Indigenous Education

"Sínulhka: The Keepers of Knowledge" by Stephen Rees is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Indigenous Voices

The voices of Indigenous peoples and other marginalized communities are underrepresented in academia, government, healthcare, and other industries. Even when the lived experiences of Indigenous peoples are the focus of the work, research is too often about Indigenous peoples for non-Indigenous audience.

By intentionally seeking out and citing work created by and for individuals from marginalized communities, we help to advocate for the creators, their communities, and the perspectives they present.  At the same time, we broaden our own understanding of the topic. 

Indigenous scholars, researchers, Knowledge Keepers, and Elders respected within their communities are considered citable experts regardless of whether they are associated with an academic institution or hold academic credentials. Work of this kind may come from outside established academic/industry authorities, like social media campaigns, blogs, and direct teachings from Elders or Knowledge Keepers.

Where to Find Indigenous Scholarship

Places to Start Your Search

• Visit community websites, Indigenous leadership groups, and other Indigenous-led organizations.
• Seek out materials from Indigenous publishers and distributors
• Search through Indigenous-focused journals and databases 
• Seek out Indigenous websites, news media, blogs, podcasts, videos, social media, and hashtags.
• Use research guides through other libraries, such as:
  • UAlberta First Nations, Métis, Inuit Subject Guides
  • USask Indigenous Studies iPortal
  • UBC Xwi7xwa Library
  • SFU Finding Indigenous Voices
  • KPU Indigenous Studies Research Guides
• Look at the references pages of resources you find. Find who authors are citing in their work.

Searching NorQuest Library

Search Tips and Strategies

If you  are new to using OneSearch, you can view the library tutorial here.

• Vary your search terms and use Boolean operators to expand or limit your search results
  • The term Indigenous is broadly used to describe many peoples worldwide.
  • Use terms such as First Nations, Métis, Inuit or specific names of Nations to refine your search results.
• Be aware of modern terminology
  • Outdated terms will produce results from older sources. Terms like "Indian" are rarely used in literature today outside of certain historical or legal contexts, such as The Indian Act. Many Nations use authentic names that differ from names created by colonists (example: Nlaka'pamux rather than Thompson River Salish). Use self-descriptive terms to find recent work by and/or about communities.
• Use terms people use to describe themselves
  • There may be multiple commonly used terms to refer to the same Nation/Band/people (ex: Cree and Néhiyaw). Search both terms individually or use Boolean searching constructions to find results containing either terms (Cree OR Néhiyaw).
• Search relevant databases available through the library
• Research authors
  • Indigenous authors may self-identify in their bio or on their website. *Note while researching: be cautious of assumptions about a person's identity based on appearance or stereotypical expectations; appearance is not a reliable indicator of one's racial, ethnic, cultural, or national background.