Strengths-Based Approaches in Indigenous Education - Indigenous Futurisms and Dreaming

 This book is an anthology with ten contributors. The editors, Marnee Shay and Grace Sarra, are authors or co-authors for eight out of the ten chapters. 

The first few chapters introduce strengths based approaches, including theories, philosophy, and practice. From there, subsequent chapters look at different projects where people have employed strengths based approaches including case study research and co-design. The final chapter focuses on strengths-based knowledge production in Indigenous education. 

Even though the book is an anthology with various contributors, the book has a nice, well-thought out logical flow. While it had internal variety, it did not feel disjointed. So kudos to the authors for that. 

Each chapter has its own DOI and one of the chapters has a QR code. There are some really cool visuals in the book including diagrams which illustrate what codesign with Indigenous people is and what it is not, and collaborative artistic expressions of strengths-based identity created by youth. 

Something that I particularly liked about this book is that it felt like the book was very connected to youth and the education of youth in their communities and classrooms. This connection made the book feel very alive. 

There are three themes from the book that I would like to highlight: strengths based approaches, research, and futurisms/dreaming. 

Strengths Based Approaches 

Introduction to Strengths-Based Approaches in Indigenous Education Research and Practice

Chapter 1 introduces the readers to the concept of strengths based approaches and why they matter in Indigenous education. The authors characterize research as a  "problem-based industry" (Shay & Sarra, 2026a, p.1). Within a problem based industry, sometimes Indigenous people are framed as the problem through specific slogans which appear in public policy. This is the ongoing colonial legacy of viewing Indigenous people through a deficit lens: "If you have lived in this country [Australia], you have absorbed deficit ideas about who Indigenous people are and what we are capable of. These deficit ideas are generated via the media, schools, policies, governments, legal systems, and social discourses." (Shay & Sarra, 2026a, p.2). 

The antidote/counter approach to a deficit approach is strengths based approaches. Strengths based approaches "have enabled us to contribute new ways of approaching old problems, resulting in new findings and knowledge that provide different Indigenous-centric understandings of various pervasive problems in education." (Shay & Sarra, 2026a, p.1-2). 

As an Indigenous person who works in education, sometimes I encounter people who wonder why I would work in education when it has a long and established legacy of being used as a tool of assimilation. This is especially true in Canada where Indigenous children were removed from their families under the guise of education. Some would even go so far as to say that those who work in the education system perpetuate and uphold colonial structures (obviously I don't say that... but it's been said to me). I am always interested to see how other Indigenous educators and scholars rationalize their participation in the education system.  "We acknowledge the ongoing impact of colonial educational institutions and how they can work against principles of Indigenous sovereignty... However, there are possibilities for improving Indigneous peoples' educational experiences and outcomes by interacting with these systems." (Shay & Sarra, 2026a, p.5). 

They take time to acknowledge successes in Indigenous education, but are careful not to gloss over the challenges. "We know how much more there is to do. But if we do not stop to see how much has changed for the better and where there are strengths to build from, we perpetuate a story of helplessness and pathology." (Shay & Sarra, 2026a, p.7). And they explain why hope is an important element in Indigenous education: "For our people, hope has kept the fire burning to keep advocating for change in the aftermath of colonisation. If we resign hope, the prospect of change dims. There would be no point in continuing the legacy of change-making that so many elders fought for." (Shay & Sarra, 2026a, p.8). 

"The fundamental premise of [strengths based approaches] is that things can change, including people and situations (McCashen, 2005). The presupposition, then, is that hope can play a role in facilitating such a change." (Shay & Sarra, 2026a, p.7). 

Theoretical Underpinnings for a Stronger Smarter Philosophy of Learning 

Chapter 4 outlines Dr. Chris Sarra's Strong and Smart approach, which is an example of strengths based approaches. The Strong and Smart approach has five meta-strategies: 

These strategies included: "acknowledging, developing, and embracing a positive sense of Aboriginal identity; acknowledging and embracing Aboriginal leadership in schools and school communities; having leaders who have high expectations of teachers, which in turn, have high expectations of students; innovative and dynamic school models in complex social and cultural contexts; and innovative and dynamic school staffing models."  These strategies encompass a believe that positive change is possible when Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students ar proud of their identity - who they are and where they come from, strong in their hearts, solid in their community and smart in the way they do things when they are focused on high expectations and achievement to succeed. (Sarra & Shay, 2026, p.45).

Thriving through Strengths: A New Generation of Indigenous Education Researchers 

Chapter 9 explores strengths based research approaches. For example, 

In his 2005 work, McCashen defines [strengths based approach] as a transformative philosophy prioritizing peoples' unique strength, inherent dignity, and right to self-determination. As outlined by Saint-Jacques et al. (2009 p. 454), the [strengths based approach] is founded on six key principles: 

1 every individual, family, group, and community possesses strengths, with a focus on these strengths rather than on pathology;

2 the community is viewed as a rich source of resources; 

3 interventions are guided by client self-determination;

4 collaboration is central, with the practitioner-client relationship being primary and essential;

5 outreach is employed as a preferred mode of interventions; and 

6 all people have the inherent capacity to learn, grow, and change. (Perkins, 2026, p.127). 

