Papers by Kelley Bird-Naytowhow
Qualitative Health Research, Jul 20, 2020
Research has demonstrated that Indigenous youth residing in Canadian urban contexts tend to exper... more Research has demonstrated that Indigenous youth residing in Canadian urban contexts tend to experience disproportionate burdens of adversity compared with their non-Indigenous peers (Bird-Naytowhow et al., 2017; Chandler & Lalonde, 2008; Toombs et al., 2016). Oftentimes, these young people can experience disparities in several measurable areas, such as having lower rates of employment, less institutional education, negative and persistent interactions with the justice system, increased involvement with child and family services, and poorer health as compared with their non-Indigenous counterparts (Isbister-Bear et al., 2017; Snowshoe et al., 2017). Individual culpability is not an adequate or appropriate explanation for such health and social inequities, however. There are social, political, and historical forces affecting Indigenous young people-such as histories of colonization, ongoing and systemic racism or oppression, and the intergenerational impacts of Canadian residential schools to name a few-that coalesce to shape the unjust conditions of adversity in contemporary urban contexts (
Qualitative Health Research, Jun 1, 2017
In this research, we outline some of the ways Plains Cree and Métis youth in a Canadian urban con... more In this research, we outline some of the ways Plains Cree and Métis youth in a Canadian urban context experience time, are oriented toward constructs of the future, and how they construct meaning amidst life's challenges. We also examine how orientations toward time can affect developmental outcomes, attitudes toward daily routines, resilience strategies, and motivations for health and wellness-seeking behaviors. A notion of time orientation as a theoretical perspective guides this research, particularly how these orientations relate to processes of resilience among youth, such as belonging, self-mastery, or cultural identity and continuity. Given the relative lack of literature examining time orientations in the contexts of Indigenous youth resilience and well-being, it is argued that health-related interventions with Indigenous youth in similar urban contexts could benefit from deeper understandings of the concepts of time and future orientations and their associations with health-related outcomes. Concepts of Time The concept of time has been viewed as the essence of human existence, as universally human (Nurmi, 2005), or as an implicit premise underlying human perceptual, cognitive, and emotional experiences (Morselli, 2013). Across various disciplines, "time orientation" often depicts a person's extended (usually weeks to years) cognitive bias toward a particular temporal state or direction (i.e., past, present, or future), and has been linked to affective and behavioral outcomes (Guthrie, Butler, & Ward, 2009). This orientation toward time is distinct from "objective time" as discussed in relation to geophysical, linear, or Newtonian clock time (Nurmi, 2005). Rather, it is a subjective, phenomenologically "felt time" that is internally determined, socially and culturally mediated, experiential, and affected by fleeting perceptions, emotions, and cognitions (Aronowitz, 2005; Janca & Bullen, 2003; Yowell, 2000). The literature explicating an association between a future time orientation (FTO) and health and well-being is voluminous. FTO is understood as an individual's subjective view 712489Q HRXXX10.
International journal of qualitative methods, Jul 24, 2017
Indigenous communities from around the world, and particularly marginalized youth from within the... more Indigenous communities from around the world, and particularly marginalized youth from within these communities, have not always been adequately included and valued as potential collaborators in various research processes. Instead, research has relegated Indigenous youth to subjects where adults, operating primarily from Western knowledge positions and assumptions, remain the experts. Given the role of research in informing programs and policies, the ways research meaningfully engages and includes Indigenous youth are of key concern. This article presents experiences gained throughout the duration of a study that sought to identify the knowledge, resources, and capabilities required to support the health, resilience, and well-being of Indigenous youth within an urban Canadian context. In particular, this article focuses on methods and approaches of integrating Indigenous knowledge systems throughout the research process and how this can in turn foster meaningful and transformative engagements with Indigenous youth. We argue for the importance and value of traditional cultural practices and knowledge systems and what we call ceremonies of relationships, existent within Indigenous communities around the world, and how their integration in research processes can support constructive and meaningful engagements with Indigenous youth research collaborators.
Medical Anthropology Quarterly, Apr 23, 2020
The performing arts can be a powerful means of wellness, identity exploration, and positive socia... more The performing arts can be a powerful means of wellness, identity exploration, and positive social representation for Indigenous young people. In this article, we outline the results of a year‐long collaborative study that explored Indigenous young peoples’ relationships between the performing arts, wellness, and resilience. Twenty in‐depth interviews were conducted with 10 Cree and Métis youth about their participation in the Circle of Voices theater program at the Gordon Tootoosis Nik̄an̄iw̄in Theatre in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. A strength‐based analysis focused on performing pimâtisiwin, that is, how young people learn to enact, protest, and play with a wide range of social identities, while also challenging racially stereotyped identities often imposed on them within inner‐city environments. This research critically engages performative theory to more readily understand aspects of Indigenous youth identity and wellness and offers new empirical and methodological directions for advancing Indigenous youth wellness in urban settings.
