Jardine, Patricia (Gail)Hanson, Aubrey2016-12-202016-12-2020162016http://hdl.handle.net/11023/3496This study explores the relationships between Indigenous literatures, Indigenous communities, and learning. My primary research question was this: How do Indigenous literatures matter to the resurgence of healthy Indigenous communities? To investigate this question, I held individual conversations with 14 participants: seven Alberta secondary school teachers and seven Indigenous writers from across Canada. During these conversations, we discussed why Indigenous literatures matter to Indigenous communities through each participant’s experiences and perspectives. To analyze these conversations, I took up a hermeneutic and Indigenous métissage, interweaving my emerging arguments with perspectives from participants and from relevant scholarship. Through this interpretive process, I developed four primary understandings in relation to my research question. I found that Indigenous literatures matter to the resurgence of healthy Indigenous communities: first, because they create community; second, because they challenge colonial contexts, often through challenging learning; third, because they call readers to relate and respond; and fourth, because they enable transformation in education and in relationships between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people. By pursuing the rich connections between Indigenous literatures, Indigenous communities, and learning, this study asks what it means to read for resurgence. I therefore explore the spaces of possibility opened up by the work of particular writers and teachers. I also explore spaces where there is room for growth, amplifying the ongoing call for better ways of engaging with Indigenous content in Canadian schooling. Through its examinations, this research contributes to scholarship in Indigenous education and Indigenous literary studies, as well as offering implications for educational practice, particularly in relation to language arts curricula.engUniversity of Calgary graduate students retain copyright ownership and moral rights for their thesis. You may use this material in any way that is permitted by the Copyright Act or through licensing that has been assigned to the document. For uses that are not allowable under copyright legislation or licensing, you are required to seek permission.Education--Language and LiteratureIndigenousEducationCurriculumLanguage ArtsLiteraturedoctoral thesis10.11575/PRISM/27541