Research 

Theories and Strengths Based Approaches 

Chapter 2 contains a number of explanations of the theoretical foundation of the book including: standpoint theory, relationality, appreciative inquiry, asset based community development, funds of knowledge, and salutogenic theory. The authors do a really good job of outlining different theories and defining them as they go. For example, "Indigenist research has three core principles: resistance as the emancipatory imperative, political integrity, and privileging Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander voices." (Shay & Sarra, 2026b, p.16). 

A Theoretical Lens for Strengths Based Knowledge Production in Indigenous Education 

Chapter 10 was really interesting. The first few chapters explained what strengths based approaches are. Then the next few chapters provided examples of what strengths based approaches look like in education and education research. This final chapter focuses on strengths based knowledge production. 

I found the section on Indigenous research especially interesting. They ask, what is Indigenous research, and they provide some examples, including Close the Gap (p.147), which is a public policy campaign in Australia which they say promotes a deficit based approach. But according to them it is Indigenous research. Then, they share the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS) code of ethics which says that Indigenous research is defined as research that is "concerned or impacts Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in any of the following ways" and provides examples such as research about Indigenous people, research in which Indigenous people are the target population, the target population contains a significant number of Indigenous people, separating out Indigenous people as a data sub-set, Indigenous communities are contributing to the research, new or existing data on Indigenous people is being used in the research and the research concerns Indigenous people's land and waters (p.149). The authors note that they have seen instances where researchers are engaging in these activities but avoid calling their work Indigenous research because they want to avoid adhering to Indigenous research ethics. 

As an Indigenous researcher, I always find it surprising that the definition of Indigenous research is not simply "research done by Indigenous researchers." Their definition of Indigenous research is defined by the subject of the research, not by how the research is carried out. In Canada, the definition of Indigenous research is less broad, and I would say, less broad. I think that this is in part because there is federal funding available for Indigenous research, and so both Indigenous and non-Indigenous researchers have to compete for funding based on objective criteria. If everyone categorized their research as Indigenous research, then Indigenous people would have to compete with a bigger pool of applicants. 

Even though Australia and Canada were both subjected to British colonialism, the ways that we engage in decolonization reflect our unique social, historical, and cultural contexts. Some ideas are portable, but not all ideas are  perfectly portable. While the direction of broadening the application of Indigenous research ethics is a good direction, I'm not sure that expanding the definition of Indigenous research to all of the items listed in the Australian context is the best strategy in a Canadian context.

Anyhow, the authors created core tenants for ethical Indigenous education research, and I do like their core tenants: 

Six core tenets for a theoretical lense in Indigenous education research:

• 1 strong Indigenous voices 
• 2 Indigenous leadership 
• 3 Indigenous agency 
• 4 Strengths-based knowledge 
• 5 Community strengths 
• 6 Reimagining Futures (Shay & Sarra, 2026c, p.150).

Futurisms/Dreaming 

Chapter 3 was very interesting. The authors included the work of Indigenous scholars such as Linda Tuhiwai Smith. And they put Indigenous scholarship in conversation with European/continental philosophers such as Simone De Beauvoir, Spinoza, Félix Guattari, Gilles Deleuze, Heraclitus, Ernst Bloch, and Antonio Gramsci. I relied on Bloch in my dissertation. His work on utopia is a good fit with Indigenous futurisms, which was my topic. I wish that this book had been available when I was writing my dissertation because it would have helped me create my foundation for studying Indigenous speculative fiction. Here is what the authors say about utopias: 

Our interest in the role of desire in education was sparked initially by E.P. Thompson's (1976, p.27) reading of the French philosopher Miguel Abensour's (1939-2017) comment on Utopian thought in the work of the poet, designer, artist, and political activist William Morris (1834-1896). Abensour addressed the criticism that Utopian thought was wedded to model-building or the production of the blueprint of an ideal society and so could be quite restrictive and oppressive. The kind of Utopian thinking that has been rejected is that thinking that concentrates on the form rather than the function of Utopias (Levitas, 2013). The critics of Utopian thought went so far as to argue that the eventual end of the Utopian impulse was the emergence of the dystopia (Mumford, 1962; Nadir, 2010). Such criticism of immature abstract Utopian thinking is easily criticized. But as Bloch (1986) points out, there are dangers in abandoning the Utopian longing to the "way-of-the-world-philistine" ... the "fat bourgeois and the shallow practicist" (p.186). For Levitas (2013), the critics of Utopian thinking were operating from a "pro-capitalist ideological position" and they were "too cautious, [and] insufficiently Utopian" (p.122). A notorious instance of what can happen if we abandon Utopian longing is, surely, Fukuyama's (1989) proclamation of the end of history and his confident assertion of humanity's inability to imagine anything beyond the present (Webb, 2009). (Sarra, Shay, Maclennan & Mackie, 2026, p.31). 

