Indigenous Insights: An Evaluation Podcast
Indigenous evaluation conversations
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Episodes
Tuesday Sep 03, 2024
Tuesday Sep 03, 2024
In this episode Gladys gets to know three amazing guests, Olivia Roanhorse, Rebecca Rae, and Daphne Littlebear as they share stories about their evaluation journeys, their work as a team, and an Indigenous evaluation network that they have been nurturing in New Mexico.
Olivia Roanhorse, MPH, COO and Portfolio Lead, Roanhorse Consulting, LLC. Olivia provides leadership and oversight of key policy, research, and evaluation projects. Before joining RCLLC, Olivia was the Vice President of Programs for Notah Begay III Foundation for seven years where she oversaw the strategic and operational responsibilities for all program areas. Before returning to New Mexico in 2012, Olivia held several health program and policy positions in Chicago. She was a Policy Associate at the Ounce of Prevention Fund; a Project Coordinator for RWJF National Project: Finding Answers Program: Disparities Research for Change; and a Clinic Manager for Community Health, the largest free health clinic in Illinois. Olivia has a Master’s degree in Public Health from the University of Illinois in Chicago and an undergraduate degree from Colorado College. Olivia attended Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health from 2018 to 2021 working on her Doctorate of Public Health. Recognizing that the institution did not value health equity and social justice, she withdrew and decided to instead focus on her lived experiences and the opportunity to co-design meaningful solutions with communities. Olivia is a citizen of the Navajo Nation and lives in Albuquerque, NM.
Rebecca Rae (Jicarilla Apache), MCRP, MWR, is a Research Lecturer III at the University of New Mexico’s College of Population Health. She is an Indigenous scholar and her expertise spans over sixteen years implementing community based participatory research (CBPR) projects and Indigenous participatory evaluation in partnership with Tribal communities. Her primary areas of research include Indigenous research methodologies, prevention/intervention research and Indigenous evaluation. She also has experience in curriculum and program development. She works closely with multiple tribal community partners to mentor, strengthen and enhance community members’ skills in program development, program implementation, data collection, data analysis, grant writing, research, and evaluation. She has served as an evaluator to tribal non-profit organizations, tribal programs, and national foundations. She also has 15 years of experience in Positive Youth Leadership Development, specifically serving as Senior Faculty with the Leadership Institute Summer Policy Academy (LI/SPA), a program that educates Indigenous high-school students on American Indian History, Federal Indian Law, Policy and Advocacy.
Daphne Littlebear is a mother, Indigenous researcher and evaluator, storyteller, educator, and gardener. Daphne is from Santa Ana Pueblo and a descendant of the Mvskoke, Yuchi, and Shawnee Nations. For more than 15 years, Daphne has worked in Indigenous education with Tribal education departments, school districts, state government, and nonprofit organizations. She is dedicated to advocating for educational sovereignty and strengthening Indigenous lifeways.
Currently, Daphne serves as the research and evaluation manager for the National Indian Education Association, a Native-led nonprofit with the mission to advancing comprehensive, cultural-based education for American Indians, Alaskan Native and Native Hawaiians. As a first-generation college graduate, Daphne holds a bachelors in sociology and Native American studies and a master’s in public administration from the University of New Mexico. Presently, she is completing her doctoral degree at Arizona State University, where she is studying Indigenous education, social justice education and educational policy.
Daphne was admitted into the Tribal Data Fellows Program with the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center and upon completion joined the NM Indigenous Evaluators Network. She has also been awarded a fellowship through the W.K. Kellogg Foundation Community Leadership Network, that supports local leaders to connect, grow, and lead transformational change toward a more equitable society.
