“The work of a leader is to carry the bones of the people”: exploring female-led articulation of Indigenous knowledge in an urban setting

Abstract

Although the activism and historic contributions of Indigenous female leaders to urban Indigenous community development across Turtle Island are recognized, there remains a dearth in the literature regarding the specific mechanisms that enabled Indigenous women to successfully articulate cultural knowledge and inform their management styles by traditional ways. The article explores some of the contributions of female leadership to the governance and program design of a large, culture-based urban Indigenous non-governmental organization in Canada—the Ontario Federation of Indigenous Friendship Centres (OFIFC). We examine how the OFIFC’s Executive Director Sylvia Maracle (Skonaganleh:ra) has applied leadership principles grounded in Indigenous knowledge of her paternal grandmother and a Mohawk matriarch—Mary Ellen Maracle—to address specific challenges in urban Indigenous governance. We argue that the female-led articulation of Indigenous knowledge in organizational operations contributed to creating a community of service that respects distinct expressions of cultural and gender identity.

Indigenous climate change adaptation: New directions for emerging scholarship

“…While most intersectional scholarship attends to the ‘unique experiences of oppression and privilege’ (Fylling and Melboe, 2019: 90) produced through an individual’s location within power dynamics, scholars recognise that persons who occupy several categories of marginal identity do not necessarily experience additive oppression known as a ‘double handicap’ (Brooks and Deegan, 1981) or ‘double jeopardy’ (Rousso and Wehmeyer, 2001). There is evidence multiple subjectivities are the source of both oppression and agency, depending on the context (Maracle et al., 2020). For example, in a study of Norwegian Sami men with disabilities, Fylling and Melboe (2019) find that intersections of Indigeneity with conditions like hearing impairment and ADHD precipitate both structural oppression and opportunities for agency and freedom from judgement through connection with traditional livelihoods.…”

“Mothers are Medicine”: U.S. Indigenous Media Emphasizing Indigenous Women's Roles in COVID-19 Coverage

“…Many Indigenous communities are matrilineal, meaning that people are seen as descending from their matriarchal lines, and women are central to health care decision making and passing culture down through generations ( Cesario, 2001 ). During the COVID-19 pandemic, Indigenous women's articulation of Indigenous knowledge through social media contributed to creating a community of service that respected distinct expressions of cultural and gender identity ( Maracle et al, 2020 ).…”

A methodological protocol for conducting a scoping review of health research on/by/with Indigenous women in North America

“…While our relational ethics could be perceived as prolonging the research project, our collective experiences have shown that sharing our tears, laughter, rage, stories, and teachings immensely deepened and strengthened our ability to effectively collaborate on this project and to think more critically while fostering a wholesome self-esteem. We highly encourage collaborative research that values, respects, and enacts relational ethics upheld in Indigenous women's leadership and mentorship approaches (McGuire-Adams T, Gaudet JC, Ward J: The emotional labour of reconciliation: indigenous women creating kind spaces through the complexities and challenges of reconciliation in the academy, forthcoming), [20][21][22].…”