The authors link this idea of utopian thinking with research, and specifically, research which supports Indigenous futures: 

A key feature of [appreciative inquiry] is ensuring distinct processes that allow for reimagining the current situation or status quo (Willoughby & Tosey, 2007). In developing our Strength-Based Theory for Indigenous Education Research, we looked to further scholarship incorporating Indigenous worldviews. As Indigenous education researchers, we know that there can be a narrow lens of emphasis on the past and present when discussing Indigenous education. The emphasis on the past and present is inherently a deficit way of conceiving our work in Indigenous education. It is underpinned by colonial discourses that continue to overlook Indigenous strengths and aspirations for better futures. Indigenous futurity can be seen as a form of resistance to the ongoing imaginings of Indigenous people in the past (Teuton, 2018). The reimagining futures tenet of our Strengths-Based Theory for Indigenous Education Research should allow for Indigenous perspectives on reimagined futures or alternative futures and solutions. The inclusion of reimagining futures will contribute to the development of Indigenous-informed, future-oriented data that is currently very limited in the corpus of literature. (Shay & Sarra, 2026c, p.155). 

I am working on a project right now which I have in my head framed as strengths based, but I was grappling with how to explain the concept of strengths based in my specific context. This book is fully of theories and scholarship which outlines the parameters of strengths based. I think that it is a valuable contribution and I am sure that I will rely on it in the future. 

Works Cited 

Shay, M. &  Sarra, G. (2026a). Introduction to Strengths-Based Approaches in Indigenous Education: Research and Practice. In (M. Shay & G. Sarra, Eds.) Strengths-Based Approaches in Indigenous Education: Research and Practice (p.1-11). New York, New York: Routledge. 

Shay, M. & Sarra, G. (2026b). Theories and Strengths-Based Approaches. In (M. Shay & G. Sarra, Eds.) Strengths-Based Approaches in Indigenous Education: Research and Practice (p.12-26). New York, New York: Routledge. 

Sarra, G., Shay, M., Maclennan, G., Mackie, I. (2026). Theoretical Underpinnings for a Stronger, Smarker Philosophy of Learning. In (M. Shay & G. Sarra, Eds.) Strengths-Based Approaches in Indigenous Education: Research and Practice (p.27-43). New York, New York: Routledge. 

Sarra, G. & Shay, M. (2026). Applying SBA in Research and Practice. In (M. Shay & G. Sarra, Eds.) Strengths-Based Approaches in Indigenous Education: Research and Practice (p.44-55). New York, New York: Routledge. 

Perkins, R. (2026). Thriving through Strengths: A New Generation of Indigenous Education Researchers. In (M. Shay & G. Sarra, Eds.) Strengths-Based Approaches in Indigenous Education: Research and Practice (p.125-143). New York, New York: Routledge. 

Shay, M. & Sarra, G. (2026c). A Theoretical Lense for Strengths-Based Knowledge Production in Indigenous Education. In (M. Shay & G. Sarra, Eds.) Strengths-Based Approaches in Indigenous Education: Research and Practice (p.144-158). New York, New York: Routledge. 

*Note - this blog is a sister blog to https://twinkleshappyplace.blogspot.com/

Beyond the Glittering World: An Anthology of Indigenous Feminisms and Futurisms

 Darcie Little Badger is a Lipan Apache author of science fiction, fantasy, horror, and comics. 

Based on a recommendation from a colleague, I read her books Elatsoe and A Snake Falls to Earth. One of the things that I loved about A Snake Falls to Earth is that the book is not driven by a will-they-or-won't-they romantic subplot. I found it refreshing. It's a wholesome story about friendship, community, and books. There is so much kindness in the book. And the main character is so tender hearted. I also loved the intergenerational connections/family responsibility elements of the story. I relied on one of Darcie Little Badger's short stories in order to conclude my dissertation (now available through the ERIC database). 

I was very surprised to learn that her books have appeared on book ban lists in the US. Here is a site which contains a number of Indigenous books banned in the US if you would like to support authors of banned books by purchasing their books. 

Anyhow, Darcie is one of the editors of this new anthology, Beyond the Glittering World: An Anthology of Indigenous Feminisms and Futurisms. 

I was listening to a podcast for the launch of the book, and in the podcast Darcie talked about how the people who put her books on a book ban list did so because of the asexual characters in the book, and the people who banned her books did not even read them. In the podcast she also talks about her recent experience where she was slated to speak at a post-secondary institution, but then shortly before the event they gave her a list of banned words/concepts that she could not use in her presentation, and she cancelled the event. She posted the list and her cancellation on social media, and the media picked it up. The newspaper articles are behind a paywall, but this article from Inside Higher Ed is free. 

The banned words/concepts are: 

• equity, diversity & inclusion 
• anti-racism 
• bias 
• Critical Race Theory 
• implicit bias 
• oppression 
• intersectionality 
• prohibited discriminatory practices 
• racial privilege 
• promoting stereotypes based on personal identity characteristics

In the podcast, co-editors of the collection also reflect on the list of words, and also the general political climate right now. I accessed it for free. 

I provide all of this background as context. The publisher's description of this book is this: 

Rooted in visions of Indigenous futurisms, Beyond the Glittering World proclaims and celebrates a rising generation of storytellers.The collection brings together twenty-two emerging and established women, two-spirit people, and people of marginalized genders who immerse readers in poems, stories, and worlds that challenge and delight. From a museum heist 177 years in the making, to lyrical explorations of love and loss, to a tale where language itself becomes the force that saves the land, this boundary-breaking, genre-bending anthology illuminates the power of Indigenous voices.

