Field, James ColinCunningham, Shawna Marie2022-11-042022-11-042022-11-01Cunningham, S. M. (2022). Stories from Inside the Circle: Embodied Indigeneity and Resurgent Practice in Post-secondary Institutions (Doctoral thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca.http://hdl.handle.net/1880/115414The call for reconciliation through education (Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, 2015a) has compelled public post-secondary institutions in Canada to engage in meaningful and sustainable acts of reconciliation through systemic transformation. While the Final Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (2015a) has brought to the forefront the urgency for reconciliation, individual and collective acts of decolonization and indigenization have been unfolding in the small corners and shadows of public post-secondary institutions in Canada since the early 1970s (Pidgeon et al., 2014; Pidgeon, 2014). For decades, Indigenous student service centres have had a visible presence in public post-secondary institutions across Canada, symbolizing a cultural touchstone for Indigenous students and serving as long-standing beacons of welcome for Indigenous community members. Indigenous leaders and associated staff of the centres have been actively engaged in the decolonization and indigenization of public post-secondary institutions in Canada as a distinct community of practice, laying much of the initial groundwork for transformative reconciliation in higher education. Through the storied experience of nine Indigenous leaders of the centre, this study offers insight into their role, experiences, and perspectives on decolonization and indigenization unfolding in public post-secondary institutions across Canada, now responsive to the call for reconciliation through education (Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, 2015a). This research study is concerned with how Indigeneity as embodied presence (Meyer, 2008) gives rise to a cultural resurgent practice (Burrows & Tully, 2018; Simpson, 2017) in a neocolonial educational system poised for transformative reconciliation (Burrows & Tully, 2018). The study employs an Indigenous storytelling methodology (Kovach, 2009) reliant on the seven principles of storywork (Archibald, 2008) as an ethical framework for gathering stories, and Indigenous métissage (Donald, 2012) as a thematic analytical framework for making meaning. The study is further informed by theoretical concepts of trans-systemic space, pedagogy, and practice (Battiste, 2013; Battiste & Henderson, 2021, Henderson, 2009; Styres, 2017), the ethical space of engagement (Ermine, 2007) and ethical relationality (Donald, 2016).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.Indigenous Post-secondary Education in CanadaIndigenous Student ServicesIndigenous Storytelling MethodologyIndigenous EpistemologyIndigenous MétissageIndigenization and Decolonization in Higher EducationReconciliation through EducationCultural Resurgent PracticeIndigeneity as Embodied PresenceIndigeneityTrans-systemic space, pedagogy, and practiceIndigenous StoryworkIndigenist PraxisIndigenous Community of PracticeIndigenous Knowledge SystemsEthical RelationalityColonizationImpact of Residential SchoolsTransformative ReconciliationMétis IdentityMétis onto-epistemologyEducationEducation--HigherEducation--History ofNative American Studiesdoctoral thesis10.11575/PRISM/40393