A narrative analysis was used to explore the question, What does it mean to be an Aboriginal man with quadriplegia? Six in-depth semi-structured interviews and follow-up reviews were conducted with Dennis Sapp, a 52-year old Plains Cree man with quadriplegia who requested that his full name be used in the thesis document. <p>The results of the study appear in the form of a life story written in the first person derived through a process of narrative analysis of the interview transcripts. The narrative details Dennis early beginnings on the Little Pine Reserve near North Battleford, Saskatchewan, Canada and his memories of his maternal grandfather, Cree elder and WWII Veteran, Tom Sapp, who raised Dennis in the traditional way until he was forced to go to the St. Anthonys Residential School at Onion Lake at six years of age. The narrative includes an account of Dennis life before being taken to residential school, his experiences at residential school, and his life after leaving the school. In the narrative Dennis recounts the experience of losing his traditional culture and spirituality at residential school and the difficulties he encountered in his life as a result of the trauma of the residential school experience. He gives an account of sustaining a spinal cord injury and his experience post-injury and in rehabilitation. After reconnecting with his grandfather and returning to school to complete his education, Dennis rediscovered his traditional culture and spirituality and gained a renewed sense of meaning and purpose as a counsellor, disabilities advocate, and storyteller. Through regaining his culture and spirituality and sharing his story Dennis found balance and healing.
Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:SSU.etd-03062008-130729 |
Date | 19 March 2008 |
Creators | Lloyd, Karen Elizabeth |
Contributors | Nicol, Jennifer A.J., Martin, Stephanie, Roberts, Rose |
Publisher | University of Saskatchewan |
Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
Language | English |
Detected Language | English |
Type | text |
Format | application/pdf |
Source | http://library.usask.ca/theses/available/etd-03062008-130729/ |
Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to University of Saskatchewan or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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