Abstract

This research is about ongoing processes of decolonization that are taking place in Indigenous communities across the globe and in the academia. Its twofold purpose is to explore the connections between autonomy and wellbeing in Indigenous contexts through a case study in the Cree Nation of Chisasibi, Eeyou Istchee (James Bay, northern Quebec) and to elucidate the decolonizing research paradigm developed in collaboration with the community.

This study shows that approaches to decolonization and healing are varied, transitional, relational and creative. They are specific to particular nations, communities, groups within communities, and individuals. Often they are informed by personal histories, experiences and ontologies that come together to inspire and build opportunities for change and living a good life. It also seeks to caution against prescriptive and normative approaches to Indigenous-settler relations that bracket everyday experience and local processes of resurgence all the while bringing attention to how structural and institutional forces frame local action.

The collective effort in Chisasibi implies that everyone is doing their part in decolonizing the mind, body and spirit of the community, the best way they know how. It is about each individual finding what they hold sacred and honoring it in everyday actions. Even though decolonization is only rarely expressed as such, for those that have been involved with this project, decolonization means caring and loving for one another and invigorating the body with the effort of surviving on the land. It includes openness to the world and the recognition that decolonization is a collective and creative undertaking, of making something new from the everyday encounters, and more importantly, of creating inclusive spaces for these encounters to continually take place.