Notes
Becca Rae, faculty page: https://hsc.unm.edu/directory/rae-rebecca.html
National Indian Education Association: https://www.niea.org/
Roanhorse Consulting: https://roanhorseconsulting.com/olivia
Notah Begay III (NB3) Foundation: https://nb3foundation.org/about/
McNair program: https://mcnairscholars.com/about/
Tribal Data Champions Fellowship: https://usindigenousdatanetwork.org/2024/02/13/tribal-data-champions-fellowship-an-indigenous-evaluation-training/
Indigenizing Education: Transformative Research, Theories, and Praxis. 2022. Eds. Jeremy Garcia, Valerie Shirley, and Hollie Kulago. Information Age Publishing. https://books.google.ca/books/about/Indigenizing_Education.html?id=MW-zzgEACAAJ&redir_esc=y
Email: indigenousevaluationpodcast@gmail.com
To be added to the mailing list when this is announced please send an email with the subject line: SUBSCRIBE to: indigenousevaluationpodcast@gmail.com
For more visit: https://gladysrowe.com/category/indigenousinsights/
If you are loving this podcast please leave a five star review on your favourite streaming service.
If you would like to offer support please visit: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/InsightsPod
Thursday Aug 29, 2024
Thursday Aug 29, 2024
In this final episode of the special season that has focused on the arts and arts based practices in evaluation, Gladys reflects on the learnings she has gathered from the stories shared and on an inspiring exhibit from her recent visit to the Tate Modern in London.
From this episode:
About Richard Wagamese's Medicine Walk (2014). https://www.cbc.ca/radio/asithappens/as-it-happens-friday-edition-1.5260084/as-it-happened-the-archive-edition-richard-wagamese-on-his-2014-novel-medicine-walk-1.5230835
About Thamesmead Codex: https://hyperallergic.com/805326/diary-of-a-british-town-thamesmead-codex/
Leanne Simpson, As We Have Always Done: Indigenous Freedom through Radical Resistance: https://www.upress.umn.edu/9781517903879/as-we-have-always-done/
These episodes in Season 2 have been made possible through support from Canada Council for the Arts. I am grateful for their support!
Email: indigenousevaluationpodcast@gmail.com
To be added to the mailing list when this is announced please send an email with the subject line: SUBSCRIBE to: indigenousevaluationpodcast@gmail.com
For more visit: https://gladysrowe.com/category/indigenousinsights/
If you are loving this podcast please leave a five star review on your favourite streaming service.
If you would like to offer support please visit: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/InsightsPod
Monday Aug 12, 2024
Monday Aug 12, 2024
In this episode we learn more about multidisciplinary artist Mi’gmaq artist and storyteller Brandon Mitchell from Listuguj First Nation. Dive into Brandon’s journey from childhood stories to a career in graphic novels and animation, and how he now empowers others to tell their own stories. Explore the intersection of art, culture, and evaluation in this inspiring conversation.
Brandon Mitchell is Mi’gmaq from Listuguj First Nations in Quebec and currently resides in the unceded Wolastoqiyik Peace and Friendship Treaty territory of Fredericton, New Brunswick. He is a husband to Natasha Martin and father to Brayden and Bryce Mitchell. He carries a diploma in animation and design from the New Brunswick Community College of Miramichi and a master’s degree in education from the University of New Brunswick. He is a multidisciplinary artist with over 20 years of experience in the field of graphic novels, gaming, and animation. For the past four years he has applied his craft of storytelling in the role of Learning Facilitator at the Ulnooweg Indigenous Communities Foundation.
Resources from Episode:
HighWater Press (books available for purchase): https://www.portageandmainpress.com/Contributors/M/Mitchell-Brandon
Brandon Mitchell’s comics homepage: https://birchbarkcomics.com/
Ulnooweg Indigenous Communities Foundation: https://ulnoowegfoundation.ca/
Indigenous Story Studio (previously Aboriginal Health Network): https://istorystudio.com/about-us/
Nigweg Collective: https://www.nigwegcollective.com/
The transcript from this episode can be found here.
These episodes in Season 2 have been made possible through support from Canada Council for the Arts. I am grateful for their support!
