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Genealogy
Special Issues
Landin’ the Spirit: Indigenous Knowledge on Healing and Wellbeing
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Landin’ the Spirit: Indigenous Knowledge on Healing and Wellbeing

A special issue of Genealogy (ISSN 2313-5778).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (1 March 2021) | Viewed by 23603

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Catherine Richardson

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of First Peoples Studies, Concordia University, Montréal, QC H3G 1M8, Canada
Interests: Métis and Indigenous identity; response-based practice; extended systems of family therapy
Ms. Veronique Picard

E-Mail
Guest Editor
School of Community & Public Affairs, Concordia University, Montréal, QC H3G 1M8, Canada
Interests: indigenous youth; youth empowerment; self-determination; cultural teachings; oral tradition; reclamation of spaces; prevention; land-based learning
Ms. Zeina Allouche

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Graduate Studies, Concordia University, Montréal, QC H3G 1M8, Canada
Interests: adoption and critical adoption theory; indigenous and multicultural youth; youth empowerment; self-determination; cultural teachings; reclamation of spaces; oral histories; violence against women and girls

Special Issue Information

Dear colleagues,

This Special Issue of Genealogy (Landin’ the Spirit!) invites essays and reflections on the topic of “Indigenous Healers and Traditional Healing Knowledge”. We invite contributors to participate in a 2-day retreat in September 2020 where we will make space for Indigenous healers to meet, exchange, and reflect on their practice. We also view healing as a form of resistance and resilience for Indigenous peoples and approach traditional healing in a wider scope, including individual practices, community-based initiatives, cultural and land-based approaches, etc.

They will also participate in a one-day conference at Concordia University, open to the public. In this talk, they will share their knowledges and engage with local scholars and healers through examples, reflections, and ritual/ceremony.

We invite specific Indigenous healers from Aotearoa (New Zealand), Canada (Saskatchewan and Quebec), and Venezuela to offer their perspectives on the role of traditional healing methods in contemporary settings.

Some potential areas of focus may include the following:

  • Traditional healing methods
  • Ceremonies and rituals
  • Spirituality
  • Resistance and resilience
  • Cultural connection
  • Land-based healing and teaching
  • Indigenous knowledge
  • Oral history and stories
  • Art and music
  • Community care

Dr. Catherine Richardson
Ms. Veronique Picard
Ms. Zeina Allouche
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Genealogy is an international peer-reviewed open access quarterly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Indigenous healing
  • traditional healing methods
  • healers
  • Indigenous perspectives
  • response-based practice
  • land-based healing
  • resistance

Published Papers (6 papers)

