Indigenous scholars and communities are exploring how a concept key to their societies can help address local and global challenges, and strengthen their collaborative research.
A new initiative, Critical Approaches to Indigenous Relationality (CAIR), is deepening understanding of Indigenous relationality how Indigenous peoples connect with one another, their communities and the environment.
The program will build the capacity and relationships needed to conduct Indigenous research, develop new theories based on Indigenous relational practices and then share that knowledge with a broader audience, says project lead Shalene Jobin, a University of Alberta Faculty of Native Studies professor and Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Governance.
"It's a key Indigenous concept that has been discussed too abstractly in academic circles, so it's important to enhance how it's understood and applied, particularly as society faces global challenges that require sustainable ways of relating to one another and to the environment," notes Jobin.
