Abstract
Objectives
This pilot project sought to seed citizen engagement processes for sustainable futures visioning with ideas, perspectives, and processes informed by Indigenous ways of knowing.
Methods
Five circle dialogues were convened with students, faculty, and members of the public, in the spring of 2019, using Indigenous talking circle methodology and intentionally seeded with “disruptive” ideas to encourage reflexivity and open space for “out-of-the-box” thinking. These were complemented by a series of one-on-one dialogues with members of the pan-Canadian research team. Pre- and post-dialogue surveys, notes taken by participants, team members, and co-facilitators, as well as notes from one-on-one interviews, constituted the data drawn upon for this paper.
Results
Participants were overwhelmingly positive about their experience, noting they were able to go further and deeper in their thinking and listening, and that they valued the Indigenous talking circle methodology, even if they stopped short of claiming the experience had transformed their way of seeing the world. Key points raised in the dialogues included the need for a more relational worldview, the need to repair severed relations with the land and nature, the importance of Indigenous ways of knowing, the importance of community building, and the need to question the fundamental assumptions undergirding contemporary Western societies.
Conclusions
While caution must be exercised in drawing conclusions and extrapolating from this modest pilot project, our experience underscores the value of processes that intentionally catalyze critical reflexivity and openness to other ways of seeing, informed by Indigenous ways of knowing and talking circle methodology.
Résumé
Objectifs
Ce projet pilote visait à faire germer des idées, des opinions et des processus éclairés par les modes de savoir autochtones dans des processus de mobilisation citoyenne pour faire naître des scénarios d’avenir durables.
Méthode
Cinq cercles de dialogue ont été organisés avec des étudiants, des professeurs et des personnes du public, au printemps 2019, en faisant appel à la méthode autochtone des cercles de la parole et en semant délibérément des idées « perturbatrices » afin d’encourager la réflexivité et de sortir des sentiers battus. Les cercles ont été complétés par une série de dialogues individuels avec les membres de l’équipe de recherche pancanadienne. Les sondages pré- et post-dialogue, les notes prises par les participants, les membres de l’équipe et les coanimateurs, ainsi que les notes des entretiens individuels ont constitué la matière première du présent article.
Résultats
La très grande majorité des participants ont trouvé l’expérience positive : ils ont dit avoir pu aller plus loin et plus profond dans leur réflexion et leur écoute et avoir apprécié la méthode des cercles de la parole autochtones, sans toutefois aller jusqu’à dire que l’expérience avait transformé leur vision du monde. Les principaux points soulevés dans les dialogues ont été le besoin d’avoir une vision du monde plus relationnelle, le besoin de réparer les relations rompues avec la terre et la nature, l’importance des modes de savoir autochtones, l’importance de la solidarité sociale et le besoin de remettre en cause les hypothèses fondamentales qui soutiennent les sociétés occidentales contemporaines.
Conclusions
S’il faut faire preuve de prudence avant d’extrapoler et de tirer des conclusions d’un simple projet pilote, notre expérience souligne la valeur des processus qui induisent intentionnellement une réflexivité critique et une ouverture à d’autres façons de voir, éclairés par les modes de savoir autochtones et par la méthode des cercles de la parole.
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Notes
Poland and Bowra are settlers of European origin, and Mashford-Pringle is an Indigenous woman of Algonquin heritage, and Associate Director of the Waakebiness-Bryce Institute for Indigenous Health at the University of Toronto.
“In a good way” is an expression used by many Aboriginal communities to denote participation that honours tradition and spirit. Among the Anishinaabe people, this is embodied through the Seven Grandfathers Teachings of wisdom, love, respect, bravery, honesty, humility, and truth (Flicker et al. 2015).
“mainstream” in this context is the contemporary capitalistic/materialistic vantage point of individualism, consumerism, and humanity being superior to the natural world.
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Acknowledgements
We would like to thank Clayton Shirt, the Indigenous elder who co-facilitated the majority of our circle dialogue sessions, the participants in our dialogue circles, and the following co-investigator and collaborator members of our extended research team: René Audet, Astrid Brousselle, Randolph Haluza-Delay, Mark Hathaway, Trevor Hancock, Peter Jones, Jeffrey Masuda, Wendy Nelson, Eimear O’Neill, Margot Parkes, John Robinson, Suzanne Stewart. We also acknowledge the contributions of the following student trainees: Gregoire Benzakin, Kim Slater, Pani Pajouhesh, and Steve Williams.
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Poland, B., Mashford-Pringle, A. & Bowra, A. Many lenses for planetary health: seeding citizen engagement for sustainable futures visioning with new ways of seeing. Can J Public Health 111, 901–911 (2020). https://doi.org/10.17269/s41997-020-00424-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.17269/s41997-020-00424-0