...Hindle and Moroz (2010) asserted (based on Schnarch, 2004) that Indigenous research requires “methodologies … built upon frameworks grounded within long standing Indigenous knowledge management ...techniques, ensuring ownership, control, access and possession” (p. 376). Within this context, we conceived of a special issue that would focus on Indigenous knowledge and research methodologies, and encourage authors to critically reflect on the processes and activities of qualitative research in Indigenous contexts, Indigenous approaches to research design and implementation, and/or the challenges and opportunities resulting from Indigenous research strategies, with the objective of reconceptualizing current approaches to qualitative research through an Indigenous lens. ...Colbourne et al. present a case study that suggests how the strengths of western and Indigenous knowledge systems might be combined to advance research goals and facilitate reconciliation in Canada.
Indigenous Business in Canada addresses contemporary concerns and issues in the doing of Aboriginal business in Canada, reveals some of the challenges and diverse approaches to business in indigenous ...contexts from coast to coast to coast, and demonstrates the direct impact that history and policy, past and present, have on business and business education.
In the 21st century, spinning, knitting, and weaving are largely thought of as hobbies, pastimes, or small business activities. Despite the availability of mass-produced wool and fibre products, ...homespun and handmade products have seen a resurgence in popularity, partly because practitioner communities have developed. This article provides an ethnography of one such group, the Unspun Heroes in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. Following a brief history of the group, the individually- and communally-owned tools and technology utilized within the Unspun Heroes is described. The forces that shape fibre artists’ access to tools and other resources of their craft in Cape Breton are identified, elucidating how strategies of shared, repurposed, and DIY tools enable fibre artists to sustainably engage in their craft. The motivations of members of the group are then considered, demonstrating how economic diversification strategies in Cape Breton have facilitated fibre arts, but are seldom the driving force for engagement in fibre arts and the Unspun Heroes group. In conclusion, the concept of “scene” is applied to the people, places, technologies, and connections described in this ethnography of the Unspun Heroes as a way of understanding the complex web of interactions and activities that plays out within and around the fluid membership of the group. This exploration demonstrates the innovative and entrepreneurial ethos of fibre artists in rural Canada.
Powwows have been celebrated in Mi’kma’ki, the traditional territory of the Mi’kmaq, since their introduction in Elsipogtog, New Brunswick, in the mid-1980s by members of the Birch Creek Singers, by ...local traditionalists, and by visiting traditionalists from western Canada and the United States.¹ Sometimes referred to asmawio’mi,or gatherings, powwows have gained prominence as Mi’kmaw² cultural events over the past two decades, and a Mi’kmaw powwow trail has developed, with powwows scheduled in different Mi’kmaw communities almost every weekend during the summer. For those who travel the trail, this style of song and dance has become an important mode
Mi'kmaq in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador are currently divided in terms of status under the Indian Act, a division which has had a significant and lasting impact on the sense of a Mi'kmaw ...community in the province. Through two case studies, this dissertation investigates differences in the practice of musical culture as a result of the status/non-status divide and questions what the localization strategies of each group can tell us about notions of identity, indigeneity, and community. It examines how Mi'kmaq in Newfoundland acknowledge, create, negotiate, embody, enact, and maintain a sense Mi'kmaw identity and community through the localization of "pan-Indian" powwow culture. The first case study focusses on a community of status Mi'kmaq in the province, located in Miawpukek, and encompasses the localization of powwow as curriculum in the band-run Se't A'newey School, musical expression of the local drum group Sipu'ji'j Drummers, and annual community event. The second case study focusses on non-status Mi'kmaq in the province, specifically the drum group at the St. John's Native Friendship Centre. Musically, these two contexts display several differences, particularly in terms of the repertoire each performs (one "traditional" Mi'kmaq, the other northern powwow) and the singing style that is used. Related extra-musical elements, such as cultural dress, also display distinct approaches to participation in powwow as a representation of identity. However, in both case studies, similarities emerge in the use of recording technology as a didactic tool, the egalitarian structure of the drum, and the subversion (at times) of gender roles asserted as part of the powwow tradition. Comparative analysis of the two case studies at the centre of this dissertation demonstrates different strategies for the localization of powwow. Three primary means of localization emerge: (1) incorporating pre-existing Mi'kmaw or local songs (such as I'ko) and dance genres (such as Ko'jua) into the structure of the powwow, sometimes transposing them for different instrumentation (powwow drum) or singing style (northern), and sometimes not; (2) inscribing borrowed powwow traditions with local or Nation-specific meaning through the embellishment of regalia, the use of local singing style or language, and discourse that emphasizes tradition or "the Mi'kmaw way"; and (3) explicitly referencing or implicitly performing local histories. At the same time that powwow may be localized to assert a Nation-specific identity, however, it may also be used to express a more personal identity, or even one broadly constructed as indigenous. The diversity and contradiction present in the performance of identity, as well as the ethnic simultaneity experienced by mixed-blood, non-status individuals in this study, would seem to suggest that theoretical lenses that emphasize diversity and connectivity, such as music scenes, would allow one to move past homogeneous notions of community or singular constructions of ethnicity. However, it is shown that the way in which individuals speak about their experiences, indeed the reasons for their engagement in cultural pursuits, is specifically referring to community-building practices. This study, grounded in binary structures of status and non-status, rural and urban, focusses on two ways of knowing and two ways of being Mi'kmaq in Newfoundland, a doubleness that finds expression in the Mi'kmaw double-curve motif. These ways of knowing and being are connected and overlap in many ways while coexisting. They nuance the commonly recounted histories of encounter, hidden heritages, and revitalization in the province, and insist that identity be understood as multiple, as simultaneities.
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