Email: indigenousevaluationpodcast@gmail.com
To be added to the mailing list when this is announced please send an email with the subject line: SUBSCRIBE to: indigenousevaluationpodcast@gmail.com
For more visit: https://gladysrowe.com/category/indigenousinsights/
If you are loving this podcast please leave a five star review on your favourite streaming service.
If you would like to offer support please visit: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/InsightsPod
Monday Aug 05, 2024
Monday Aug 05, 2024
Dr. Cathy Mattes is a Michif curator (MMF citizen, Westman Local-Southwest Region), writer, and art history professor based out of Sprucewoods, Manitoba, Canada. Her curation, research and writing centers on dialogic and Indigenous knowledge-centered curatorial practice as strategies for care. She has a PhD in Indigenous Studies from the University of Manitoba, and currently teaches at the University of Winnipeg in the History of Art and Curatorial Studies programs. Mattes has been beading since she was 20 years old, when she was first taught by her auntie Jean Baron Ward. Since then, she has taught beading and moccasin-making in workshops, university courses, and around her kitchen table with family and friends.
Resources from this episode
Rielisms: Used copies of the catalogue are available online. See also https://www.reginalibrary.ca/dunlop-art-gallery/browse-exhibitions/108573 and this review: https://www.cliffeyland.com/riel.html
Hard Birth: https://www.wag.ca/exhibitions/kwaata-nihtaawakihk/
Radical Stitch: https://www.gallery.ca/whats-on/exhibitions-and-galleries/radical-stitch
The transcript from this episode can be found here.
These episodes in Season 2 have been made possible through support from Canada Council for the Arts. I am grateful for their support!
Email: indigenousevaluationpodcast@gmail.com
To be added to the mailing list when this is announced please send an email with the subject line: SUBSCRIBE to: indigenousevaluationpodcast@gmail.com
For more visit: https://gladysrowe.com/category/indigenousinsights/
If you are loving this podcast please leave a five star review on your favourite streaming service.
If you would like to offer support please visit: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/InsightsPod
Monday Jul 29, 2024
Monday Jul 29, 2024
In this episode Gladys sits down with Michael Lawrenchuk, who is not only her dad, but a prophetic storyteller who has greatly influenced her passion for the arts. He speaks to the role of theatre in his own healing journey and the power of storytelling.
Michael Lawrenchuk has been involved in theatre, film and television as an actor, director and writer since 1991. Michael is a graduate of the UofW's Honour's Acting Program. He has pursued his post grad studies at the London Theatre School, is an alumnus of the University of Exeter, Staging Shakespeare and a 2014 Fellow of Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, London. He is a former Chief of the Fox Lake Cree Nation.
For more on Michael’s theatre work check out:
The Comeback:
https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/arts-and-life/2024/04/26/laughing-through-familial-colonial-conflicts
The Gravedigger: https://www.facebook.com/TheGravediggerwpg/
Othello: https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/arts-and-life/entertainment/2009/05/30/bards-tragedy-staged-with-wit-and-skill
Indian Horse: https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/arts-and-life/entertainment/movies/2018/04/12/gillam-actor-brings-warmth-to-indian-horse
Fabric of the Sky: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/fabric-of-the-sky-a-powerful-residential-school-survivor-s-story-1.2852420
Interview: Indigenous languages on stage: https://journals.lib.unb.ca/index.php/tric/article/view/25898/30080
The transcript from this episode can be found here.
These episodes in Season 2 have been made possible through support from Canada Council for the Arts. I am grateful for their support!
Email: indigenousevaluationpodcast@gmail.com
To be added to the mailing list when this is announced please send an email with the subject line: SUBSCRIBE to: indigenousevaluationpodcast@gmail.com
For more visit: https://gladysrowe.com/category/indigenousinsights/
If you are loving this podcast please leave a five star review on your favourite streaming service.