In the context of book bans and banned word lists, the act of imagining a different future is a critical and important act. I really commend the editors and authors for doing this work within a political context where there is active structural hostility towards this work. They model how to respond to oppression with creativity and hope. 

The book begins with a foreward by Natalie Diaz. She reflects on the Mojave language and how it informs her understanding of the future, and her relationship to the future. She says, "My responsibility as a human, is to not sit and wait for it but instead to meet is, through my makings and labors of sleep or dream, or running wild in the night." (Diaz, 2025, p.1). She explains that the title of the book comes from Native stories such as, "the Mojave glittering or sparkling world is a time when the world was still wet, after a flood or deluge, or after the original waters we came from had receded." (Diaz, 2025, p.II). She explains that the glittering world is where we live. "In this glittering world we are also taught to dream. We have become those dreams. And we have yet to become those dreams." (Diaz, 2025, p.II). And she comments on how the authors in this anthology honour the idea of the glittering world through their work.

I think that the glittering world is a beautiful concept. I have heard different flood stories from different places, but the glittering world is new to me. I will think of the glittering world when it rains (as it does often in Vancouver). I also love that the concept entails the impetus to dream.

The book contains an introduction written by the editors. They review the history of Indigenous anthologies and celebrate some of their favourite Indigenous authors who came before them. Regarding how their own cultures informed the work of editing the book they state, "Our traditional conceptions of gender and sexuality take on a subversive role as they challenge oppressive patriarchal structures. Women, Two-Spirit people and people of marginalized genders can be incredible leaders and story tellers; in the vein of futurisms, this has been, is, and will always be true." (Denetsosie, Drake & Little Badger, 2025, p.VI). And they explain that in this anthology, "each piece in its own way, answers the question: What lies beyond this Glittering World?" (Denetsosie, Drake & Little Badger, 2025, p.VI).

I love the strengths based stance that the editors take towards Indigenous stories, and also the way that they celebrate the act of storytelling as important work. 

The book includes many authors who are Indigenous to the southwestern United States. It also includes authors who are Indigenous to other regions of the United States, Mexico, Samoa, and Canada. The authors who are Indigenous to Canada are jaye simpson and Arielle Twist. 

The book is compact (204 pages) and features over twenty contributors, so the works are short. Some of the poems are only one to two pages long. I like short pieces. I think it's interesting to see what people can do in a small space. I read this just before the holidays. I did not take too many notes and I was not in an analytic mode. I just kind of existed inside of the book and it was nice. 

One story which stood out to me was Sky Woman Rising: A Memoir by Moniquill Blackgoose. In the story, humans are trying to leave earth. They need to live in space for awhile in order to let earth recover. But the scientists can't get it right. Indigenous people drew lessons from the story of Sky Woman in order to inform how to build their space biome, and they are successful. What I love about this story is that it presents Indigenous knowledge and science as complementary and overlapping. I often get annoyed when people make charts comparing Indigenous people and non-Indigenous people. Generally I think it's not a compelling persuasive strategy because it's an overly broad approach which everyone can find something to disagree with. Anyhow, sometimes in those comparisons, people will put science in the non-Indigenous column, as though Indigenous people did not have our own systems of knowledge and inquiry. I dislike categorizing science as being a non-Indigenous thing because I think it has the potential to lead to Indigenous people being marginalized in science and it also runs the risk that we will marginalize ourselves by avoiding science. What I love about this story is that Indigenous Knowledge literally helps save the world, and it does so by informing a scientific problem which western science on its own could not solve. Indigenous Knowledge, encoded in stories, has an important role in the present and the future. 

I'm currently in a period in my life where I have gone through a period of grieving my aunt, my uncles, and my cousin. As such, the story Sandstone ballad by Danielle Shandiin Emerson really moved me. In the story, the mother dies. But the one of her children finds a statue which looks like her, and it is kind of alive. The story navigates the unease of this mother statue with the longing that comes with grief. It's not horror. It's something else. 

The Oklahoma Ocean by Chelsea T. Hicks was one of my favourite stories. At twenty-seven pages it's one of the longer works. I have no rationale for liking it other than the fact that it was easy to immerse myself in the story. Two friends journey to the Oklahoma Ocean (fracking collapsed aquifers leading to a salinated body of water in Oklahoma) in order to meet a third friend. Everything is uncertain. 

Overall, I would highly recommend this book. I will probably read it again soon. 

Works Cited 

Denetsosie, S.S., Drake, K. & Little Badger, D. Introduction. In (S.S. Denetsosie, K. Drake & D. Little Badger, Eds) Beyond the Glittering World: An Anthology of Indigenous Feminisms and Futurisms (p.III-IV). Salt Lake City, Utah: Torrey House. 

Diaz, N. (2025). Foreward. In (S.S. Denetsosie, K. Drake & D. Little Badger, Eds) Beyond the Glittering World: An Anthology of Indigenous Feminisms and Futurisms (p.I-II). Salt Lake City, Utah: Torrey House. 

