<p> Since Encounter, Cherokees have straddled their worldview and the Euro-American worldview with success in cultural persistence. In any worldview, the Self is a pivotal concept. Recombinant, dialogical, emergent, and relational research methodologies are currently evolving a reconceptualization of Self. This dissertation re-centers a Cherokee American conceptualization of the Self-In-Relationship through in-depth concept analysis drawing on Indigenous and Western ways of knowing. </p><p> Interviews with Cherokee Americans are held in focus through the lenses of narrative content, theme, metaphor, and the Internal Family Systems (IFS) model concept of Self. Analyses of narrative interview transcripts surface a concept of Self expressed in English after transgenerational trauma that aligns with wisdom teachings descending through Cherokee language. Participant metaphors juxtaposed with IFS metaphors provide a crosswalk between meta worldviews where respectful dialogue among equals is more possible. Metaphors are drawn from themes: 1) Losses that resulted in hiding who we are; 2) Blood quantum, passing for White, and mixed identity; 3) Self as described through essential attributes of harmony and balance; and 4) Releasing impacts of historical trauma. </p><p> Ancient Cherokee knowings regarding a Self-In-Relationship concept emerge as coherent with a newly established conceptualization of Self that descends from Western lineages, the IFS model. Findings from Cherokee American perspectives may contribute to widening a crosswalk for those who negotiate Indigenous and Western worldviews to support individual and collective healing; stronger tribal sovereignty; individual redignification; and a language for wellbeing. </p><p>

This thesis largely explores ways in which American Indian views of time and space are expressed, with a specific focus on the concept of a portal. Traditional worldviews held by many American Indian groups translate time and space as nonlinear and nonexclusive; multiple spatial and temporal dimensions can exist simultaneously. Here, a physical medium that facilitates movement among the multiple, intangible dimensions, i.e., portal, is needed in order for the dimensions to be visited and thus be perceived as real. In many American Indian worldviews, the power of portal is often concentrated in certain natural and cultural components such as arches, alcoves, caves, and peckings and paintings on rock surfaces. In discussing the concept of portals, this thesis suggests two distinct landscapes as case studies: arches within Arches National Park (Arches NP) and an alcove with prominent rock paintings near Canyonlands National Park (Canyonlands NP). Discussion of these two case studies and their significance as portals help us to understand American Indian ways of perceiving landscapes and American Indian worldviews concerning time, space, as well as spirits. Eventually, this thesis aims to situate the two case studies within the wider discourse of portals that connect multiple temporal and spatial, and mundane and spiritual dimensions.

<p> It is well documented that the heart has a particular way of thinking; an intelligence critical to human evolution and, in particular, to a revolution in human consciousness. However, the truth remains: despite humanity&rsquo;s deepening intuition and recent evidence regarding the heart&rsquo;s wisdom, most people in Western cotemporary culture have not been taught how to listen and speak from the heart, let alone how to follow their hearts (Childre, Martin, &amp; Beech, 2000). The Way of Council (Zimmerman &amp; Coyle, 2009) is a process that teaches us how to listen and speak from the heart. The current study investigated this process as well as the lived experiences of people who self-identified as carriers of Council. The study&rsquo;s aim was to portray the carriers&rsquo; reality as anchored by the intention of carrying Council as a spiritual path.</p><p> The narrative participatory approach designed for this study drew upon organic inquiry characteristics to translate the textures of Council Carriers&rsquo; lived experiences into a clear understanding of carriers&rsquo; reality. Between November and December 2014, 12 participants (including the researcher) engaged in a number of activities, such as one-on-one interviews, sharing a space in an online platform for a 3-week period, and participating in 2 online Councils. These Councils served to collect much of the data through the heart-felt sacred storytelling this process promotes. Council&rsquo;s intuitive way of responding to stories was core to the three-dimensional process of analysis that led to the study&rsquo;s findings.</p><p> These findings suggested that The Way of Council reminds people how to relate to others in a heart-centered way and, therefore, to learn to be human beings. This way of relating is facilitated by Council&rsquo;s invitation to tell stories and to follow the heart&rsquo;s soullike, all-accepting energy. While not generalizable, these findings contribute new insights regarding a Council Consciousness and how Council provides people today with a level of experience that bridges the gap between native and contemporary paradigms. These findings also encourage the implementation of Council conversations at all societal levels in order to transform humanity&rsquo;s ways of thinking and relating.</p><p>

