Dana Hickey
The purpose of the study is to understand Indigenous epistemologies of power from the standpoint of Indigenous participants. Indigenous research methods are privileged throughout, and key aspects of grounded theory are woven in to add support. The central category that arose from the data is relationships. This central category ties the other main categories together which are: language, sacred sources of power, Indigenous women, abuse of power, and knowledge. The findings indicate that there are many forms and manifestations of power which are related to each other. The source of power is in the interrelatedness of everyone to everything else that is known and unknown. Humility, harmony, and balanced relationships produce the healthiest and most magnificent manifestations of power. The findings are applicable to the issue of problematic relations between Indigenous people and Canadians of settler ancestry. Comparisons between the Indigenous epistemological concept of power and the Western theories of power of mainstream academia are made, as are relevant criticisms of western epistemology. The paper argues that understanding more about epistemologies of power will help illuminate a pathway by which Indigenous peoples and Canadians of settler ancestry can better understand one another, creating the shift in these relationships that is required in order to gather large-scale support for reconciliation, and for ethical distribution of power resources in Canada. The research promotes understanding between the Canadian state and Indigenous Nations, and it proposes that reconciliation can be achieved by increasing understanding about the value of Indigenous epistemologies.