***Note: this blog is a sister blog to https://twinkleshappyplace.blogspot.com/

Dazhindamang Ge-Izhi-Bimaadiziyang: Talking about how we will be living in the future

 Patty Krawec is an Anishinaabe social worker, podcaster, and author. I was very intrigued that she references bad Indians in her book title. It is a historical reference to American President Theodore Roosevelt who said that the only good Indian is a dead Indian. Over the years, various Indigenous creatives have responded to that quote by declaring themselves bad Indians.

Before picking up the book, I listened to some podcasts with Patty in order to help me decide whether or not to read the book. In this one, I learned that she wrote her first book because she was listening to a sermon, and she had a reaction to something said in the sermon. Then I listened to this podcast, where several people are in conversation about Daniel Heath Justice's book Why Indigenous Literatures Matter. One of the guests is Daniel Heath Justice himself. Janet Marie Rogers is also a guest. Another one of the guests is a non-Indigenous guy from Texas who studies theology and writes about religious themes. He randomly mentions seminary in the podcast. What struck me most about the podcast that I listened to was the way that people from different backgrounds were able to find common ground through books. 

Something that Patty is very forthright about in her podcast is the fact that she was not raised by her Indigenous family. She thought that she was "the last dodo" because she didn't have any exposure to other Indigenous people and as a young person she learned about Indigenous people from Little House on the Prairie and Bonanza. And she emphasizes that it is important to keep that in mind. In many ways, we as listener are joining her on her own ongoing identity exploration. What I appreciate about her work is that she is very enthusiastic about Indigenous literature. 

Having listened to a few podcasts, I decided that yes, I would buy her book. The cover art is by NiCole Hatfield. 

A lot of the chapters are inspired by related podcast episodes, however, the podcast did not have an episode on Indigenous futurisms, so this chapter contains entirely new content. The podcast is called Ambe. The premise of the podcast is that she spends a year reading Indigenous books and bringing people together to talk about them. So then the title of the book, Bad Indians Book Club, is reflective of the fact that she has been running this book club (podcast) for a year, and is now putting her thoughts on paper. 

The book's introduction contains summaries of the chapters. Here is the summary of the Indigenous futurisms chapter: 

We end with chapter 8, titled "Dibaadodamaang Ge-Izhi-Bimaadiziyang," which means us talking about how we will be living in the future - through speculative fiction or stories about our realities. When Bad Indians write our own speculative fiction and fantasy and science fiction - when we create, as Justice calls them, "wonderworks" - we are able to imagine ourselves there, imagine ourselves having a future on our own terms, not some space colony DEI project. (Krawec, 2025, p.43). 

She begins by grounding this chapter in an Anishinaabe story, and a discussion on how many Indigenous cultures have stories about worlds ending and worlds beginning. Then she references Daniel Heath Justice: 

Justice also makes the intriguing observation that writing about the future asks us to think about what kind of ancestors we will become. As future generations walk backward into the future, what will they see when they fix their eyes on us? (Krawec, 2025, p.190). 

Following that, she briefly touches on Afrofuturisms, including the work of Octavia Butler and adrienne marie brown. 

The texts that she talks about include:

• A Snake Falls to Earth 
• Prey 
• As Many Ships as Stars 
• Thor: Ragnarok 
• A Short History of the Blockage: Giant Beavers, Diplomacy, and Regeneration in Nishnaabewin
• Buffalo is the New Buffalo 
• Moon of the Crusted Snow 
• Moon of the Turning Leaves 
• Marrow Thieves 
• Star Wars - A New Hope 
• Sword Stone Table 
• Moonshot 

I was pleased that she talked about two books that I had not heard of (Sword Stone Table and As Many Ships as Stars) which I plan on adding to my reading list. A strength of her writing style is that she puts the books in conversation with each other. She will talk about an idea that she likes in one book, and then that will lead her to talk about an idea that she liked in another book, and so on. So it doesn't feel like she is just listing books. She is connecting the books with each other. 

I was also pleased that she put Thor: Ragnarok on there, because it doesn't get enough love. Also, I started a Disney Plus subscription just to watch Prey. Highly recommend. But I'm also going to cancel my subscription soon.

Overall, I really enjoyed this chapter. 

In terms of the book overall, her style of writing is very much the style of talking that is in podcasts. Reflective, touching on the zeitgeist, kind of organic, very personal. For example, sometimes she will just randomly start talking about a meme that she saw on social media. I find a lot of podcasters are big on non-conformity and being contrarian . Whatever material is in front of them, they have a "yeah but" quip or they have a hot take on a commonly accepted sentiment. Patty's podcast adheres to that podcast convention. For example, in one of her podcasts someone responds to a tweet and they take issue with the word Indigenous and the idea of identity. But you kind of have to take these hot takes with a grain of salt. A lot of Indigenous people put a lot of time and effort into UNDRIP and the UN definition of Indigenous, so to randomly just declare it to be inappropriate of whatever is ahistorical and not really a studied approach. Similarly in BC, Indigenous educators have formally communicated through the First People's Principles of Learning that exploration of identity is important. In terms of all the fights that one could take on in the world, why choose the word Indigenous or the concept of identity? But that's what podcasters do sometimes because it is entertaining - they spontaneously take a contrarian approach to random things. It's a Seinfeld-esque qualify of the medium. It would not be a very long or interesting podcast if someone said, "what do you think about the word Indigenous and the concept of identity?" and the other person said, "let me think about it, read about it, consult people that I trust who know a lot about the history of the word, and I'll get back to you." Sometimes in the book she refers to things without citing them. For example, she said that the Maori have a saying that they walk backwards into the future with their eyes fixed on the past. It's a beautiful saying, but it's not cited. With Indigenous knowledge, I think it is important to say where you got your information. So for those reasons, while I do find this book entertaining, I would probably not use it in the classroom unless I had done some front end loading around Indigenous Knowledge/research ethics in advance of using the text.