<p> This dissertation explores the experiences of Native American college students at a four-year institution. Additionally, institutional and non-institutional supports, strategies of resistance against oppression used by Native American college students, and examination of the role that spiritual activism plays in strategies of resistance at a four-year institution were explored. </p><p> Through the power of Native voices, their journeys were captured. This dissertation was conducted in accordance with a decolonized methodology, Native American knowledge systems, Native ways of knowing, and Native framework. This study explored the institutional and non-institutional supports, tools of resistance against oppression used by Native American college students, and how these tools of resistance serve as a factor in healing through application of spiritual activism. </p><p> In accordance with Indigenous knowledge systems, storytelling, and decolonized research approaches, it is likely that pedagogical tools for teaching emerged. This dissertation embodies &ldquo;Indigenous traditions&rdquo; referred to by Herrera, 2011 to align with an Indigenous Research Agenda. The sacred corn was used as a framework and prayer throughout this dissertation as the corn is sacred within Native communities. Well-being, as represented within the literature, encompasses Native knowledge systems, ways of knowing, and histories. </p><p> Through a decolonized methodology the following will be captured within this dissertation: the experiences of Native American college students as they navigate academia, knowledge systems brought with them, ways of knowing they practiced. Native American college students partaking in this study will: be a member of the Native American Student Support Services, be active within their Native community, self-identify as Native American, and engage in preservation of Native culture. </p><p> Grounded within the literature, each Native student within this study will be navigating through higher education, as they resist and persist through colonized settlers ways, values, and knowledge systems. Literature points to level of engagement within the Native community as a factor to persistence and resistance. As such, Native students within this dissertation will be engaged within their Native community. Each journey will exemplify the resistance, resiliency, perseverance, courage, and strength students draw from to navigate through and resist oppression, colonized settler education. As well as, the impact historical and intergeneration trauma has on their journey to healing. </p><p> Their journeys will highlight knowledge systems; ways of knowing, stories, and tools of resistance Native American college students bring with them to college settings. Native students bring these from their upbringing, the community, ceremony, and prayer.</p><p>

In the past few decades, Aboriginals in Canada have undergone a steep urban transition. The challenges associated with the city, such as racism, poverty, feelings of dislocation, coping and thriving within the broader Canadian society, and negotiating identity, are all issues which led to the creation of urban cultural centres and organizations. Within the context of these organizations, the communities that are formed are multicultural in the sense of bringing together all Aboriginal peoples from a variety of First Nations, Metis and Inuit backgrounds. On one hand, Aboriginal cultural centres are faced with the challenge of respectfully acknowledging the diverse cultures of Aboriginal peoples, while on the other, identifying, and celebrating the common cultural values shared by all Aboriginals. Cultural centres have also stepped up to offer support for Aboriginal people(s) in the ongoing negotiation with modernity and the healing through the process of cultural reclamation. This study, which is exploratory in nature, examines identity at an urban Aboriginal cultural centre, from both individual, and community perspectives. In true postmodern fashion, this work melts away disciplinary boundaries by taking on theoretical approaches from sociology, anthropology, and political philosophy.

