Narrative Research and Storytelling
Overview
A diversity of narrative methods support the articulation, preservation, and celebration of Indigenous oral wisdom through engagement with Elders and community members. In its decolonizing and Indigenous forms, it can work against issues around the colonization of research, including the western analytical categorization of knowledge.
Example
Stories of Change at the University of Alberta works with different kinds of stories – fiction, autobiography, song, testimony, oral history, memoir, personal narrative – to understand how people make sense out of change. These methods could be developed according to Indigenous and decolonizing methodologies.
Literature
Datta, R. (2018). Traditional storytelling: An effective Indigenous research methodology and its implications for environmental research. AlterNative: An International Journal of Indigenous Peoples, 14(1), 35-44.
Overview
Sharing circles is a form of narrative research that enables Indigenous participants to share in depth about their feelings, experiences, and reasoning through a culturally appropriate and sensitive method. Applied differently by Indigenous and non-Indigenous researchers as a decolonial methodology, sharing circles require consideration of researchers’ cultural and ethical responsibilities in relation to their own positionality. The results from sharing circles can be relevant for both policy makers and Indigenous communities themselves, supporting contextual and culturally appropriate responses to research findings.
Example
Literature
- Lavallée, L. F. (2009). Practical application of an Indigenous research framework and two qualitative Indigenous research methods: Sharing circles and Anishnaabe symbol-based reflection. International journal of qualitative methods, 8(1), 21-40.
- Maynes, M. J., Pierce, Jennifer. L., & Laslett, Barbara. 2008. Telling Stories. The Use Of Personal Narratives In The Social Sciences And History. Cornell University Press.
- Rothe, J. P., Ozegovic, D., & Carroll, L. J. (2009). Innovation in qualitative interviews:“Sharing Circles” in a First Nations community. Injury prevention, 15(5), 334-340.
- Tachine, A. R., Bird, E. Y., & Cabrera, N. L. (2016). Sharing circles: An Indigenous methodological approach for researching with groups of Indigenous peoples. International Review of Qualitative Research, 9(3), 277-295.
- Van Haute, S. (2021). From head to heart-listening to Manitoba healthcare leaders’ experience of structural barriers with meaningful implementation of Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action (Master’s thesis).
Overview
A particular expression of narrative research, digital storytelling can privilege Indigenous ways of knowing and being through a land-, community-, and experience-based multimodal form that enables sharing of oral knowledge.
Example
The Kathryn M. Buder Center for American Indian Studies (BCAIS) at Washington University in St. Louis envisioned providing a means for Indigenous people who reside in Missouri to share their personal and cultural stories. This idea arose as COVID-19 began to spread and prevented many Indigenous events and gatherings from occurring in the local area and around the nation. In response, they wanted to create a way for people to have access and the ability to connect with Indigenous people and their cultures.
Literature
- Beltrán, R., & Begun, S. (2014). ‘It is Medicine’ Narratives of Healing from the Aotearoa Digital Storytelling as Indigenous Media Project (ADSIMP). Psychology and Developing Societies, 26(2), 155-179.
- Cunsolo Willox, A., Harper, S. L., Edge, V. L., ‘My Word’: Storytelling and Digital Media Lab, & Rigolet Inuit Community Government. (2013). Storytelling in a digital age: digital storytelling as an emerging narrative method for preserving and promoting indigenous oral wisdom. Qualitative Research, 13(2), 127-147.
- Iseke, J. M. (2011). Indigenous digital storytelling in video: Witnessing with Alma Desjarlais. Equity & Excellence in Education, 44(3), 311-329.
- Kervin, L., McMahon, S., O’Shea, S. E., & Harwood, V. (2014). Digital storytelling: Capturing the stories of mentors in Australian Indigenous Mentoring Experience.
