Health and Social Development, Faculty of (Okanagan)
Health and Exercise Sciences, School of (Okanagan)
DSpace
UBCO
King, Liam
Master of Science - MSc
University of British Columbia
Currently, little is known about how digital media influences the identity, mental health, and wellness of young Indigenous men in Canada. Given that media has historically misrepresented Indigenous men and masculinities through a colonial mindset reinforcing racialization of Indigenous Peoples as primitive savages, it is important to understand the role digital media plays in the identity construction process of young Indigenous men in Canada. For this project, we partnered with the Aboriginal Programs and Services Centre at UBC Okanagan in a community-based participatory research (CBPR) approach to work with undergraduate students (aged 18 – 30 years old) at UBC Okanagan who identify with the lived experiences of being an Indigenous man. This Digital Wellness group was conducted in a research sharing-circle and was guided by Indigenous Storywork Principles. Data was collected via audio recording and transcription and analyzed using Indigenous Storywork Principles through a Critical Indigenous Gender Lens. Results indicated motivations for young Indigenous men’s digital media use, such as connecting with friends, cultural revitalization, work-/school-related purposes, entertainment, and for taking a break, where they indicated digital media play a significant role in their daily lives. Group members stated both positive and negative effects of using digital media where they felt digital media provided an avenue through which they could explore their Indigenous identities which can positively influence their mental health and wellness, but also felt violence towards Indigenous Peoples and misrepresentations of Indigenous People on digital media had negative impacts of their identities, mental health, and wellness. Further, group members discussed perspective changes within themselves in relation to their digital media use and how they felt engaging in this Digital Wellness group positively impacted their own mental health and wellness, indicating how digital media can be used to connect young Indigenous men with one another to discuss topics of Indigenous identity, gender, and mental health and wellness and bring about positive identity transformations through meaning-making processes. In conclusion, this project demonstrated the importance of engaging young Indigenous men in participatory approaches to better understand how digital media influences the identity, mental health, and wellness of young Indigenous men.
Digital Wellness Project for Young Indigenous Men: Indigenous Masculinity, Identity, and Mental Health and Wellness by Liam King B.Sc., University of British Columbia, 2019 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF SCIENCE in THE COLLEGE OF GRADUATE STUDIES (Health and Exercise Sciences) THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA (Okanagan) July, 2021 © Liam King, 2021 ii The following individuals certify that they have read, and recommend to the College of Graduate Studies for acceptance, a thesis/dissertation entitled: Digital Wellness Project for Young Indigenous Men: Indigenous Masculinity, Identity, and Mental Health and Wellness submitted by Liam King in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Master of Science. Dr. Alison McManus, School of Health and Exercise Sciences, Faculty of Health and Social Development. Supervisor Dr. Braden Te Hiwi, Department of Community, Culture, and Global Studies, Irving K. Barber School of Arts. Supervisory Committee Member Dr. Shelly Ben-David, School of Social Work, Faculty of Health and Social Development. Supervisory Committee Member Dr. Gabrielle Legault, Department of Community, Culture, and Global Studies, Irving K. Barber School of Arts. University Examiner iii Abstract Currently, little is known about how digital media influences the identity, mental health, and wellness of young Indigenous men in Canada. Given that media has historically misrepresented Indigenous men and masculinities through a colonial mindset reinforcing racialization of Indigenous Peoples as primitive savages, it is important to understand the role digital media plays in the identity construction process of young Indigenous men in Canada. For this project, we partnered with the Aboriginal Programs and Services Centre at UBC Okanagan in a community-based participatory research (CBPR) approach to work with undergraduate students (aged 18 – 30 years old) at UBC Okanagan who identify with the lived experiences of being an Indigenous man. This Digital Wellness group was conducted in a research sharing-circle and was guided by Indigenous Storywork Principles. Data was collected via audio recording and transcription and analyzed using Indigenous Storywork Principles through a Critical Indigenous Gender Lens. Results indicated motivations for young Indigenous men’s digital media use, such as connecting with friends, cultural revitalization, work/school related purposes, entertainment, and for taking a break, where they indicated digital media play a significant role in their daily lives. Group members stated both positive and negative effects of using digital media where they felt digital media provided an avenue through which they could explore their Indigenous identities which can positively influence their mental health and wellness, but also felt violence towards Indigenous Peoples and misrepresentations of Indigenous People on digital media had negative impacts of their identities, mental health, and wellness. Further, group members discussed perspective changes within themselves in relation to their digital media use and how they felt iv engaging in this Digital Wellness group positively impacted