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Research

8 pages, 239 KiB  
Article
Ohén:ton Karihwatéhkwen and Kanien’kehá:ka Teachings of Gratitude and Connection
by Otsi’tsakén:ra Charlie Patton, Alicia Ibarra-Lemay and Louellyn White
Genealogy 2021, 5(3), 81; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/genealogy5030081 - 03 Sep 2021
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2645
Abstract
This article stems from a conversation with Otsi’tsakén:ra Charlie Patton that took place on Mohawk/Kanien’kehá:ka territory in Southern Turtle Island (Also known as Quebec, Canada) Otsi: tsaken’ra is a Kanien’kehá:ka who teaches the importance of harvest and the inter-relational connection that human beings [...] Read more.
This article stems from a conversation with Otsi’tsakén:ra Charlie Patton that took place on Mohawk/Kanien’kehá:ka territory in Southern Turtle Island (Also known as Quebec, Canada) Otsi: tsaken’ra is a Kanien’kehá:ka who teaches the importance of harvest and the inter-relational connection that human beings have with what they harvest. His teachings begin with the Ohén:ton Karihwatéhkwen (Also known as the Thanksgiving address, greetings, or opening prayer), an opening address, which invites all who partake to be “of one mind”. The Ohén:ton Karihwatéhkwen embodies the importance of storytelling, the Creation story, harvest teachings, and cultural continuity, which are all important teachings that are necessary for Onkwehónwe (The Original People) to begin healing from the effects of colonialism, cultural and linguistic disconnection, state-imposed violence, and racism. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Landin’ the Spirit: Indigenous Knowledge on Healing and Wellbeing)
9 pages, 263 KiB  
Article
Healing and Rebalancing in the Aftermath of Colonial Violence: An Indigenous-Informed, Response-Based Approach
by Catherine Kinewesquao Richardson, Kenna Aviles-Betel, Zeina Ismail-Allouche and Véronique Picard
Genealogy 2021, 5(3), 69; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/genealogy5030069 - 29 Jul 2021
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 3455
Abstract
What is understood as “healing” is often culturally and socially embedded. One’s culture helps to define what it means to be well or unwell, and what it means to heal or recover. Sometimes, one’s culture sits in contrast to the mainstream, western scientific [...] Read more.
What is understood as “healing” is often culturally and socially embedded. One’s culture helps to define what it means to be well or unwell, and what it means to heal or recover. Sometimes, one’s culture sits in contrast to the mainstream, western scientific approach to health, often seen as the freedom from illness. A Métis worldview is holistic in itself, and it incorporates notions and practices of well-being that go beyond just being “illness or problem free”. Wellbeing is often directly linked to our relationship with the food that sustains us, to the various animal and plant worlds, to the elements, and to being in “right relationship” to the world and others. Dr. Catherine Richardson Kinewesquao presents an approach to healing which she refers to as transformative, energetic and spiritual. She draws from Cree teachings related to “mamatowisowin”, the life force inherent in all beings and the act of calling forth this energy into the healing process. This life force is connected to dignity, justice and care. Metaphorically, it can be talked about as being released or made available when an individual opens to discussing/facing fears and sorrows, distressing events and losses, and to finding a way to integrate them into their whole being. It is a form of energy transmutation, of becoming more emotionally fluid and liberated from the negativity of what is “acting upon them”. When energy is unblocked or released, particularly in the presence of a compassionate listener, the person may then have more energy for their chosen life projects. By using a response-based approach in the aftermath of violence and degradation, and by contextualizing events through exploratory conversations, one may transform stress into productive energy to fuel life, growth and action. Kinewesquao articulates the use of cultural processes for stress management and working with the natural world to enhance well-being. Ultimately, she makes a case that “positive social responses” (e.g., love, care, compassionate listening, support and cultural rituals) to one’s suffering can be some of the best healing medicines. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Landin’ the Spirit: Indigenous Knowledge on Healing and Wellbeing)
12 pages, 252 KiB  
Article
Tūhonotanga—A Māori Perspective of Healing and Well-Being through Ongoing and Regained Connection to Self, Culture, Kin, Land and Sky
by Donny Riki Tuakiritetangata and Alicia Ibarra-Lemay
Genealogy 2021, 5(2), 55; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/genealogy5020055 - 04 Jun 2021
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 7986
Abstract
Tūhonotanga relates to one’s physical and spiritual embeddedness to the surrounding world, including to culture, to kin, and to Father Sky and Mother Earth. Kanien’kehá:ka researcher Alicia Ibarra-Lemay from the community of Kahnawà:ke, interviewed Māori psychotherapist Donny Riki from Aotearoa, to explore her [...] Read more.
Tūhonotanga relates to one’s physical and spiritual embeddedness to the surrounding world, including to culture, to kin, and to Father Sky and Mother Earth. Kanien’kehá:ka researcher Alicia Ibarra-Lemay from the community of Kahnawà:ke, interviewed Māori psychotherapist Donny Riki from Aotearoa, to explore her practice of healing in relation to her own connections to the Ngāpuhi and the Ngāti Paoa. As granddaughter to Ina Tepapatahi, Patara Te Tuhi, Puahaere, and Haora Tipakoinaki, Donny carries the responsibility for healing in the sense of helping her people find their way back home after 186 years of colonial violence and rule in her homeland of Aotearoa. This chapter discusses the way she works with tāngata whaiora (Māori people, seekers of wellness) and how the process of healing is conceptualized in her Mãori worldview. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Landin’ the Spirit: Indigenous Knowledge on Healing and Wellbeing)
