This is a very personalized document following a Social Work perspective which is the context it was written within. It is an accounting of my Social Work Placement experience as a researcher at the AHA Centre a program of the Canadian Aboriginal AIDS Network (CAAN).
Being an Indigenous person who crossed the half-moon (NSPERG - Writing in the Margins 2019 – Circles) from a predominantly positivist worldview to a predominantly Indigenous (traditionalist) worldview; I was not able to sit comfortably within the Academy. I situate myself and give a bit of a life trajectory at the beginning and move to placement goals and objectives. The goals and objectives give a loose framework to the document. A large part of my placement was writing the research proposal the 9 Genders submitted to CIHR (Canadian Institute of Health Research) which was funded and then reading up on methodologies on how to get the job done. I have a solid basis in traditional ways of knowing and doing but not so much on the mechanics (methodologies and methods) around how to interpret the data I receive through the ceremonies. I share the results of thinking through those processes which gives a personalized example of how a project done in an Indigegogical way might look like from a purely theoretical perspective.
This document loosely follows the framework I was given by my placement supervisor as a blanket framework for the class. It is more a framework made for traditional social work placement experiences which mine was not being one within an Indigenous organization and two being in research not practice. In the end I was able to satisfy the requirements of the framework while satisfying personal needs to reflect the learnings I had received through my social work placement experience.
Being an Indigenous person who crossed the half-moon (NSPERG - Writing in the Margins 2019 – Circles) from a predominantly positivist worldview to a predominantly Indigenous (traditionalist) worldview; I was not able to sit comfortably within the Academy. I situate myself and give a bit of a life trajectory at the beginning and move to placement goals and objectives. The goals and objectives give a loose framework to the document. A large part of my placement was writing the research proposal the 9 Genders submitted to CIHR (Canadian Institute of Health Research) which was funded and then reading up on methodologies on how to get the job done. I have a solid basis in traditional ways of knowing and doing but not so much on the mechanics (methodologies and methods) around how to interpret the data I receive through the ceremonies. I share the results of thinking through those processes which gives a personalized example of how a project done in an Indigegogical way might look like from a purely theoretical perspective.
This document loosely follows the framework I was given by my placement supervisor as a blanket framework for the class. It is more a framework made for traditional social work placement experiences which mine was not being one within an Indigenous organization and two being in research not practice. In the end I was able to satisfy the requirements of the framework while satisfying personal needs to reflect the learnings I had received through my social work placement experience.
About the Author
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I am Michael Parsons Co Coordinator of the GIPA Homefires project -more specifically the Critical Policy Analysis and an IPHA staff member. I am also the Nominated Principle Applicant on the Nine Genders Research Project which is my volunteer work and my passion. Both projects are moving slowly given COVID Restrictions but are moving forward none the less which is a testament to the team members on each project. |