That being said, as a fan of Indigenous literature, I did find the book to be a worthwhile way to spend some time. 

Works Cited 

Krawec, P. (2025). Bad Indians Book Club: Reading at the Edge of a Thousand Worlds. Fredericton, New Brunswick: Goose Lane Books. 

History of the New World - short story in which manatees/Mermaids express concern about interdimensional colonization

 Adam Garnet Jones is an author and filmmaker. 

His film Fire Song won the ImagineNative Film Festival's Audience Choice Award and was also nominated for a Leo. I'm not sure where to watch it, but the trailer is available on IMBD. It's also a book which I have not yet read as I just became aware of it... so adding it to my list! 

His short story History of the New World is included in the anthology Love After the End: An Anthology of Two-Spirit, Indigiqueer & Speculative Fiction. 

Summary

Earth is becoming uninhabitable. But thanks to trans-dimensional travel, people are able to travel to an alternate dimension. The main character in this story, Em, is deciding whether or not to move his family to the new dimension. His partner is keen to go. But he is hesitant. The government publishes media encouraging people to go to the new world. But then one day they also provide a troubling update: 

The United Governments of the New World were rocked yesterday by an audio communication from an underwater species that bears a striking physical resemblance to Earth's extinct manatees. New World pioneers have begun referring to them as the Mermaids. Our United Governments have not yet revealed the content of the message, but they assure us that it contains a single non-threatening phrase repeated on a loop. Citizen academics from disciplines as far-ranging as musicology, cryptography, theology, and engineering are claiming to have decoded the Mermaid's message, have released various translations. The first interpretation was published as, "Your circle is not round." A rival group of scientists claim that the phrase translates more accurately as "All beings require more than one tide." The latest and perhaps most cryptic interpretation states, "Even desert animals live underwater." (Garnet Jones, 2020, p.44).

Upon hearing this, Em is overwhelmed by his Indigenous intergenerational memories of colonization. Ultimately Em's daughter decides not to travel to the new dimension and Em chooses to respect her choice. Em's wife does go to the new dimension. Em and his daughter join the Rainbow People's Camp, a protest camp which seeks to revive Indigenous culture, language, and connection to the land. 

Reflection

The first time that I read this, I loved the choice to make manatees the creatures who deliver this message. Sweet, vulnerable manatees swimming around in another dimension and being concerned for the well-being of the arriving humans. I also find it interesting that theology is thrown into the mix of people trying to decode the manatee's message. 

I think this story raises an interesting question. If we wreck the planet in our dimension, then is it ethical to go and colonize another dimension?

Works Cited

Garnet Jones, A. (2020). History of the new world. In J. Whitehead (Ed.), Love after the end: An anthology of Two-Spirit & Indigiqueer speculative fiction (pp. 35-60). Vancouver, British Columbia: Arsenal Pulp Press.  

jaye simpson's short story "The Ark of the Turtle's Back"

According to the bio in Love After the End, "jaye simpson is an Oji-Cree Saulteaux Indigiqueer whose roots hail from the Sapotaweyak, Keeseekoose, and Skownan Cree Nations." 

jaye is the subject of a film called I'll Tell You When I'm Ready. The film is 14 minutes long and available to stream here, and here is an interview with jaye about the film. In the film, jaye processes the grief of being seperated from her late mother, the significance of publishing her first book, and what her drag personanna means to her. And jaye reflects on how being in Vancouver helps her to feel close to her mother. The film includes spoken poetry and is poignant and beautiful. 

jaye's book, a body more tolerable, can be found wherever fine books are sold. Their short story The Ark of a Turtle's Back can be found in Love After the End: An Anthology of Two-Spirit & Indigiqueer Speculative Fiction.  

Summary

The protagonist of this story is introduced as someone who is "iwkekaazo, pretending to be a woman." (simpson, 2020, p.63). Her sister helps her obtain hormones. She takes care of children with her partner. She is unsure about whether or not she ever can or should have a baby of her own, and so she acts as though she is unsure about her partner. 

Her sister arrives and says they all have to leave quickly. They are in danger if they do not leave the planet, and the sister has found a way for them to leave the planet as part of a mass exodus. If they leave the planet, the main character will be able to have surgery in order to be able to have children. But the energy required for the exodus to leave earth would cause its core to cool, turning it into "the new Mars." (p.69).

The main character is very upset when she hears this. 

