Women Elders and Grandmothers Storytelling: Co-Creating a Collective Wisdom Bundle for Indigenous Women Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse
Date
2023-08-25
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Abstract
The prevalence of child sexual abuse in Indigenous communities is not an isolated phenomenon but rather a symptom of historical and intergenerational traumas resulting from centuries of colonial violence and residential schools. Child sexual abuse can lead to long-term mental health impacts including depression, addiction, and suicide and is correlated with higher incidences of physical and sexual violence throughout the lifespan. Indigenous women in Canada are seven times more likely to be murdered and three times more likely to be a victim of severe violence or sexual assault compared to non-Indigenous women. This inquiry invited 10 Algonquian women Elders and Grandmothers to share survivance stories and teachings to support wholistic lifeways for Indigenous women survivors of child sexual abuse. This dissertation offers insights for: anti-colonizing narratives of child sexual abuse; reframing healing/trauma-based narratives to wholistic lifeways; a working definition of Indigenous sexual health; culturally informed Indigenous sexual health education; coming to know stories as medicine as an Indigenous storytelling methodology; a relational living collective wisdom bundle holding stories and teachings from 10 Algonquian women Elders and Grandmothers; as well as offering guidance for anti-colonizing social work practice and education. Outcomes from this dissertation seek to guide and inform Indigenous and non-Indigenous social service agencies – social workers, health care practitioners, policy makers and funders – serving Indigenous women survivors of child sexual abuse in their programs and services to improve the wellbeing of Indigenous women, their families and communities.
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Keywords
child sexual abuse, Indigenous women, storytelling, collective wisdom bundle
Citation
St-Denis, N. (2023). Women Elders and Grandmothers storytelling: co-creating a collective wisdom bundle for Indigenous women survivors of child sexual abuse (Doctoral thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca.