Touching Lives Through Arts-Based Relationships

Relational accountability

A perspective in conducting research in Indigenous communities is to critically analyze the “relationship based model” (Kovach, 2005, p.30) in every stage of the research process. Relationship building or what Wilson, (2001) terms “relational accountability” (p. 176), suggests that the environment, one’s role in the community and how the researcher is fulfilling one’s role in the community should be questioned. The duration of a research project in Indigenous communities does not end when the research project is completed.

The experience with the researcher and the participants is now part of the communities experience and this experience has the potential to define individuals and the community (Kovach, 2005). Research is about knowledge seeking therefore, knowledge is gained with the support of the community, listening to and then sharing one’s stories in a respectful, ethical manner (Nagata, 2012). Therefore how respect is maintained for participants and how the researcher actively engages in the community is not only a fundamental ethics question, but is foundational to the research design.

Conversations about Indigenous research methodologies and research practices in Indigenous communities are continually being addressed in my community, the Salish Kootenai College which is located on the Flathead Indian reservation. Research agendas and their processes have been historically misused; therefore feelings of mistrust among Native elders, tribal members and organizations in which they serve are prevalent.

A recent example of the misuse of research data is the inquiry that was conducted in 1989 with Arizona State University and the Havasupai Tribe (American Indian & Alaska Native Genetics Resource Center, 2004). Researchers collected blood samples containing DNA to investigate the genetic link and relationship between Type 2 diabetes of this tribal group that lives in a remote part of the Grand Canyon. The data that were collected was further used to investigate schizophrenia, inbreeding, migration, which is locating one’s geographical origins. None of the participants gave consent to use the DNA samples for studies other than the initial research proposal. In April 2010, a financial settlement was reached, and all DNA blood samples were returned to the Havasupai Tribe.

This is an example of the power that an academic institution had and the lack of transparency and respect it showed to the Havasupai people. The researchers used this information for their own gain without acquiring permission from tribal members. Further, the concepts that they researched and the analysis did not benefit the community and caused unnecessary distress. Hadley, (2013) reminds the researcher that power and privilege is inherent within our relationship and as Brookfield, (2005) suggests, “redirect it to serve the interests of the many rather than the few” (as cited by Hadley, p. 47).

April Charlo, a language revitalization scholar recently investigated the concept of ownership in relation to both the Salish language and other indigenous languages she works to restore, recover and revitalize. She was taught by one of her elders, a fluent native speaker, that one “could not use the word my, with anything in the natural world” (Charlo, 2015). She further deduced that there was not a concept of ownership in her language and that this organized the lifeway of her Native American ancestors. The language holds deeper meaning and often holds the value and belief system of the people. The idea of relationships as a shared experience with people, one’s community, the natural world is an embedded cultural value that is vital to the research practice.

This exemplifies one of the key traits as described by Kovach (2005) as discourse ought to be guided by “receptivity and relationship between the researcher and participants” (as cited in Brown & Strega, p. 28). Pavlicevic (2005) contends that talking can both amply and diminish the meaning making of one’s experience and that clinicians in the expressive arts must attend to language as a social, cultural and political construct. There is a place for talking as an important aspect to creating meaning from art-making or music making.

Research as Social Justice

As I reflect on my interest and desire to conduct research, especially in Indigenous communities, I am inspired to do this work because I feel that it may have the ability to unearth the silenced voice of oppressed communities. Indigenous researchers, Smith (1991), Wilson (2008) Kovach (2009) Chilisia (2012) and Lambert (2014) agree that the fundamental basis for research in Indigenous communities is to acknowledge and hear the silenced voice. Allowing the silenced voice to be heard, and creating opportunities to heal and transform is one way to alleviate suffering thus fostering social justice.

Using expressive arts as a way to heal from emotional suffering due to oppressive systems is the work of the expressive arts practitioner. Sajnani, N. (2012) noted, “ our practice encourages response/ability, the ability to respond amidst suffering and against oppression” (p. 189). I am reminded of the inspiring work by Lily. Yeh, better known as the “Barefoot Artist”, who is an older Asian woman, an artist, traveling the world to help make changes in individuals and communities. On her website her mission statement is the following:

Recognizing that creativity and beauty are powerful agents for healing and change, Barefoot Artists works with poor communities around the globe practicing the arts to bring healing, self-empowerment and social change.