Routledge eBooks, Sep 8, 2021
Relationships with the natural world, including stars, mountains, waterways, landscapes, airways,... more Relationships with the natural world, including stars, mountains, waterways, landscapes, airways, animals, and plants, continue to shape the spiritual worldviews, beliefs, values, institutions, laws, and practices of many Indigenous 1 communities across the globe (see discussions in North America by Deloria 2003; Ermine 1995; Grande 2015; Simpson 2011). From these views, "spirit" is not a static, anthropocentric, or monotheistic category linked to discrete inner workings of souls independent of culture, politics, and geography. Instead, it is all our relations that we hold and become a part of. Notwithstanding devastating legacies of colonization across "urban" and "remote" landscapes for many Indigenous nations in Canada and globally, these sacred relationships with the natural world have persevered to provide meaning, resilience, and wellness amidst challenging aspects of contemporary existence (Simpson 2011). Despite land being a fundamental Indigenous determinant of health (Greenwood and Lindsay 2019; Redvers 2018), as well as literature demonstrating how spiritual practices and worldviews can foster pathways to wellness (
Qualitative Health Research, Apr 20, 2018
Processes of HIV or AIDS illness disclosure are informed by identity transformations, experiences... more Processes of HIV or AIDS illness disclosure are informed by identity transformations, experiences of stigma, and social support, and are connected with health-seeking behavior or practices of HIV or AIDS testing (Woodgate et al., 2017). Together, these social processes intersect to influence the spread of HIV within a community or population. In this context, illness disclosure is defined as the willingness of peoples living with HIV (PLWH) or AIDS to reveal their sero-positive status to another person (Sowell & Phillips, 2010). Illness disclosure is a social and psychological process of sharing critical health and personal information with others. It is a continuous process and not a one-time event, and it evolves organically over time as HIV-positive individuals disclose their status to different people within their community networks as circumstances arise (Prati et al., 2016). Disclosing one's HIV sero-positive status is portrayed as a complex social issue that, in time, can afford significant positive outcomes to individuals and communities. Across a broad range of situations and cultural contexts, research suggests that HIV disclosure: allows individuals to access greater social support for preventive actions (Piot et al., 2015), can serve to prevent the transmission of the virus to others (Sowell & Phillips, 2010), increases access to health care (Greeff et al., 2008), facilitates an open dialogue that is needed to change social norms that can stigmatize PLWH (Hutchinson, Mahlalela, & Yukich, 764394Q HRXXX10.
International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 2021
At the interface of Western and Indigenous research methodologies, this paper revisits the place ... more At the interface of Western and Indigenous research methodologies, this paper revisits the place of the “personal” and “autobiographical” self in qualitative visual research. We outline a community and partnership-based evaluation of a theater program for Indigenous youth using arts-based body-mapping approaches in Saskatoon, Canada, and explore the methodological limitations of the narrator or artist’s voice and representations to translate personal visual-narratives and personal knowledges they hold. In so doing, we describe how body-mapping methods were adapted and improvised to respond to the silent voices and absent bodies within personal visual-narratives with an epistemological eclecticism handling the limitations of voice and meaningfully engaging the potentiality of quietness. Extending the conceptual and methodological boundaries of the “personal” and “autobiographical” for both narrator and interlocutor, artist and observer, we contribute to debates on the processes and o...
Reflective Practice, 2021
From our standpoints as Indigenous and ally researchers in the social sciences and socio-legal fi... more From our standpoints as Indigenous and ally researchers in the social sciences and socio-legal field, we offer an autoethnographic, reflexive account of a three-year research collaboration about close relationships, disability, and social connection. After engaging in one structured reflection exercise, several informal reflective conversations, and a pipe ceremony that marked the beginning of our next research endeavour together, we outline three emergent issues, each representing a point of struggle that ultimately became a strength in our research approach and contributions to knowledge. We also put forward a fourth issue that emerged in light of the COVID-19 pandemic and that has deeply shaped our research and reflection since. Our paper is intended to function as both a specific examination of lessons learned and knowledge generated in our experience of community-engaged Indigenous research, and also as a broader ensemble of principles that can be useful for doing thoughtful an...