10 pages, 318 KiB  
Article
Vicky Boldo/kisêwâtisiwinyôtin:iskwew (Gentle Wind Woman): From Individual to Intergenerational Healing
by Vicky Boldo, Elise Kephart and Zeina Allouche
Genealogy 2021, 5(2), 37; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/genealogy5020037 - 08 Apr 2021
Viewed by 3181
Abstract
In this article, the authors highlight Indigenous helper Vicky Boldo/kisêwâtisiwinyôtin:iskwew’s (Gentle Wind Woman) approach to healing knowledges. kisêwâtisiwinyôtin:iskwew’s background of Cree, Coast Salish and Métis ancestry, in addition to living a scarring experience as a trans-racial adoptee, created a ground [...] Read more.
In this article, the authors highlight Indigenous helper Vicky Boldo/kisêwâtisiwinyôtin:iskwew’s (Gentle Wind Woman) approach to healing knowledges. kisêwâtisiwinyôtin:iskwew’s background of Cree, Coast Salish and Métis ancestry, in addition to living a scarring experience as a trans-racial adoptee, created a ground of insight and self-care that sparked her awareness and reliance on Mother Earth as part of her survival. This chapter documents kisêwâtisiwinyôtin:iskwew’s insights into the sacred and inseparable relationship to Earth and all beings as crucial to overall wellbeing. The authors discuss kisêwâtisiwinyôtin:iskwew’s teachings about connection, embodiment and utilizing inner resources to move through the pain and trauma of separation from the self and sacred. Ultimately, kisêwâtisiwinyôtin:iskwew exemplifies the need to centre the ways in which people respond to hurt assisted by positive social environments that challenge and stop structures of abuse. This understanding gained as a “wounded healer” in turn creates spaces for individual learnings extending into intergenerational teachings on healing and dignity. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Landin’ the Spirit: Indigenous Knowledge on Healing and Wellbeing)
10 pages, 257 KiB  
Article
Miskâsowin—Returning to the Body, Remembering What Keeps Us Alive
by Moe Clark, Kenna Aviles-Betel, Catherine Richardson and Zeina Allouche
Genealogy 2021, 5(2), 34; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/genealogy5020034 - 01 Apr 2021
Viewed by 2333
Abstract
The nêhiyawêwin (Plains Cree language) Cree word, miskâsowin, relates to the sacred teachings of Treaty Elders of Saskatchewan as a concept pertaining to wellness of “finding one’s sense of belonging”—a process integral in the aftermath of colonial disruption. Métis educator and performance artist [...] Read more.
The nêhiyawêwin (Plains Cree language) Cree word, miskâsowin, relates to the sacred teachings of Treaty Elders of Saskatchewan as a concept pertaining to wellness of “finding one’s sense of belonging”—a process integral in the aftermath of colonial disruption. Métis educator and performance artist Moe Clark offers an approach to healing and well-being, which is imparted through movement, flux and through musical and performance-based engagement. Moe works with tools of embodiment in performance and circle work contexts, including song creation, collaborative performance, participatory youth expression and land-based projects as healing art. She shares her process for re-animating these relationships to land, human kin, and other-than-human kin through breath-work, creative practice and relationality as part of a path to wholeness. The authors document Moe’s approach to supporting the identity, growth, healing and transformation of others. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Landin’ the Spirit: Indigenous Knowledge on Healing and Wellbeing)
11 pages, 312 KiB  
Article
Joseph Naytowhow: waniskâ “Wake up!” to Wholeness through nêhiyawîhtwâwin
by Joseph Naytowhow and Elise Kephart
Genealogy 2021, 5(2), 30; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/genealogy5020030 - 25 Mar 2021
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2570
Abstract
In this article, the authors present the teachings of nêhiyaw (Cree) Emerging Elder and Knowledge Keeper Joseph Naytowhow. In a celebrated nêhiyaw (Cree) fashion, storytelling and language are used as examples of a non-linear and sometimes complicated journey back to self, culture, nature [...] Read more.
In this article, the authors present the teachings of nêhiyaw (Cree) Emerging Elder and Knowledge Keeper Joseph Naytowhow. In a celebrated nêhiyaw (Cree) fashion, storytelling and language are used as examples of a non-linear and sometimes complicated journey back to self, culture, nature and healing. Against the background of being kidnapped, imprisoned in a religious institution, and robbed of all-things nêhiyaw (Cree), this article offers a sense of Joseph Naytowhow’s journey back to intimacy, love, and affection which aids in one’s search for emotional safety. Joseph utilizes nêhiyawîhtwâwin (Cree worldview and culture) knowledge tools such as dreaming to aid in his journey back to nêhiyawîhtwâwin (Cree culture) and nêhiyawêwin (Cree language). From a residential school internee to a leader and emerging Elder, he notes the importance of mentors in a relational approach to healing. This article provides an invitation through “the sunrise song” to “Wake up!” and create a more respectful and reciprocal world of internal wholeness. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Landin’ the Spirit: Indigenous Knowledge on Healing and Wellbeing)
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