This inspirational woman not only enters communities and mobilizes children, and their families, but she is mindful of creating a sustainable landscape that will continue upon her departure. To me, her work paints a beautiful story of redefining, reshaping individuals and communities in immeasurable ways. Koch & Weidinger-von der Recke, 2009 stated, “telling one’s own story is the first step on the way to a new story (p. 287). Yeh’s work has made a space for communities who have experienced unspeakable trauma to share, feel and create beauty in the landscape that holds memories of terror.

I recently watched a video clip from the Barefoot Artist (2012) that illustrated her work with villagers from Rwanda, who had survived unspeakable traumatic experiences in 1994. The survivors of the brutality still hold memories of the genocide in their daily lives, Barefoot Artists (2012) Yeh, described how she wanted to use beauty to honor the memories of the families that had been brutally murdered and where mass graves continue to stand in the Rabuv District. Koch & Weidinger-von der Recke, 2009 described how when one tells a story, new stories can emerge and can “transform the experience of helplessness and loss of control into an experience of strength and positive energy, tapping into other healthy aspects of the person (p. 291). The goal of this project not only helps communities heal from trauma but to empower and as Morrow and Hauxhurst (1998) suggests, “in the interest of social equity and justice, through individual and collective analysis and action that has as its catalyst political action” (as cited in Sajani, 2012). Yeh’s strength to not only dare to be creative but to encourage creativity to heal communities is a powerful expression of courage, strength, hope and love.

As a researcher, and locating myself among my community, and the communities in which I will enter, I hope to question my relational accountability to all who engage in the research process. Research, conducted in a respectful manner has the potential to heal and transform lives. Using the arts to delicately enter one’s life may spark one’s spirit to live more fully.

References

American Indian & Alaska Native Genetics Resource Center (n.d.). Havasupai Tribe and the lawsuit settlement aftermath. Retrieved from http://genetics.ncai.org/case-study/havasupai-Tribe.cfm.

Barefoot Artists (n.d.). Retrieved from http://barefootartists.org/home/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2QEcK3JE6gYBarefoot Artist, (2012)

The barefoot Artist Movie: The Rwanda Healing Project. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2QEcK3JE6gYCharlo, A. (2015, March).

Indigenous Language Revitalization: How owning a bug changed the world [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6kuC_IemiCs

Chilisa, B. (2012). Indigenous research methodologies. Los Angeles, CA: Sage

Hadley, S. (2013). Dominant narratives: Complicity and the need for vigilance in the creative arts therapies. Arts in Psychotherapy, 40 (4), 373-381.

Kovach, M. (2005) Emerging from the margins. In L. Brown, & S. Strega (Eds.), (2005). Research as resistance: Critical, Indigenous, and anti-oppressive approaches. (pp.19-37). Toronto: Canadian Scholars’ Press/Women’s Press.

Kovach, M., (2009). Indigenous Methodologies: Characteristics, conversations, and contexts. Toronto, ON, Canada: University of Toronto Press.

Lambert, L., (2014). Research for Indigenous Survival: Indigenous Research Methodologies in the Behavioral Sciences. Pablo, MT: Salish Kootenai Press.

Nagata, D. K., Kohn-Wood, L., & Suzuki, L. A. (2012). Qualitative strategies for ethnocultural research. Washington, D. C.: American Psychological Association.

Koch, S. C., & Weidinger-von der Recke, B. (2009). Traumatised refugees: An integrated dance and verbal therapy approach. The Arts in Psychotherapy, 36(5), 289-296. doi: 10.1016/j.aip.2009.07.002

Pavlicevic, M. (2005). Towards straight talking: Multiple narratives in multi-cultural and multi-disciplinary work (or, I shot the dog, then I shot my mother). The Arts in Psychotherapy, 32(5), 346-357. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.aip.2005.05.001

Smith, L. (1999). Decolonizing methodologies: Research and indigenous peoples. New York, NY: Zed Books.

Wilson, S. (2001). Canadian Journal of Native Education, 25(2), 86. Wilson, S. (2001), What is an Indigenous research methodology? Canadian journal of Native Education 25(2), 175-179. Retrieved from http://ezproxyles.flo.org/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/230306352?accountid=12060

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