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"A Mind Spread Out on the Ground:" Urban Indigenous Experiences of Grief and Bereavement
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- Author / Creator
- Medwayosh, Audrey
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Of the 1.8 million Indigenous Peoples residing on the lands known as Canada, nearly half live in urban areas. Urban spaces themselves are built on traditional Indigenous territory. In some cases, Indigenous Peoples are born and raised in cities that exist on their territories, in other cases, Indigenous Peoples may have migrated to cities or were born there, away from their own ancestral lands. Being an urban Indigenous Person often means that our ties to cultural connection have been disrupted to some degree (Barker 2019). Studies have shown that Indigenous People are overrepresented in several key mortality related measures, such as violent death and premature death. Given this information, this study examines urban Indigenous experiences of colonization, culture, and grief to determine what impacts colonization and culture have had on meaningful and culturally relevant healing experiences. The study collaboratively works with 15 self-identified urban Indigenous Peoples from age 21-84, located in or near amiskwaciwâskahikan (Edmonton). It uses qualitative and Indigenous methodologies to answer the following primary questions: how do urban Indigenous Peoples experience grief and what support systems exist for them, if any? Sub-questions that we addressed were: do people have access to culturally relevant grief support? If yes, what does that look like and if no, how can we enable it? Findings indicate that urban Indigenous experiences of grief are influenced in complex ways by colonization, unresolved trauma, and culture. Within the psychological and sociological literature on grief, the study shows how urban Indigenous experiences of grief can be understood as ‘disenfranchised,’ using Kenneth Doka’s concept of disenfranchised grief.
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- Subjects / Keywords
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- Graduation date
- Fall 2024
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- Type of Item
- Thesis
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- Degree
- Master of Arts
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- License
- This thesis is made available by the University of Alberta Library with permission of the copyright owner solely for non-commercial purposes. This thesis, or any portion thereof, may not otherwise be copied or reproduced without the written consent of the copyright owner, except to the extent permitted by Canadian copyright law.