Sharing Indigenous Knowledge through intergenerational digital storytelling: Design of a workshop engaging Elders and youth

ABSTRACT

Within many First Nations communities, storytelling, led by Elders recognized as knowledge holders, is a deeply valued aspect of teaching and learning history, language, place, culture, and Indigenous Knowledge. The purpose of this study was to design and evaluate the first iteration of an intergenerational digital storytelling workshop that brought Elders and school children from a First Nations community in Canada together to co-create digital stories and share local Indigenous Knowledge. Using a community-based participatory research approach, the research team, school, and community members designed and implemented a ten-session program held during a six-week period. Thirty-one grade six and seven students were paired with thirteen Elders. Elders told a range of stories including personal experiences, legends, and local knowledge of hunting and medicine. Students created a digital version of the stories, adding images, sound, and music. Students learned about local knowledge, built connections with Elders, and increased their digital literacy. Future recommendations included expanding the program over the full year and integrating it with other classes such as having Carrier language as a key component of the digital stories and incorporating art and music created by the students.

Acknowledgments

Harmonized ethics review was received from the University of Northern British Columbia and Simon Fraser University E2016.1020.083.01H. This research study was governed by the OCAP® principles of ownership, control, access and possession (The First Nations Information Governance Centre, 2014). All digital videos created remain the property of the Elders, students, and the Nak’azdli community. Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

We wish to thank all persons involved in this project including the Elders, students, staff of Nak’al Bun school and the wider Nak’azdli community for their time and dedication to this project. We especially thank Elder Lilian Sam for her guidance and leadership.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was funded by the AGE-WELL Strategic Investment Program [AWSIP-A16-013].