Aboriginal groups across Canada are looking for new ways to improve the living conditions of their people. Coast Tsimshian Resources LP is a forest company that is collectively owned by the Lax Kw'alaams band, a traditional fishing community in northern British Columbia. This research investigates the collectively-owned company as a possible creative means toward development, but in the process uncovers the significance of community 'embeddedness' in shaping development outcomes. Data was collected primarily through semi-structured and informal interviews with respondents from the community and company, among others. Interviews revealed the problem of a disconnection between the community and company. Through a New Institutional Analysis, which pays particular attention to context, the possible reasons for the disconnect are explored, and community 'embeddedness' is presented as a way of understanding it. Fishing is identified as a culturally salient practice and serves as a point of comparison to explain the lack of participation in the company's forestry activities. Suggestions for ways the company can work within this 'embeddedness' to ameliorate the disconnect are provided, and an elevated appreciation of the "sub-institutional elements" within New Institutional theory is suggested. Finally, the community-owned company is evaluated in terms of its ability to meet the development goals and visions of the Lax Kw'alaams band and First Nations in Canada.

This thesis examines how white women teachers, who have worked or are working in one isolated, Indigenous community in Northern Canada, construct a sense of self and their work. It offers an analysis of the self-representations of seven white women teachers that draws on poststructural, psychoanalytic and postcolonial theory. The thesis demonstrates the ways in which the social and the psychic, the exterior and the interior, and discourse and the unconscious interconnect in the construction of gendered and racialized teacher identity. The thesis takes the position that identity formation is worked out in the intersubjective space between individuals as they position themselves through the continuous renegotiation of power relations and the differentiated discourses that are available to them. Further, the thesis explores the way in which conscious and unconscious processes influence how white women teachers position themselves. The research methodology highlights the use of film as a research tool. Judith P. Robertson's (2004) technique of Screenplay Pedagogy, which brings unconscious processes to the attention of the researcher and participants, was employed as one of the primary techniques. This approach involves: collective viewing of a film text; attention to deeply felt psychic and somatic moments; writing; and discussion. In subsequent phases of the data collection for the project, each participant wrote a monologue and was interviewed. The thesis is structured around three major themes that emerged through the research process: communities and relationships; teacher role, values, beliefs and actions; and student and teacher potential. The women's monologues are investigated as individual cases that contribute to the exploration of the importance of each theme in the process of identity formation. The thesis demonstrates the significance of the dreams, fantasies and hopes that the women associate with teaching. It highlights the impact of the phenomenon of 'othering' on the Indigenous students and community. It demonstrates the role of communities and of competing discourses in education in the formation of professional identity and in the women's sense of being able, or not, to continue to teach in the isolated Indigenous community.

The human rights abuses and resource exploitation of Aboriginal people in Canada's colonial past and neocolonial present has left a legacy of inequitable health and social conditions that contribute to increased perinatal risk factors. The complex "system" of administration, governance and health services delivery impedes program innovation and responsiveness alienating relationships between Aboriginal people, health care providers and organizations. These dynamics underlie the problems of poor access to, participation in, and outcomes of care during pregnancy among Aboriginal women and families. The study used a critical postcolonial stance and an emancipatory methodological approach to describe community-based stakeholders' perspectives on their experiences improving care for pregnant and parenting Aboriginal women and families. Phase I exploratory interviews with 16 First Nations community, policy, and health service leaders and providers identified Aboriginal 'innovator' organizations for participation in phase II. Two Aboriginal health care organizations in one region of British Columbia participated in the comparative case study. Data were collected through exploratory interviews and small group discussions with 57 people, document review and researcher field notes and were analyzed using the interpretive descriptive method. Seventy three people participated, with 60 percent self-identified as Aboriginal and 90.4 percent women. Results show that Aboriginal parents' experience, and therefore the intention of care must be situated within an understanding of colonial and neocolonial relations, especially the intergenerational impact of residential schools; safety in health care relationships and settings; and responsiveness to peoples' experiences, priorities and capacities. Care for pregnant and parenting Aboriginal people involves multiple stakeholders who may hold different views of health care roles, relationships and decision-making. While the two cases shared a similar vision of roles and relationships, differences in processes of health system change, and in the governance models impacted the Aboriginal organizations' experiences of improving care for pregnant and parenting Aboriginal people. Greater stakeholder involvement in governance of care may enhance Aboriginal organizations' capacity to achieve safe and responsive care. This can contribute to moving forward from the intergenerational impact of residential schools, toward Aboriginal peoples' vision for strong and healthy children, families and communities.

