Project PhDcast

Podcasting is an oral form, a continuation of telling tales around a campfire. I came to this idea through my Classics myth background, as I contemplated how my cohost Darrin and I discussed mythology on MythTake and how “Homer” would have shared his stories of Odyssey and Iliad orally. Which naturally led me to thinking about Indigenous cultures around the globe who have used oral tradition and stories for millennia to create and share knowledges.

I have been on my own personal journey of decolonization for some years now, and as my own understandings develop and unfold it has become increasingly important to me to incorporate decolonization into my podcasting. While I am not collaborating with Indigenous peoples on my project, I want to ensure my PhD research gives me a foundation in decolonizing methodologies. I want to build an understanding of podcasting research and a methodology that incorporates a decolonizing, Indigenous perspective from the beginning.

So, in no particular order, I present some of the resources that have been, and continue to be, instrumental in my journey of personal and academic decolonization. Some of these I have read and re-read in their entirety, some I have read only in part, and some have been recommended to me and are on my 2025 reading list. This list focusses on Turtle Island (North America) and is by no means exhaustive, but simply a starting point for my fellow settler researchers to help them on their own journeys of decolonization.

Edit: I didn’t come to this list on my own. I’m adding a note of gratitude to the friends and colleagues, settler and Indigenous, who have recommended these sources to me at one time or another. We each move forward through the help of others!

Books

• “Braiding Sweet Grass” (Milkweed Editions 2015) Robin Wall Kimmerer brings together her western scientific training with Indigenous knowledges. A beautiful book, I find it best read in small morsels with time for contemplation. Robin has also published “Collecting Moss” and “The Serviceberry.” (I am in fact reading and re-reading it very slowly, as it is a book that must be read outside in the sunshine, surrounded by nature. The perfect book for a camping trip. It was utterly sublime to read her chapter on waterlilies having just paddled through a raft of them on my way to a remote cabin.)
• “The Clay We Are Made Of” (University of Manitoba Press 2017) Susan M. Hill incorporates Haudenosaunee oral records, languages, wampum, and historical treaties to tell the story of the Haudenosaunee (the Six Nations of the Grand River), the problematic relationships of the Canadian government with Indigenous peoples, and reflections on reconciliation.
• “Indigenous Writes” (Highwater Press 2016)Chelsea Vowel provides an accessible entry point to contemporary issues facing First Nations, Metis, and Inuit people. Topics include terminologies, cultural appropriation, commonly held myths, state violence against Indigenous people, and treaties.
• “Elements of Indigenous Style” (Brush Education 2018) by Gregory Younging is a valuable slim volume for anyone wanting to write and communicate about Indigenous issues in a respectful and appropriate manner. This book will help the settler navigate the fear we have around using the wrong words.
• “The Inconvenient Indian: A Curious Account of Native People in North America” (Anchor 2013) is one of award-winning author Thomas King’s many books, all of which are worth reading. This book presents a meditative history of Indigenous peoples in North America (Turtle Island) and the complicated relationship between settlers and Indigenous peoples in the past several hundred years.
• “21 Things You May Not Know About the Indian Act” (Page Two Publishing 2018) Bob Joseph lays bare the roots of many harmful stereotypes and myths settler Canadians hold about Indigenous peoples. The Indian Act was imposed on First Nation, Metis, and Inuit peoples by the Canadian government in 1876 (amended in 1951 and 1985). The wide-reaching act imposed the band system of government, restricted free movement of Indigenous peoples, denied Indigenous peoples the right to vote, and banned the use of Indigenous languages. The 1951 amendments prohibited Indigenous dances and ceremonies. Joseph’s book examines how Indigenous peoples can return to self-government, self-determination, and self-reliance, making Canada better for everyone.
• “Indigenous Methodologies” (University of Toronto Press 2021)Margaret Kovach book, described as “groundbreaking text”, provides a conceptual framework for incorporating Indigenous knowledges and perspectives into academic research. Her chapter on storywork has been particularly informative to my own research.
• “Research is Ceremony: Indigenous Research Methods” (Fernwood 2008) Shawn Wilson explores research paradigms from Indigenous researchers in Canada and Australia, the relationships that arise from research, and the how research as ceremony honours and maintains those relationships.
• “Decolonizing Methodologies” (Zed Books 2023) Linda Tuhiwai Smith explores the intersections of research and imperialism and how it informs our ideas of knowledge as “regimes of truth.” Decolonizing research methodologies allows Indigenous people to reclaim control over their ways of knowing and being.
• “Decolonizing Research” (Bloomsbury 2022) Jo-ann Archibald Q Xiiem brings together researchers from Canada, Australia and New Zealand to discuss Indigenous storywork as research and to develop methodologies that rectify the colonialism embedded in so much academic work. Edited by Jenny Bol Jun Lee-Morgan and Jason De Santolo, with a forward by Linda Tuhiwai Smith.
• “Pollution is Colonialism” (Duke University Press, 2021) Max Liboiron explores anti-colonial scientific practices, concepts of land, law, and ethics to illuminate the violence of pollution and access to land.
• “Seven Fallen Feathers: Racism, Death, and Hard Truths in a Northern City” (House of Anansi Press, 2017) Tanya Talaga tells the story of seven Indigenous high school students who died in Thunder Bay, Ontario, over the course of eleven years and explores how Thunder Bay has come to “”manifest Canada’s long struggle with human rights violations against Indigenous communities.” (Edit: I have just finished reading this book and it is amazing. Tanya Talaga brings together so many strands of Indigenous issues that are usually reportedly on separately– education, clean water, residential schools, housing, healthcare, racism, policing, etc.– and shows how they come together in systems and experiences that impact real Indigenous lives in very deep ways.)
• “Ways of Being in the World: An Introduction to Indigenous Philosophies of Turtle Island” (Broadview Press, 2023) Andrea Sullivan-Clarke edits an anthology that spans time and geography to explore the unique philosophies of Indigenous peoples in North America.
• “Our Story: Aboriginal Voices on Canada’s Past” (Anchor Canada, 2005) Thomas King & Tantoo Cardinal are the editors of this collection of essays and short stories exploring Canada’s historical moments from an Indigenous perspective.
• “This Place: 150 Years Retold” (HighWater Press, 2019) Kateri Akiwenzie-Damm & Sonny Assu have crafted a beautiful graphic novel anthology exploring Indigenous resilience and resistance. It’s a multi award winning book and also a CBC podcast.
• “Becoming Kin: An Indigenous Call to Unforgetting the Past and Reimaging our Future” (Broadleaf Books, 2022) Anishnaabe author Patty Krawec traces settler history, myth, identity, and spirituality and calls on us to “unravel the history we’ve been taught.” It’s a call to remember that we are all related, to each other and to the land.