There is limited knowledge about the experiences of intimate relationship formation for those wit... more There is limited knowledge about the experiences of intimate relationship formation for those with disabilities, particularly amongst Indigenous populations in urban areas. In order to address this research gap, our project uses an Indigenous approach—talking circles facilitated by a Knowledge Keeper—to engage local community members in discussions about their challenges and journeys of relationship formation, and considerations of community-level efforts at improving socialization and safe meeting spaces for disabled Indigenous persons. Through a central aim of “story-catching” through semi-structured biographical narratives in talking circles, we demonstrate how Indigenous methods can be appropriately and effectively employed to generate rich qualitative data. Our research also underscores how qualitative Indigenous approaches work to foster an ethical space (Ermine, 2007) between researchers, participants, and their communities, and how this in turn encourages individual and co...
There is limited knowledge about the experiences of intimate relationship formation for those wit... more There is limited knowledge about the experiences of intimate relationship formation for those with disabilities, particularly amongst Indigenous populations in urban areas. In order to address this research gap, our project uses an Indigenous approach—talking circles facilitated by a Knowledge Keeper—to engage local community members in discussions about their challenges and journeys of relationship formation, and considerations of community-level efforts at improving socialization and safe meeting spaces for disabled Indigenous persons. Through a central aim of “story-catching” through semi-structured biographical narratives in talking circles, we demonstrate how Indigenous methods can be appropriately and effectively employed to generate rich qualitative data. Our research also underscores how qualitative Indigenous approaches work to foster an ethical space (Ermine, 2007) between researchers, participants, and their communities, and how this in turn encourages individual and co...
Journal of Community Engagement and Scholarship
Perhaps more clearly than other research approaches, community-based research or engaged scholars... more Perhaps more clearly than other research approaches, community-based research or engaged scholarship involves both technical skills of research expertise and scientific rigor as well as interpersonal skills of relationship building, effective communication, and moral ways of being. In an academic age concerned with scientific precision, cognitive skills, quantification, and reliable measurements, the interpersonal skills required for research—and particularly community-based research and engaged scholarship—demand growing importance and resources in contemporary discourse and practice. Focused around the University of Saskatchewan’s Community Engagement Office located in the inner city of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, the authors draw on over 50 years of collective experience to offer critical reflections on the notion of interpersonal skills in community-engaged scholarship that manifest particularly in place-based contexts of Indigenous community partnerships. Overall, we argue that di...
Spiritual, Religious, and Faith-Based Practices in Chronicity, 2021
Relationships with the natural world, including stars, mountains, waterways, landscapes, airways,... more Relationships with the natural world, including stars, mountains, waterways, landscapes, airways, animals, and plants, continue to shape the spiritual worldviews, beliefs, values, institutions, laws, and practices of many Indigenous 1 communities across the globe (see discussions in North America by Deloria 2003; Ermine 1995; Grande 2015; Simpson 2011). From these views, "spirit" is not a static, anthropocentric, or monotheistic category linked to discrete inner workings of souls independent of culture, politics, and geography. Instead, it is all our relations that we hold and become a part of. Notwithstanding devastating legacies of colonization across "urban" and "remote" landscapes for many Indigenous nations in Canada and globally, these sacred relationships with the natural world have persevered to provide meaning, resilience, and wellness amidst challenging aspects of contemporary existence (Simpson 2011). Despite land being a fundamental Indigenous determinant of health (Greenwood and Lindsay 2019; Redvers 2018), as well as literature demonstrating how spiritual practices and worldviews can foster pathways to wellness (
Perhaps more clearly than other research approaches, community-based research or engaged scholars... more Perhaps more clearly than other research approaches, community-based research or engaged scholarship involves both technical skills of research expertise and scientific rigor as well as interpersonal skills of relationship building, effective communication, and moral ways of being. In an academic age concerned with scientific precision, cognitive skills, quantification, and reliable measurements, the interpersonal skills required for research—and particularly community-based research and engaged scholarship—demand growing importance and resources in contemporary discourse and practice. Focused around the University of Saskatchewan’s Community Engagement Office located in the inner city of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, the authors draw on over 50 years of collective experience to offer critical reflections on the notion of interpersonal skills in community-engaged scholarship that manifest particularly in place-based contexts of Indigenous community partnerships. Overall, we argue that di...
Saskatoon has nearly half of the diagnoses of HIV in Saskatchewan, Canada, with an incidence rate... more Saskatoon has nearly half of the diagnoses of HIV in Saskatchewan, Canada, with an incidence rate among Indigenous populations within inner-city contexts that is 3 times higher than national rates. Previous research does not adequately explore the relations between HIV vulnerabilities within these contexts and the experiences of illness disclosure that are informed by identity transformations, experiences of stigma, and social support. From an intersectionality framework and a constructivist grounded theory approach, this research involved in-depth, semistructured interviews with 21 Indigenous people living with HIV and/or AIDS in Saskatoon, both male and female. In this article, we present the key themes that emerged from the interviews relating to experiences of HIV disclosure, including experiences of and barriers to the disclosure process. In the end, we highlight the important identity transformation and role of being and becoming a “helper” in the community and how it can be s...