We stand witness at the dawn of the 21st century to increasing tensions between Aboriginal people in Canada, and the Canadian state, largely as a result of conflict over natural resources. Do these conflicts imply that we are unable to understand each other? Does the meaning of our words get 'lost in translation' as it crosses the space between us? If this is so, then how can we envision dialogue between the two craft depicted in the Kaswentha, when---from a Canadian perspective---we don't understand the words each of us is using? When we don't understand the meaning of 'sovereignty' from the perspective of an Aboriginal participant in the dialogue, how can we understand what possibilities of cooperation are open to us? The Mi'kmaq, in their own traditions and 'worldview', clearly articulated their own understanding of 'sovereignty' based on their traditions of political thought and action. Through their economic, legal, spiritual, political and 'environmental' articulations, the Mi'kmaq projected their understanding of 'sovereignty' into the creation of relationships with the French, Jesuit and English immigrants which arrived on their shores. Through an analysis of these articulations, we gain a new appreciation for Mi'kmaq sovereignty---one founded on the concept of sharing. The three pillars of continuity, responsibility---for themselves and their 'extended European kin'---and relationship-building characterized this shared space within which the Mi'kmaq founded their relationship with their blue-eyed 'kin'. In all of its aspects---environment and land; spiritual, political and legal; and economic---Mi'kmaq sovereignty was about the paths and passes that allowed them to build relationships with others. Indeed, in its content and structure, Mi'kmaq sovereignty was, and is, shared sovereignty---an idea that opens our minds to a new way of understanding the political landscape of 21st century Mi'kma'ki. Drawing on this concept of shared sovereignty, ideas with respect to the co-management of natural resources are discussed. These ideas draw to a conclusion the thesis, and open avenues for further research and reflection on the place of Aboriginal political thought in the foundations of political culture in Canada.

To better understand the relationship to Otherness, postcolonial translation theorists have examined cultures that are far away in space or time. This dissertation takes an alternative approach by examining a contemporary, nearby Other, that is Native People who have been dominated over in a system that has "translated" them. This study analyzes a set of institutional representations of Canada's First Peoples. Its goal is to shed light on how these representations create a frame of reference that impacts public discourse about these people. Particular attention is paid to movements of consolidation , displacement, or subversion exercised within these frameworks. The review starts by recalling the historical conditions governing the first representations of Native People. It continues by analyzing the representations produced among the spheres of greatest influence: the legal, educational, museological, and linguistic institutions. How do the earliest colonial representations continue to filter through in present-day legal texts? How to educate tomorrow's decision makers about historical and current Native realities? How do museums construct the population's views of these realities? What is the status of Native languages against that of the two "official" languages of colonization? What support do Native languages receive, to allow them to assume their role in education and the development of Native identities, or for defining what is modern? These are the questions that each chapter explores and answers. The creation of the Dominion of Canada put the last touch to the definition of "Indians" as persons. Henceforth, power relations between First Peoples and colonizing forces became asymmetrical, and Canadian institutions got considerable powers of influence, not only over representations of the Native Other, but also over the production and reproduction of these representations. It is important that the subject, who reads and interprets Otherness through the symbolic representations that impact his/her frame of reference, be conscious of the predominance, in public discourse, of representations projected by institutions. This dissertation has attempted to uncover the competing power relations that are at work in representing Native People, while focusing on the position of people who represent, and on the position of those who are represented. This has led us to foreground areas of possible intervention favouring the recognition of Native people in Canada.