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Article
Níksókowaawák as Axiom: The Indispensability of Comprehensive Relational Animacy in Blackfoot Ways of Knowing, Being, and Doing
Society & Natural Resources
  • Sandra Bartlett Atwood, Utah State University
  • Ninna Piiksii (Chief Bird) Mike Bruised Head, University of Calgary
  • Mark W. Brunson, Utah State University
  • Aahsaopi (State of Being) Laverne First Rider, University of Calgary
  • Tim Frandy, University of British Columbia
  • James Maffie, University of Maryland at College Park
  • Aakaomo'tsstaki (Many Victories) Michelle Provost, Kainai Board of Education
  • Miiniipokaa (Berry Child) Peter Weasel Moccasin, Lethbridge College
  • Itsiipootsikimskai, Itsiipootsikimskai
Document Type
Article
Author ORCID Identifier

Mark W. Brunson https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6456-3481

Publisher
Taylor & Francis Inc.
Publication Date
4-11-2023
Creative Commons License
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0
Abstract

This paper outlines a proposal, based on Blackfoot worldview, for a collective method to stand alongside Western qualitative and quantitative methods and highlights the value of collective methods in collaborative social-ecological research. Neither qualitative nor quantitative methods are adequate to disclose a world where all things are alive, where “objects” are subjects—agentive beings in their own right. Most Indigenous cultures understand and experience the world as a network of living beings, a collective, with whom they are interrelated/connected and therefore, any efforts to collaborate with Indigenous peoples must acknowledge comprehensive relational animacy. Applying coproduction principles in concert with Blackfoot ways of knowing and being, the authors collaborate to articulate and advance a collective method wherein the many and diverse collective methods of Blackfoot and other Indigenous peoples might find quarter.

Citation Information
Sandra Bartlett Atwood, Ninna Piiksii (Chief Bird) Mike Bruised Head, Mark W. Brunson, Aahsaopi (State of Being) Laverne First Rider, Tim Frandy, James Maffie, Aakaomo’tsstaki (Many Victories) Michelle Provost, Miiniipokaa (Berry Child) Peter Weasel Moccasin & Itsiipootsikimskai (2023): Níksókowaawák as Axiom: The Indispensability of Comprehensive Relational Animacy in Blackfoot Ways of Knowing, Being, and Doing, Society & Natural Resources, DOI: 10.1080/08941920.2023.2180696