If you would like to offer support please visit: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/InsightsPod
Monday Jul 22, 2024
Monday Jul 22, 2024
In this episode Tiffany shares her journey to develop an Indigenous beadwork methodology, how beading shows up in her work, and the stories she has witnessed as a community embedded scholar.
CW: Discussion of Indian Residential Schools
Bio
Dr. Tiffany Prete is a member of the Kainai (Blood Tribe) of the Siksikasitapi (Blackfoot Confederacy), located in the Treaty 7 area. She is an assistant professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Lethbridge. Her program of work consists of implementing the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action on the Blood Reserve.
Dr. Prete’s background is in educational policy studies, specializing in Indigenous Peoples education.She completed her master's of education and doctor of philosophy in education at the University of Alberta.
Her area of expertise includes: Indigenous secondary retention rates within the public school system, Blackfoot historical research, impacts of colonization, intergenerational trauma, and Indigenous research methodologies. In her spare time, she is a Native American beadwork enthusiast, and published a research paradigm grounded in an Indigenous worldview that is guided by Native American beadwork.
Resources from this episode
Prete, T. D. (2019). Beadworking as an Indigenous Research Paradigm. Art/Research International: A Transdisciplinary Journal, 4(1), 28–57. https://doi.org/10.18432/ari29419
Prete, T. (guest curator). (23 Sept 2023 – 3 Mar 2024). Stolen Kainai Children: Stories of Survival. Galt Museum & Archives. Lethbridge, AB. https://www.galtmuseum.com/exhibit/2stolen-kainai-children-stories-of-survival
Walter, M. and Andersen, C. (2013). Indigenous Statistics: A Quantitative Research Methodology. Routledge. https://www.routledge.com/Indigenous-Statistics-A-Quantitative-Research-Methodology/Walter-Andersen/p/book/9781611322934
The transcript from this episode can be found here.
These episodes in Season 2 have been made possible through support from Canada Council for the Arts. I am grateful for their support!
Email: indigenousevaluationpodcast@gmail.com
To be added to the mailing list when this is announced please send an email with the subject line: SUBSCRIBE to: indigenousevaluationpodcast@gmail.com
For more visit: https://gladysrowe.com/category/indigenousinsights/
If you are loving this podcast please leave a five star review on your favourite streaming service.
If you would like to offer support please visit: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/InsightsPod
Monday Jul 08, 2024
Monday Jul 08, 2024
In this episode Linda and Larry share stories from over four decades of research and evaluation using arts-based methods of engagement. They discuss the many meaningful and authentic ways they have used to approach people in their evaluation projects including drawing, photographs, collage, and poetry. They urge evaluators to consider how we might change how we listen to and tell stories in our work.
Larry & Linda wrote a blog post last year for Footprint Evaluation you can find it here: Knowing place through story - Blog post on Better Evaluation
Linda Lee is a passionate advocate for using evaluation to create a more equitable, inclusive, and sustainable world, is Vice-President and Partner in a Canadian evaluation and social research company Proactive Information Services Inc. A Canadian Evaluation Society (CES) Award winner and Fellow (FCES), Linda has worked in evaluation and research for 40+ years. She has been a keynote speaker, presented papers and facilitated workshops at many national and international conferences. She has conducted evaluations across Canada and internationally, including many countries in East Central and Southeastern Europe, as well as Argentina and Lithuania. Linda, a former CES National President, has served on the CES Credentialing Board, the Fellows’ Executive, and was a founder of the original CES Diversity Equity and Inclusion Working Group. She was a member of the CE Competencies Review Working Group which was tasked with revising and updating the Competencies for Canadian Evaluation Practice in 2017/18.
Larry K. Bremner, CE FCES (Métis) has worked in social research and evaluation for 45+ years. He is recognized for his depth of knowledge and his willingness to share his knowledge, particularly in the areas of Indigenous and decolonizing approaches to evaluation including the use of storytelling. In 2012, Larry was elected National President of the Canadian Evaluation Society (CES). As Past President, he represented CES on the international stage where he was the driving force behind the creation of the global EvalPartners’ network EvalIndigenous.
