Post on 26-Feb-2016
description
Aboriginal Women in Northwestern
OntarioStories of Resiliency & Resistance
Presented by Jolene Heida (nee Stowell)
Agenda
• Topic introduction• Anti-colonial and feminist research methods• Study Findings• PRP Process & Personal Journey• Questions
“”
while we must not in any way diminish or disregard the suffering and hardships faced by Aboriginal girls and women through the years, we must not allow stories of violence and exploitation to eclipse the equally powerful stories of survival
and determination that are also told
Downe, 2005, pg 3.
Theoretical Frameworks
• Anti-colonial • Feminist inquiry
Methodology: Digging up Story Medicine
• The research process included: • 1. A literature review of publications, including peer – reviewed journals,
research, government and NGO publications and reports with a focus on Ontario or Canada more broadly
• 2. Semi-structured interviews (n=2) with Aboriginal women who are or were previously street involved and have experience gendered racist violence
• Consistent with anti-colonial research process was the building of relationships between researcher & participant through multiple sessions
• 3. Themantic analysis of transcriptions: Violence & Racism and Resiliency & Resistance.
Pervasive Presence of HistoryLived Experiences
• Violence in the Home• Violence in Community• Experiences of Racism• Sexualized Violence
Systemic Factors• Subjugation to reserve location• Residential School System• Poverty• Oppression & racism• Gendered experiences of policy:
construction of Aboriginal women
Resiliency & Modes of Resistance
• Interconnectedness: Self – Family – Nature – Community – Spirit• Self as part of larger circle• Family as multigenerational• Connections to community & spirituality through traditions and
work
• Storytelling• Political Activism
The Path Forward• Honouring Indigenous knowledge and lived experience as valid form
of knowledge • Aboriginal social workers can place colonial teaching as secondary to
Indigenous knowledge (Baikie, 2009). • Acting as ally to Aboriginal women – demand change lead by
Aboriginal leaders• Research as resistance• Individual healing of women linked to systemic changes for Aboriginal
communities