their own mental health and wellness, indicating how digital media can be used to connect young Indigenous men with one another to discuss topics of Indigenous identity, gender, and mental health and wellness and bring about positive identity transformations through meaning making processes. In conclusion, this project demonstrated the importance of engaging young Indigenous men in participatory approaches to better understand how digital media influences the identity, mental health, and wellness of young Indigenous men. v Lay Summary How the identity of young Indigenous men in Canada is influenced by digital media is not well understood. Goals of this community-based participatory project were to engage young Indigenous men to better understand how they use digital media and how it influences their identity, mental health, and wellness. To do this, we met regularly with young Indigenous men who were undergraduate students at UBC Okanagan in a research-sharing circle to discuss their experiences with digital media. Results from this study indicated digital media can be positive for Indigenous men’s identities and mental health, but digital media can also reinstate settler colonial dynamics by disseminating misrepresentations of Indigenous masculinities and providing an avenue through which settler society can enact violence on Indigenous Peoples. In conclusion, more work is needed to understand the complex dynamics between digital media use, young Indigenous men’s identity, masculinities, and mental health and wellness. vi Preface This research project was approved through UBC Okanagan’s Behavioural Research Ethics Board (H20-00798). vii Table of Contents Abstract ....................................................................................................................................................... iii Lay Summary .............................................................................................................................................. v Preface ......................................................................................................................................................... vi Table of Contents ...................................................................................................................................... vii List of Figures .............................................................................................................................................. x Acknowledgements .................................................................................................................................... xi Dedication ................................................................................................................................................. xiii Chapter 1: Introduction to Study .............................................................................................................. 1 1.1 Background ............................................................................................................................... 1 1.1.1 Researcher Motivations ...................................................................................................... 1 1.1.2 Literature Review ............................................................................................................... 3 1.1.2.1 Introduction ..................................................................................................................... 3 1.1.2.2 A Historical Account of Media’ Representation of ‘the Other’ ...................................... 6 1.1.2.3 Indigenous Identity, Mental Health, & Wellness In Canada ......................................... 14 1.1.2.4 At It Again: Contemporary Misrepresentations of Indigenous Men & Masculinities in Digital Media ............................................................................................................................. 23 1.1.3 Problem Statement ............................................................................................................ 32 1.1.4 Research Questions........................................................................................................... 33 Chapter 2: Theorectical Frameworks, Research Methodologies, and Methods ................................. 34 2.1 Theoretical Frameworks .......................................................................................................... 34 2.1.1 Indigenous Community-Based Participatory Research: Emancipatory Research on the Margins .......................................................................................................................................... 34 2.2 Indigenous Methodologies .................................................................................................. 36 2.2.1 Indigenous Storywork Methodology ................................................................................ 38 2.2.2 Critical Indigenous Gender Lens ...................................................................................... 40 viii 2.3 Methods ............................................................................................................................... 44 2.3.1 Grant Funding ................................................................................................................... 44 2.3.2 Community-Engagement Storying ................................................................................... 44 2.3.3 Group Member’s............................................................................................................... 46 2.3.3.1 Inclusion Criteria ........................................................................................................... 46 2.3.3.2 Recruitment ................................................................................................................... 