“Moving Forward”: Arts and Indigenous Reciprocal Leadership in a Neehithuw (Woodland Cree) School Arts Project
Abstract
This article discusses an arts-based program carried out in a Neehithuw (Woodland Cree) school in northern Saskatchewan. Using historical photographs, students wrote a poem and then performed the poem for various audiences. The teaching/learning relationship based on Neehithuw language concepts and values allowed student leadership to develop so that students were comfortable bringing their lived culture into the curriculum. Thus, the project illustrates the effectiveness of the arts as well as a pedagogical approach that uses Indigenous reciprocal leadership to enact Neehithuw1 concepts and values to achieve educational decolonisation and cultural affirmation.
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