"Our people wouldn't leave her, and you know it. We would stay until her last breath and go with her. We are the caretakers, and if she dies, we die too." (p.69)

They leave earth. The main character has her surgery and also goes through an intense grieving process for earth. And then she does a ceremony with her partner and they prepare for their new life. 

Reflection

While I was reading this, I felt a lot of gratitude for my cis-het privilege of being able to conceive without medical intervention. I imagine it would be very difficult to want to have a baby and not be able to have a baby. I'm glad that the main character was able to have her surgery. 

When I was doing my PhD, someone asked me whether or not I found it depressing to reading about Indigenous science fiction, and I think they meant specifically cli-fi. I do not find Indigenous cli-fi depressing. 

I find actual climate change depressing. I used to live in Lytton, and one year I had to move to Lillooet. We were under evacuation alert and we were trying to get the moving truck packed before it turned into an order. Then when we got to Lillooet, we had to hurry, because there was a fire there too and we didn't know whether or not it would shut down the road back to the town where I had rented the truck from. And then later that summer, we could not go to our family fishing camp because of fires. That was over fifteen years ago, and since that time, I have been mentally grappling with the reality of climate change. I was on the road coming home from Alexis Creek during the atmospheric storm in 2021, and that is when my brain really started to rewire itself. Things are not like they used to be. Things will never be like they used to be. Things I took for granted, like fishing camp and quick trips to the interior, are no longer always within easy reach. We are beyond the "is climate change real?" phase. We are in the adapt phase of climate change. 

I find Indigenous science fiction, including cli-fi, comforting. When the main character in this story expressed emotional concern for earth as one does for family, she was voicing something that I feel inside of me, and something that is missing in mainstream coverage of climate change. I grieve climate change, and it's not all one big grief, it's ongoing. I am pretty sure that all of humanity feels some grief, even if it is pushed down. But I think that Indigenous people experience it differently because of the connection to land which is present in many Indigenous cultures. So when I read Indigenous cli-fi, I feel less lonely about what we are collectively going through. 

I also think that these stories which involve earth becoming uninhabitable also in a way hopefully push us all in society towards conversations about mitigation. 

My attitude towards Indigenous cli-fi reflects my attitude about stories generally. Stories are important. Stories play an important role in helping us understand the world around us. Stories can incite transformation. And so yes, sometimes stories talk about serious things. 

Works Cited 

simpson, j. (2020). The ark of the turtle's back. In J. Whitehead (Ed.), Love after the end: An anthology of Two-Spirit & Indigiqueer speculative fiction (pp. 9-16). Vancouver, British Columbia: Arsenal Pulp Press.  

mari kurisato's science fiction story in which sentient robots claim Indigenous identity

Today’s post is about a short story by mari kurisato. Her story is included in the anthology Love After the End: An Anthology of Two-Spirit & Indigiqueer Speculative Fiction. According to the bio on the publisher website: 

mari kurisato is the pen name for a disabled, LGBTQIA, tribally enrolled Cote First Nation Ojibwe woman who lives in Denver, Colorado, with her wife and son.

The challenge of someone having a pen name and writing as an Indigenous author is that Indigeneity is inherently relational. The United Nations definition includes being identified by a community as being part of Indigenous identity. An Indigenous author with a pen name is, to use Joanne Barker's phrase, a kinless Indian. 

However, the one thing that she has in her favour is that Joshua Whitehead, by virtue of including her in his collection, implicitly vouches that she is being truthful about her claim to Indigenous identity. 

In 2016, a different author had her story published in Love Beyond Body Space and Time: An Indigenous LGBTQ Sci-Fi Anthology. In 2020, a group of Indigenous authors (Alicia Elliot, Terese Mailhot, Nazbah Tom, Joshua Whitehead, and Tyler Pennock) wrote an open letter  asking that she clarify her identity claims. So Joshua Whitehead is no stranger to dealing with complex identity issues in publishing, so I am assuming that when mari approached Joshua with a story, Joshua did not just accept her word that she was who she said she was. But... you know... who knows. It's so hard to tell these days what is real and what is not. In situations such as this, Kim Tallbear says that rather than not citing people we should recontextualize them (Cornell, Barnes & Tallbear, 2022). So, I am contextualizing what it means when someone claims Indigenous identity under a pen name. 

If someone were to ask me, "does this meet the criteria of a First People's text for English First Peoples?" I would say "I don't know." With that being said, let's talk about the story. 

Story Summary 

Mari’s story opens with our protagonist being injured. The premise is that due to solar activity and industrial activity, the planet is becoming uninhabitable. People are escaping. Some scientists are staying behind to try to fix the problem. People who can't afford to leave earth stay on earth. And there are synthetic humans who are not allowed to escape earth. 

The main character is a synth who disagrees with the policy of synths being prohibited from leaving earth: 

"It wasn't just because I was the recreated mind of an Anishinaabe scientist, housed in an artificial body that had no 'human' flesh at all. Nor was it because I was transgender, or niizh manidoowag, a carrier of sacred healing medicines of the Anishinaabe peoples.”

(kurisato, 2020, p.140).