In 2017, Larry received the CES Service Award and in 2018 the Contribution to Evaluation in Canada Award. In 2019, he was inducted as a Fellow of the Canadian Evaluation Society (FCES), the Society’s highest honour. Larry is also co-editor of the new permanent section of the Canadian Journal of Program Evaluation, Roots and Relations: Celebrating Good Medicine in Indigenous Evaluation. As evaluators, Larry believes we are compelled to expand our future to one that is inclusive in terms of both voices and approaches, if we are to support reconciliation and address the crucial social, environmental, and economic issues that we face in today’s world.
Resources from this episode
Simon Hodges. 21 Jan. 2014. What's so special about storytelling for social change? Open Democracy.https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/transformation/whats-so-special-about-storytelling-for-social-change/
Ben Okri – A Way of Being Free
Shawn Wilson. 2008. Research is Ceremony: Indigenous Research Methods. Fernwood Publishing.
The transcript from this episode can be found here.
These episodes in Season 2 have been made possible through support from Canada Council for the Arts. I am grateful for their support!
Email: indigenousevaluationpodcast@gmail.com
To be added to the mailing list when this is announced please send an email with the subject line: SUBSCRIBE to: indigenousevaluationpodcast@gmail.com
For more visit: https://gladysrowe.com/category/indigenousinsights/
If you are loving this podcast please leave a five star review on your favourite streaming service.
If you would like to offer support please visit: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/InsightsPod
Monday Jun 24, 2024
Monday Jun 24, 2024
In this episode Gladys and Terrellyn talk about storytelling as methodology and worldview, songs in evaluation, accountabilities of evaluators, building a canoe in a learning journey, and Metuaptmumk. It’s a full and spirit filled conversation that we hope will nourish you, and inspire you to consider arts-based methods in your evaluation and everyday practices.
Terrellyn Fearn is an Indigenous scholar-practitioner. She is Mi'kmaq, Snake clan from Glooscap First Nation and a citizen of the Wabanaki Confederacy. Terrellyn is the Project Director of Turtle Island Institute, a global Indigenous social innovation think and do tank (a learning lodge) grounded in Metuaptmumk: All Around Seeing, a uniquely Indigenous approach to wholistic human development and systems transformation.
Her work spans 30 years exploring the human dimensions of transformative change where systems science, arts and the sacred meet by amplifying Ancestral languages, ancient wisdom traditions and Indigenous sciences. She is a Research Associate with the Waterloo Institute for Social Innovation & Resilience and holds a Masters degree in Education. She has worked with over 350 Indigenous communities across Turtle Island (North America) to advance wellbeing and create communities of practice dedicated to social change and heart centered leadership. Terrellyn is a mother and believes large-scale systemic change begins through restoring the sacred feminine and reawakening the human Spirit by connecting to self, each other, our Earth Mother and all of Creation.
These episodes in Season 2 have been made possible through support from Canada Council for the Arts. I am grateful for their support!
Email: indigenousevaluationpodcast@gmail.com
To be added to the mailing list when this is announced please send an email with the subject line: SUBSCRIBE to: indigenousevaluationpodcast@gmail.com
For more visit: https://gladysrowe.com/category/indigenousinsights/
If you are loving this podcast please leave a five star review on your favourite streaming service.
If you would like to offer support please visit: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/InsightsPod
Monday Jun 10, 2024
Monday Jun 10, 2024
In this episode Gladys sits in conversation with Jennica Nichols and Maya Lefkowich of AND Implementation. Jennica and Maya talk about their own evaluation origin stories and everything arts-based evaluation! The conversation meanders through the excitement, cautions, and learnings on their professional journey with arts-based practices and methods in evaluation. We talk about creating intentional moments of reflection, creativity, joy, and story and close our time together by creating a collective found poem, of course!
