadwork Practice through the analytical lens of Therapeutic Jurisprudence and establishes the practice as a holistic Indigenous Legal Pedagogy for knowledge creation and mobilization in legal education. The author agrees with Drs. Friedland and Napoleon who suggest that a significant challenge in and to Indigenous legal research is that such research occupies a space of “deep absence,” with the starting line moved back as a consequence of colonialism. Building on the work of Dr. Shawn Wilson, the author espouses an Indigenous Research Paradigm which requires a prioritization of the relationship to the ideas and making space for non-linear logic systems and Indigenous ways of knowing in scholarly research. In her work, the author prioritizes synthesis over deconstruction on the belief that deconstructing relationships to ideas for the purpose of analyzing them would have the effect of damaging the cognitive and emotional relationships developed through the research ceremony. While the work embodies the four essential elements of autoethnography, the author argues that the work of Indigenous scholars speaking in their own voices is sui generis in nature. She argues that Indigenous scholars who employ storytelling and other culturally-relevant knowledge mobilization practices are engaging a distinct Indigenous Research Method. This work ultimately progresses in a non-linear fashion and incorporates extra-intellectual knowledge including poetry, music, and photography. The use of multiple fonts and other formatting devices including right justification are used to underline shifts in voice and perspective throughout the work. These pedagogical choices valourize the ways of knowing of Indigenous women and honour the author’s Métis worldview, including her understanding that all things are interrelated. The author examines, and ultimately eschews, notions of neutral objectivity in research as colonial constructs that undermine Indigenous Knowledge Systems and contribute to the ongoing colonization of Indigenous peoples in post-secondary education. Following an introduction to the legal and social history of Forced Assimilative Education of Indigenous Peoples in Canada, the author reviews recent research into ongoing colonialism, racism, and ethno-stress experienced by Indigenous Learners in post-secondary education. The ii author subsequently explores the specific concern of the subjugation and erasure of Indigenous women’s knowledge in academia. She conducts a review of existing literature in the sphere of Feminist Legal Theory, examining and ultimately rejecting intersectionality and conceptualizations of sisterhood as possible remedies to discrimination faced by Indigenous women legal scholars. She argues that the lived experience of Indigenous women is situated not at an intersection, but rather in the centre of a colonialism collision. As a consequence, the author argues that existing Feminist Legal Theory does not create adequate space for Indigenous difference, experiences, or worldviews. Offering insight into legal education, legal ethics, and professionalization processes, the author also explores questions of lived experience of Indigenous lawyers beyond the legal academy. She argues that learning the language of law is but the first element in a complex professionalization process that engages structures of patriarchal hierarchy in addition to the other forces, including colonialism and racism, that shape the legal profession. She further argues that, for Indigenous peoples, learning to speak the linear, official language of legal education represents a collision of even more complex systems of dominance, with the regulated approach to learning and problem-solving standing in direct opposition to Indigenous ways of knowing. Consequently, Indigenous law Learners frequently experience an intellectual rupture when engaging in the professional assimilation process. The author offers an overview of Calls to Action 27, 28, 42, and 50 of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada and an introductory environmental scan of ongoing efforts to decolonize and indigenize law schools including land-based learning and the development of Indigenous Course Requirements (ICRs). The author subsequently considers the process of decolonizing the legal academy through the analytical lenses of Therapeutic Jurisprudence and Therapeutic Jurisprudence+. She ultimately positions the act of decolonizing legal education as an act grounded in decolonial love with the potential for healing individuals and communities struggling with ongoing colonialism and racism in the academy. Building on the work of the late Professor Patricia Monture-Angus and contemporary Indigenous legal scholars including Drs. Tracey Lindberg, Darcy Lindberg, Val Napoleon, and John Burrows, the author considers possibilities for reimaging legal education through the development and use of Indigenous Legal Pedagogies. The author argues that Beadwork Practice holds a distinctive language of possibility as an Indigenous Legal Pedagogical practice as a result of deeply entrenched links between beads and law. The author explores the social and legal history of beads as a tool for legal knowledge production and mobilization in the context of wampum belts and beyond, including the use of Métis beadwork as a mnemonic device to facilitate intergenerational knowledge transfer of stories and songs that carry law. Further, she examines colonial law and policy that served to undermine the legal value of beads, and canvases emerging trends in the revitalization of community beadwork practice. Finally, the author positions Beadwork Practice as a holistic Indigenous Legal Pedagogy to support not only the revitalization of Indigenous Legal Orders and the development of cross-cultural competency as required under Calls to Action 27 and 28, but also therapeutic objectives of individual and community healing.

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