Two authors I also want to mention are Richard Wagamese and Tomson Highway, both of whom have multiple publications. Richard was an Ojibwe  author and journalist from the Wabaseemoong Independent Nations in northern Ontario.  Best known perhaps for his novel Indian Horse (which was turned into a feature film), I quite enjoy his meditative writings such as Embers.

Cree writer Tomson Highway is a celebrated musician, author, and playwright. His works draw on his experiences in residential schools, as a social worker on First Nation reserves. His CBC Massey Lecture “Laughing with the Trickster” on Indigenous mythologies can be listened to online.

Reports and Guidelines

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada Final Report. The summary is a good place to start. It’s free to download as a PDF or purchase as a printed book.

The TRC Calls to Action accompany the TRC report. Available as a free PDF download.

National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation website hosts multiple reports from government and Indigenous agencies.

The Ontario Federation of Indigenous Friendship Centres (OFIFC) provides guidelines for community-driven research. Their website explains that community-driven research “means communities have control. They determine all research conduct, establish research priorities, choose methodologies and decide how the findings are used. We collaborate with communities. They’re our co-researchers.”

OFIFC guidelines include the USAI Research Framework (Utility, Self-Voicing, Access, Inter-Relationality Framework). This approach “stresses the inherent validity of Indigenous knowledge, acknowledges its historical and political contexts, and positions Indigenous knowledge within all relationships” (page 2). The guidelines outline preferred research methodology and evaluation practices.

Podcasts and Online Media

“Unreserved” is a CBC podcast and radio show featuring Indigenous voices on a wide variety of cultural topics. Hosted by Cree poet and journalist Rosanna Deerchild.

“Secret Life of Canada” is a CBC podcast and radio show featuring Canada’s lesser known (and often unflattering) bits of history with a focus on marginalized peoples.

“This Place” is a CBC podcast based on the book of the same name (above).

“Laughing with the Trickster” is the 2022 CBC Massey Lecture series by Cree author Tomson Highway (above) and can be listened to online.

CBC Indigenous news page on the CBC news website features Indigenous news and current affairs from across Canada.

Indigenous Top Ten is a free twice-weekly email newsletter from Academica Group that highlights the top ten Indigenous stories from across Canadian higher education each week. Academica Group also has a free Monday to Friday newsletter of the top ten higher education stories from across Canada each day.

In-Person

At Brock University, the Hadiya’dagenhahs (First Nation, Metis, and Inuit Student Centre) hosts workshops and events throughout the year to support Indigenous students and to provide cultural and educational opportunities for settlers to work towards reconciliation.

The McMichael Canadian Art Collection includes exhibitions by First Nations, Metis, and Inuit artists as well as programming around the collection. (I’m personally a long-time fan of Inuit prints and sculptures. More recently, I’ve also become enamoured with the work of Norval Morrisseau.)