Research involving Indigenous communities, especially vulnerable groups like girls in care, requires a culturally sensitive, respectful, and community-engaged approach.
The following project ideas, developed by Marlyn Bennett, focuses on conducting research with Indigenous girls in care through an urban Indigenous child welfare organization in Manitoba. It emphasizes the importance of incorporating Indigenous methodologies, ethical standards, and community collaboration.
Indigenous Girls’ Well-being Circle:
A Collaborative Research and Healing Initiative
This concept centers around the formation of a collaborative circle dedicated to the well-being, healing, and empowerment of Indigenous girls in care. The Indigenous Girls’ Well-being Circle acts as both a metaphorical and physical space where research, storytelling, healing practices, and strength-based approaches converge to support the health and resilience of Indigenous girls.
Through participatory research methods like body mapping, the Circle seeks to understand the experiences of trauma among Indigenous girls and use this understanding to facilitate healing and resilience-building activities.
To Empower and Celebrate:
The Circle aims to empower Indigenous girls by recognizing and celebrating their strengths, resilience, and the richness of their cultures and identities.
To Collaborate and Share:
By bringing together Indigenous girls, families, Elders, researchers, and practitioners, the Circle promotes collaborative knowledge creation and sharing that respects Indigenous ways of knowing and being.
Utilizing culturally relevant practices and creative methods such as storytelling, art, and ceremony to support the girls in their healing journey.
Research Gatherings:
Conducting research in a circle format, where everyone is seen as equal, and knowledge is shared and respected. These gatherings allow for the collection of stories and experiences in a way that is empowering and non-intrusive.
Capacity Building Circles:
Offering workshops and training sessions for the girls and community members on various skills, including research methodologies, leadership, and advocacy, to build community capacity.
Ensuring that all activities and interactions within the Circle are grounded in respect for the participants and their cultures, and that there is a reciprocal exchange of knowledge and benefits.
Inclusivity and Community:
Emphasizing the importance of creating an inclusive space where all members feel valued and connected to a larger community.
Holistic Approach:
Recognizing the interconnectedness of physical, emotional, spiritual, and mental health in addressing well-being and implementing research and healing practices.
Indigenous Girls’ Well-being Circle:
Storytelling and Healing through Body Mapping Art
This initiative centers on the Indigenous Girls’ Well-being Circle, a transformative gathering place for storytelling, healing, and empowerment through the art of body mapping. It is a metaphorical and tangible space that supports the health and resilience of Indigenous girls in care by harnessing the power of visual narratives to explore personal and collective experiences.
The Circle uses body mapping as a storytelling tool to delve into the lived experiences of trauma among Indigenous girls, transforming these stories into pathways for healing and growth.
To Empower and Uplift:
By visualizing their stories on body maps, the Circle empowers Indigenous girls to reclaim their narratives and celebrate their cultural identity, resilience, and strength.
To Collaborate and Enrich:
The Circle fosters a co-creative space where Indigenous girls, families, Elders, and allies share knowledge and wisdom through the collective practice of body mapping.
These workshops engage Indigenous girls in creating body maps that tell their unique stories, using art as a medium for self-expression and healing.
Body Mapping Sessions:
The Circle hosts sessions where participants create visual representations of their experiences, facilitated in an environment of mutual respect and equality.
Skills Development Circles:
Through these circles, participants learn and enhance skills in artistic expression, narrative development, and personal advocacy, contributing to community capacity and individual empowerment.
The Circle’s activities are rooted in deep respect for the participants’ cultures, ensuring that story sharing is reciprocal and benefits all members.
Inclusivity and Narrative Belonging:
The Circle is committed to inclusivity, ensuring that every girl’s story is heard, valued, and becomes a part of a larger tapestry of shared experiences.
Holistic Storytelling:
Recognizing that stories are multifaceted, the Circle approaches body mapping as a holistic practice that addresses well-being on physical, emotional, spiritual, and mental levels.
At 24, Marlyn went to law school with plans of becoming a lawyer but veered into social work due to personal and maternal responsibilities. She explored various roles in Indigenous child welfare and family services, transitioning from policy analysis to academia. Eventually, she pursued a social work degree at the University of Manitoba, culminating in an interdisciplinary Ph.D. in 2016, where her areas of study included Social Work, Indigenous Studies, and Community Health. Today, her research centers on Indigenous women and youth in the child welfare system, driven by her own experiences as a foster child.
Marlyn is Anishinaabe from the Treaty 1 community of Sandy Bay Ojibway Nation in Manitoba, Canada. She recently joined the University of Calgary’s Faculty of Social Work and Werklund School of Education as the 2023 Canada Research Chair for Indigenous Children’s Wellbeing. In addition, she remains an adjunct professor in the Faculty of Social Work at the University of Manitoba.
The Connection of the Wolf with Women and Girls:
In many Indigenous cultures, especially among First Nations communities, the wolf is a powerful symbol and is often associated with the seven sacred laws/teachings that have deep connections to women and girls.
Incorporating the symbolism of the wolf into the teachings for women and girls can be a way to reinforce these values and lessons in a culturally resonant way. The wolf, as a spiritual guide and symbol, holds a multifaceted significance that resonates with the roles, responsibilities, and strengths of women and girls within Indigenous cultures.
For Marlyn, this symbolism is deeply personal — she is part of the Wolf Clan. As well, Marlyn was gifted the spiritual name, Waawaate – Northern Lights Woman. The representation of the wolf and the northern lights in the artwork created for her hub is a visual expression of this aspect of Marlyn’s identity.
Click on the headings below to see some some of the ways the wolf is representative of teachings and its connections to women and girls.
As an Anishinaabe Ikwe member of Sandy Bay Ojibway Nation, I am proud to call Treaty 1 the home of my birth. Treaty 1 is at the crossroads of the Anishinaabeg, Ininew, Anishininew, Dakota, Inuit, and Dene Nations and the homeland of the Red River Metis people. My Ancestors have lived on Turtle Island since Time Immemorial. We are thousands of generations strong on this land.
I acknowledge that I am now a guest on the traditional territories of the people of the Treaty 7 region in Southern Alberta, which includes the Blackfoot Confederacy (comprising the Siksika, the Piikani, and the Kainai First Nations), the Tsuut’ina First Nation, and the Stoney Nakoda (including the Chiniki, Bearspaw, and Goodstoney First Nations). The City of Calgary, where I currently live, work, teach and learn, is also home to the Métis Nation of Alberta (Districts 5 and 6).
