Jennifer Poudrier

Creating Collaborative Visions with Aboriginal Women: A Photovoice Project

This chapter provides a critical appraisal of cross-cultural research, using the photovoice method with Aboriginal women. Photovoice is defined as a participatory action research method, as well as a process towards health promotion. Participants take pictures to document their realities and engage in critical reflection individually and in a group process, using images and stories to advocate community and policy changes. This chapter focuses on some of the methodological challenges and accomplishments associated with photovoice and our project entitled Visualizing Breast Cancer. Our participants were 12 Aboriginal survivors of Breast Cancer from Saskatchewan, Canada. We discuss our collective successes as well as some of the responsibilities and risks of conducting research with Aboriginal women, including recruitment, participation, retention, community-building, advocacy and ethics. Interpretive boundaries and the “truths” of qualitative research (relative to the research setting) add a further appraisal of the complexities of this type of qualitative research and the powerful lessons of research and unplanned happenings.

Reflections from a Creative Community-Based Participatory Research Project Exploring Health and Body Image with First Nations Girls

In Canada, Aboriginal peoples often experience a multitude of inequalities when compared with the general population, particularly in relation to health (e.g., increased incidence of diabetes). These inequalities are rooted in a negative history of colonization. Decolonizing methodologies recognize these realities and aim to shift the focus from communities being researched to being collaborative partners in the research process. This article describes a qualitative community-based participatory research project focused on health and body image with First Nations girls in a Tribal Council region in Western Canada. We discuss our project design and the incorporation of creative methods (e.g., photovoice) to foster integration and collaboration as related to decolonizing methodology principles. This article is both descriptive and reflective as it summarizes our project and discusses lessons learned from the process, integrating evaluations from the participating girls as well as our reflections as researchers.

First Nations youth redefine resilience: listening to artistic productions of ‘Thug Life’ and hip-hop

In recent decades, resilience research has striven to atone for the Eurocentric nature of research conducted with Canadas Aboriginal populations. It has been cautioned, however, that if resilience research fails to account for Aboriginal populations diversity, it risks culturalized images and pan-Aboriginalism. Definitions of resilience should be framed within community-specific models, recognizing dynamic subjects interacting in multiple social worlds. In partnership with six Saskatchewan First Nations communities, our work seeks to understand what resilience means to youth who live on-reserve. We draw on findings from two community-based projects developed with the Battleford Agency Tribal Chiefs First Nations. These projects used arts-based and mixed-methods to identify community strengths and barriers surrounding youth resilience. Although study findings show the influence of family, programming, and culture, our model is emended to show the importance of youths own definitions of resilience, even when these may appear antithetical to conventional norms. Drawing on the youths artistic pieces, evolving themes focus on hip-hop culture and Thug Life; showing youth creating a place to belong when they are experiencing a lack of belonging. Within the framework of listening to youth-driven resilience, we put forward an alternative model of reaching youth using positive elements of Thug Life and hip-hop.

First Nations, Inuit, and Métis Women's Experiences of Cancer Survivorship: Protocol for the National Picture Project

Little is known about First Nations, Inuit, and Métis (FNIM) womens experiences with cancer, including how they relate to cultural and social factors such as geography, history, racism, identity, traditional values/practices, and spirituality. Research into FNIM womens strengths and challenges in relation to cancer is much needed. Our team, in partnership with Saint Elizabeth Health, is documenting the experiences and needs of 60 FNIM cancer survivors across Canada, using sharing sessions, photography (photovoice), journaling, and film. We will evaluate the impact of photography and journaling on the participants to assist with the future development of supportive programs and health- care delivery. This innovative research will result in a video, which will address gaps in knowledge and care. The video will then be screened in several communities and will be publicly available. In future projects, the findings and video will be used in supportive programs for cancer survivors and in educational initiatives for health professionals.

Cycles of silence: First Nations women overcoming social and historical barriers in supportive cancer care

First Nations people with cancer in Canada confront several critical inequities in physical and psychosocial domains. First Nations women are at a particular disadvantage as they are disproportionately affected by social determinants of health, but how they navigate these challenges within their communities is poorly understood.

“How Many Silences Are There?” Men’s Experience of Victimization in Intimate Partner Relationships

There is a substantive body of research focusing on women’s experiences of intimate partner violence (IPV), but a lack of qualitative studies focusing on men’s experiences as victims of IPV. This article addresses this gap in the literature by paying particular attention to hegemonic masculinities and men’s perceptions of IPV. Men (N = 9) participated in in-depth interviews. Interview data were rigorously subjected to thematic analysis, which revealed five key themes in the men’s narratives: fear of IPV, maintaining power and control, victimization as a forbidden narrative, critical understanding of IPV, and breaking the silence. Although the men share similar stories of victimization as women, the way this is influenced by their gendered histories is different. While some men reveal a willingness to disclose their victimization and share similar fear to women victims, others reframe their victim status in a way that sustains their own power and control. The men also draw attention to the contextual realities that frame abuse, including histories of violence against the women who used violence and the realities of communities suffering intergenerational affects of colonized histories. The findings reinforce the importance of in-depth qualitative work toward revealing the context of violence, understanding the impact of fear, victimization, and power/control on men’s mental health as well as the outcome of legal and support services and lack thereof. A critical discussion regarding the gendered context of violence, power within relationships, and addressing men’s need for support without redefining victimization or taking away from policies and support for women’s ongoing victimization concludes the work.