47 2.3.3.3 Ethical Considerations ................................................................................................... 47 2.3.4 Data Collection ................................................................................................................. 48 2.3.4.1 Research-Sharing Circles .............................................................................................. 49 2.3.4.2 Yarning, Audio Recording, & Transcription ................................................................. 50 2.3.4.3 Critical Reflexive Journaling ......................................................................................... 51 2.3.4.4 Zoom & Research in the Time of COVID-19 Restrictions ........................................... 52 Chapter 3: Results ..................................................................................................................................... 53 3.1 Introduction to Group Members and Structuring Groups ....................................................... 53 3.2 Digital Media Use ............................................................................................................. 56 3.3 What it Means to be an Indigenous Man .......................................................................... 60 3.3.1 Blood Quantum, Indian Status, & Indigenous Men’s Identity ......................................... 65 3.3.2 Western & Indigenous Gender Roles & Norms................................................................ 67 3.4 Representations and Misrepresentations of Indigenous Men............................................ 72 3.4.1 Violence ........................................................................................................................ 77 3.4.2 Misrepresentations, Trauma, & Mental Health of Indigenous Peoples in Canada ....... 79 3.5.1 Lack of Elders on Social Media ....................................................................................... 95 3.5.2 Connecting with Elder Grouse ..................................................................................... 96 3.5.2.2 Belief in ‘Our Ways’ ..................................................................................................... 98 3.5.2.3 Deconstructing Misrepresentations of Indigenous Peoples & Masculinities ......... 101 3.6 Humor ......................................................................................................................... 104 ix 3.7 Final Meeting.............................................................................................................. 106 3.7.1 Influences of Digital Media on The Mental Health of Young Indigenous Men ......... 106 3.7.1.1 Positive ................................................................................................................... 106 3.7.1.2 Negative ................................................................................................................. 109 3.7.1.3 The Importance of UnPlugging ......................................................................... 111 3.8 Benefits of Young Indigenous Men’s Group for Promotion of Meaning Making and Identity Reconstruction Processes.................................................................................. 112 Chapter 4: Interpretations & Discussion of Results ............................................................................ 119 4.1 Overview of Study................................................................................................................. 119 4.2 Discussion of Results and Conclusion ............................................................................ 121 4.2.2 How do young Indigenous men think digital media affects their identity? ................ 123 References ................................................................................................................................................ 144 Appendices ............................................................................................................................................... 159 Appendix A: Yarning Questions ...................................................................................................... 159 Appendix B: Sample of Session Flow & Reflective Journaling ...................................................... 160 x List of Figures Figure 1: Study Findings in relation to Identity Medicine Wheel of Indigenous Masculinities. ............ 137 xi Acknowledgements I would like to acknowledge the contributions of Dr’s. Alison McManus & Braden Te Hiwi for their support and guidance during this research journey as well as their expertise in youth and Indigenous health and wellness. Without having trusting Faculty members willing to support me in undertaking a project of this magnitude, I never would have learned how to trust myself in the research process and the growth I have experienced in my Master’s degree would not have been possible. Further, I would like to thank Dr. Shelly Ben-David for being a part of my supervisory committee and providing her expertise on youth identity and mental health. Moreover, I would like to formally acknowledge the support and guidance I received from Dr. Margo Tamez through her Indigenous Feminist Methodologies class and through her close mentorship during a Directed Studies course. Without her expertise in the field of Indigenous Gender studies and our in-depth conversations on important issues, the full extent to which I now understand the topics necessary for writing this thesis would not have been possible. I would like to acknowledge the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the Indigenous Gender and Wellness Initiative for their contributions to this study in the form of a