« Settler colonialism as editing out: Alessandra Link, ‘Editing for Expansion: Railroad Photography, Native Peoples, and the American West, 1860–1880’, Western Historical Quarterly, 2019
Japanese settler colonialisms: Sidney Xu Lu, ‘Eastward Ho! Japanese Settler Colonialism in Hokkaido and the Making of Japanese Migration to the American West, 1869–1888’, The Journal of Asian Studies, 2019 »

Storytelling against settler colonialism: Mary Kate Dennis, Michael Minor, ‘Healing Through Storytelling: Indigenising Social Work with Stories’, The British Journal of Social Work, 2019

26Jun19

Abstract: Indigenous storytelling is an important site of knowledge for Indigenous peoples around the world. It is imperative that studies of Indigenous people incorporate a style that matches the interconnectedness of Indigenous knowledge. We use an inter-disciplinary approach to examine how Indigenous storytelling can inform current social work practice and pedagogy with the end goal of promoting healing for Indigenous people. Utilising an Indigenous research paradigm, we locate Indigenous knowledges through modern storytelling outlets, including novels, graphic novels, poetry and podcasts. Through conventional content analysis, we identify how a sample of Indigenous storytellers based in a settler-colonial state (Canada) navigates through traumas such as residential schools and sexual violence. For the people whose stories we examine, these traumas prove to be only a part of the grief they experience at the loss of their connection to family and culture. Through this sample of Indigenous storytelling, we see that the best possibility for healing comes from reconnecting with cultural practices and by resisting settler-colonial social work practices.


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