It turns out that she is injured because she is in an armed conflict with people who are attacking her, and she fights back. It turns out that the reason she is fighting so hard is because she is trying to help children get to a ship to escape earth. All members of the group are synths except one human. They get to the ship, escape earth, and find home on a refugee ship for synthfolks.

Reflection 

This story opens up a number of interesting questions. First and foremost, if you are a robot who was shaped in the image of an Indigenous person, does that make you Indigenous. I say obviously not. The United Nations definition of Indigenous Peoples is very clear that Indigenous identity applies to people. Robots are not people, thus they cannot be Indigenous people. 

Another interesting topic is an exploration of the science fiction theme of sentient robots. I think robots can be designed to act as though they are sentient, but are never actually sentient. Thanks to the rise of large language learning models like ChatGPT, topics like these are important to discuss. The rise of AI induced psychosis highlights the need for all of us, not just the nerds, to discuss the difference between AI acting as though it is human as opposed to AI just doing what it was programmed to do. I think it would be worthwhile to have a class discussion on the science fiction theme of sentience. Not just for entertainment value, but to develop critical thinking skills around AI. 

Another fun discussion would be on the laws of robotics. Asimov's three laws of robotics says, 

A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.

A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.

A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.

Asimov later added a zeroth law: 

A robot must not harm humanity.

When the main character was fighting humans in order to save a human, was her behaviour consistent with the laws of robotics? If there were only synths in the group and no humans, would the main character's actions be consistent with the laws of robotics? Do you think the author considered the laws of robots when she chose to include a human in the group? Why or why not? Would you have experienced the story differently if a human were not involved? 

Works cited but not linked 

Cornell, G., Barnes, B., & Tallbear, K. (2022, March 21). Opening remarks [Conference session]. Minnesota State University Department of English, Unsettling Genealogies, Minneapolis, Minnesota.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fyY0egN0cd4

kurisato, m. (2020). In J. Whitehead (Ed.), Love after the end: An anthology of Two-Spirit & Indigiqueer speculative fiction (pp.135-146). Vancouver, British Columbia: Arsenal Pulp Press.  

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This is a sister blog to https://twinkleshappyplace.blogspot.com/

Uatan - A short story which illustrates Indigenous youth in the future who love their culture

 Josephine Bacon is a poet who writes in both French and Innu-aimun. I visited her website and it was in French so I used the magic of the internet to translate it. Here is an example of her poetry: 

I made myself beautiful

so that people would notice

the marrow of my bones,

survivors of a story

that is not told.

Her poetry is so beautiful when translated into English. I feel sad that I don't even know how beautiful it must be in French and Innu-aimun. 

Kim O'Bomsawin, Abenaki, recently created a documentary about Josephine Bacon. Here is the trailer. 

I found Josephine Bacon's short story Uatan, a beating heart in Wapke, which is an Indigenous science fiction short story anthology from Quebec. I admit that in my mind, I sort of just think of Quebec as basically Ontario but French. Wapke helped me get a better sense of the distinct people who are Indigneous to Quebec as well as a greater appreciation for the beauty of the land in Quebec. 

Summary

A youth wakes up from a dream. It's 2070 and he is in his homelands, which his people have returned to. They use modern technology like greenhouses, and seem to be thriving. He tells his father about his dream and they spend the day together. He goes to sleep again, and dreams that someone is creating a bag for his drum. He wakes and tell his father, and his father tells him that his drum is not for decoration and that he should ask for a bag to be made for it. At the end of the story it's revealed that "All drum players must have had three dreams about the teueikan before they can make use of it." (p.150).

Reflection

 A lot of stories within the genre of Indigenous futurisms deal with what many consider to be dark topics: zombies, apocalypse, dystopias, and so on. This story is an example of a light story that just feels good to read. 

It is nice to imagine that in the future Indigenous youth will have everything that they need. And in the future these Indigenous youth will want to participate in their culture and the adults around them will support them as they take on cultural roles and responsibilities. 

Similar to 2091, this short story also envisions a period of justice where Indigenous people are able to have more agency over their lives and able to actually just be modern while also having an Indigenous relationship to their homelands. 

The story is a hopeful portrayal of the future of Indigenous youth, families, and communities. And as Chelsea Vowel says, “having some space to cast ourselves as far into the future is vital and potentially emancipatory” (p. 20).

This story is very, very short (three pages). I personally love short fiction. I also love concise writing. The first time I read this I thought, "hmm not sure what that was." It was so short that it almost got lost among the other, longer stories. But the story stuck with me, and so I visited it again. Something that I appreciate about short fiction is the way that it requires the author and the reader to attend carefully to every word. This story would be good to share in a creative writing class along with the inquiry question, "how does the author accomplish characterization, setting, and plot within a very tight word count?" 

Works Cited 

Bacon, J. (2021). Uatan, a beating heart. In M. Jean (Ed.), Wapke: Indigenous science fiction stories (pp. 148-150). Holstein, Ontario: Exile Editions Ltd.

Vowel, C. (2022). Buffalo is the new buffalo. Vancouver, British Columbia: Arsenal Pulp Press.

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This is a sister blog to https://twinkleshappyplace.blogspot.com/