Qualitative Health Research
By bringing together two important areas of contemporary health research—resilience among Indigen... more By bringing together two important areas of contemporary health research—resilience among Indigenous youth and intersectionality theory—this study advances an intersectionality of resilience framework that exposes intersecting forms of oppression within inner city urban contexts, while also critically reframing intersectionality to include strength-based perspectives of overlapping individual, social, and structural resilience-promoting processes. Drawing on Indigenous methodologies, a “two-eyed seeing” approach, and Stake’s case study methodology involving multiple data sources (i.e., four sharing circles, 38 conversational interviews, four rounds of photovoice, and naturalistic interactions that occurred with 28 youth over an entire year), this qualitative study outlines three intersecting processes that facilitate youth resilience and wellness in various ways: (a) strengthening cultural identity and family connections; (b) engagement in social groups and service to self and commu...
Medical Anthropology Quarterly
The performing arts can be a powerful means of wellness, identity exploration, and positive socia... more The performing arts can be a powerful means of wellness, identity exploration, and positive social representation for Indigenous young people. In this article, we outline the results of a year-long collaborative study that explored Indigenous young peoples&#39; relationships between the performing arts, wellness, and resilience. Twenty in-depth interviews were conducted with 10 Cree and Métis youth about their participation in the Circle of Voices theater program at the Gordon Tootoosis Nikānīwīn Theatre in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. A strength-based analysis focused on performing pimâtisiwin, that is, how young people learn to enact, protest, and play with a wide range of social identities, while also challenging racially stereotyped identities often imposed on them within inner-city environments. This research critically engages performative theory to more readily understand aspects of Indigenous youth identity and wellness and offers new empirical and methodological directions for advancing Indigenous youth wellness in urban settings.
BMC Public Health
Background Population and environmental health research illustrate a positive relationship betwee... more Background Population and environmental health research illustrate a positive relationship between access to greenspace or natural environments and peoples’ perceived health, mental health, resilience, and overall well-being. This relationship is also particularly strong among Canadian Indigenous populations and social determinants of health research where notions of land, health, and nature can involve broader spiritual and cultural meanings. Among Indigenous youth health and resilience scholarship, however, research tends to conceptualize land and nature as rural phenomena without any serious consideration on their impacts within urban cityscapes. This study contributes to current literature by exploring Indigenous youths’ meaning-making processes and engagements with land and nature in an urban Canadian context. Methods Through photovoice and modified Grounded Theory methodology, this study explored urban Indigenous youth perspectives about health and resilience within an inner-c...
Health & Place
Photovoice has been widely used as a participatory visual research methodology within the social ... more Photovoice has been widely used as a participatory visual research methodology within the social sciences and health research. Given photovoice&#39;s critical and pedagogical potential, its advancement within Indigenous resilience and health research has been particularly prevalent. However, it has largely failed to prob-lematize the concept of &#39;voice&#39; to the extent of theorizing and engaging with the &#39;voices&#39; of other kinds of life with consequences for theory and method. In this paper we reexamine the methodological potential and utility of photovoice methods to include other-than-human &#39;voices&#39; during the empirical study of place-making, human-nature relations, and resilience and health. We analyze photo-narratives from a community-based, participatory research project involving Indigenous youth in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan in order to revisit 1) what we did to produce those images and 2) what we saw and heard in images. Our results suggest that when photovoice methods consider a relational and affective understanding of subjective reality during research practice, they have the capacity to capture and handle other-than-human &#39;voices&#39;. Accordingly, we discuss future directions when adapting photovoice methods for the study of environmental repossession and dispos-session within contested contexts of and encounters with methodological complexity, uncertainty, and emergence.
Social Science & Medicine
Relationships to land and nature have long been recognized globally as a central Indigenous deter... more Relationships to land and nature have long been recognized globally as a central Indigenous determinant of health. As more Indigenous peoples migrate to larger urban centers, it is crucial to better understand how these relationships are maintained or function within urban spaces. This article outlines the results of a year-long collaborative study that qualitatively explored Indigenous young peoples&#39; connections between &quot;land,&quot; nature, and wellness in an urban Canadian context. Thirty-eight semi-structured interviews were conducted with 28 Cree and Métis Indigenous youth living within Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. A strength based analysis focused on re-imagining miyo-wicehtowin; that is, the processes of youths&#39; self-determination and agency that build positive human-nature relationships and enact &quot;land-making&quot; amidst their urban spaces. This research critically engages environmental dispossession and repossession to more readily consider decolonizing land-based approaches to health and wellness among urban contexts. Future empirical and methodological directions for exploring human-nature relationships in urban health research are also offered.
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Papers by Kelley Bird-Naytowhow