Jennica was born and raised in Southern Ontario and is of European descent. She comes to evaluation from biology and public health research. Jennica is passionate about increasing research and evaluation relevance and use by changing who leads and benefits from the process. Use, respect, and thoughtfulness are core values that guide her work. Jennica helps clients with meaningful measurement, evaluative thinking, and creative problem-solving. Beyond evaluation, she is a scuba diver always looking for a good hole-in-the-wall restaurant. Check out Jennica's found poem from the episode...
What is possible?
Arts-based methods are intentional, relational.
There is power in softness.
It has to have roots in something.
Grounding in values and deep breaths
We are all messy weirdos
Disrupting. Transforming. Building new relationships with knowledge generation.
Without a blueprint [but] a dream
It’s an evaluation love story.
More magic please.
Jennica Nichols
Maya was born in Toronto Ontario and is of Jewish and Eastern European descent. She comes to evaluation from health research. Maya is passionate about transformative, community-led, and strengths-based approaches that promote equity in research and evaluation. Creativity, justice, and integrity are core values that guide her work. Maya helps clients tell meaningful stories about learning, growth, and impact. Beyond evaluation, she is a potter and creative writer always excited to read about an unlikely friendship blossoming during a misadventure. Check out Maya's found poem from the episode...
What if
What if “possible” informs
We don’t need to talk about arts as different
Grounded in values, worldviews
Not the tools in the toolbox, but you
You using the tools
If the goal is to build joy and community
It makes me excited
The fundamental conversations that need to happen
If it’s on the page, we can deal with it
That’s where the magic comes from
Passion
Maya Lefkowich
Resources from this episode
Free Resources on Arts-Based Methods Stories: https://www.andimplementation.ca/resources/categories/arts-based-methods
These episodes in Season 2 have been made possible through support from Canada Council for the Arts. I am grateful for their support!
Email: indigenousevaluationpodcast@gmail.com
To be added to the mailing list when this is announced please send an email with the subject line: SUBSCRIBE to: indigenousevaluationpodcast@gmail.com
For more visit: https://gladysrowe.com/category/indigenousinsights/
If you are loving this podcast please leave a five star review on your favourite streaming service.
If you would like to offer support please visit: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/InsightsPod
Tuesday May 28, 2024
Tuesday May 28, 2024
In this first episode for a special Season 2, Gladys shares what she has been up to, the stories that provide direction in her life, and what listeners can expect in the next episodes. She recounts the power and necessity of story to hold a space for Indigenous resurgence and decolonial futures and shares some poetry - because that’s what she loves to do!
Resources from this episode
Resurgence of Indigenous Nationhood: Centering the stories of Indigenous full spectrum doulas: https://mspace.lib.umanitoba.ca/handle/1993/35171
Dr. Kathy Absolon: Kaandossiwin, 2nd Edition: How We Come to Know: Indigenous Re-Search Methodologies: https://fernwoodpublishing.ca/book/kaandossiwin-2nd-ed
Quotes from Dr. Warren Cariou and Dr. Neal McLeod: https://www.wlupress.wlu.ca/Books/I/Indigenous-Poetics-in-Canada
Dr. Leanne Simpson: https://www.leannesimpson.ca/book/as-we-have-always-done
A transcript of this episode can be found here.
These episodes in Season 2 have been made possible through support from Canada Council for the Arts. I am grateful for their support!
Email: indigenousevaluationpodcast@gmail.com
To be added to the mailing list when this is announced please send an email with the subject line: SUBSCRIBE to: indigenousevaluationpodcast@gmail.com
For more visit: https://gladysrowe.com/category/indigenousinsights/
If you are loving this podcast please leave a five star review on your favourite streaming service.
If you would like to offer support please visit: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/InsightsPod