Development Grant. I would like to thank Elder Grouse Barnes for providing his teachings to us during this project. Elder Barnes contributions became a pivotal moment within this study and undoubtedly facilitated the groups’ ability to ground ourselves within traditional Indigenous values in relation to what it means to be an Indigenous man. Finally, I would like to acknowledge the Aboriginal Programs and Services Centre at UBC Okanagan for their continued support of Indigenous students, including myself, and for xii partnering with us on this project. The support I have received over the years within the Aboriginal Undergraduate Mentorship Program and from APS staff, Adrienne Vedan, Rachel Andreychuk, Kelly Fosbery, and others, has made this research project possible as it has allowed me to endure hardships while providing an avenue through which I can discover and understand myself as a nehinaw-métis Person. xiii Dedication This thesis is dedicated to my loving partner, Justine, and our two children, Atlas and Orion. Justine, without your continued love and support, I would have never been able to accomplish any of this. This thesis is dedicated my Mother and Father, my Siblings, Maggie, Calvin, & Stormi, my Aunty Mel, and all of my family relations not included here. This thesis is dedicated to my Kokum. I feel you with me every day and you have guided me on this journey. You have allowed me to understand who I am as a person while staying true to who we are as People. This work is for you, this work is for our Family, this work is for our People. 1 Chapter 1: Introduction to Study 1.1 Background 1.1.1 Researcher Motivations As recognized in Indigenous inquiry, prologues work as a space for introduction to the author, giving room to set a standpoint, allowing the reader to understand where the author places themselves in the world (Kovach, 2010; Walter & Andersen, 2013). For this reason, my thesis will begin with a brief introduction to myself and my family history before moving on to a more in-depth literature review on the history of media’s role in the misrepresentation of Indigenous men’s and masculinities, how this intersects with Indigenous Peoples mental health and wellness in Canada, and implications for young Indigenous men’s and peoples associated with masculinities digital media use today. In recounting this brief family history, I hope to allow the reader to recognize the places from which my family stems, which will help them understand my motivations for conducting research with Indigenous identities, masculinities, and mental health and wellness. My main motivation for writing this thesis is to help actualize an envisioned future where my children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren yet to come, can live on the lands of their people, free to be themselves, and free from colonial oppression. The reason I made the decision to focus on young Indigenous Peoples for my research career is multi-dimensional and necessarily cannot be fully explained within this introduction. In brief, I completed my bachelor’s in psychology at a time of great self-discovery. This self-discovery was prompted through learning about the history of Indigenous Peoples experiences under the nation state of Canada. I always knew that I was Indigenous, but I never understood what it meant to be 2 Indigenous. When I started to learn I was nêhinaw-metis through my father’s mother and her family was a prolific Métis family with roots in Cumberland Cree House, and how these histories have defined my own life, I began on what is commonly referred to as a ‘healing journey’. As described by Sheila Cote-Meek, a healing journey occurs when Indigenous people begin “reclaiming their ancestral traditions and culture,” often prompted by educating themselves about the effects of colonialism on their people (2014, p. 9). Embarking upon this journey brought me to times and places previously unknown, where I learned about the historical trauma colonialism enacted on my people. Relearning these histories opened my mind to a world that I did not realize existed - an Indigenous world. A world that has lived alongside white-settler populations for hundreds of years, and yet, is forgotten as if it were never there. Discovering this world brought me into my Indigeneity and all the traumas, loses, and suffering associated with it. Going through this healing journey completely changed my perspective on Western research and science. I was so passionate about scientific research and I was shocked to find out everything it had done to my people. Upon learning these histories, I could not return to how I had previously undertaken research. I realized the short-sightedness and down-right discriminatory actions of Western research, and the ways in which it continues to exploit the less-powerful (L. Smith 2013). I did not know how I was going to continue researching within a Western institution that has worked so hard to eliminate the legitimacy of my people, our identity, and our human right to health equity. 3 1.1.2 Literature Review 1.1.2.1 Introduction Over the past 150 years, Indigenous Peoples in Canada have experienced rapidly shifting societal structures as a long history of assimilative practices have removed Indigenous Peoples from their traditional ways of life, forcing Indigenous Peoples to survive within a colonial society with significantly different values and norms than their own. Along with these societal shifts, have been the introduction of colonial forms of technology, such as the internet and digital media. Although these technologies are often referred to as more advanced than and superior to Indigenous technologies, I would like to make it clear I am in no way implying this by focusing on digital media nor by connecting it to the event some refer to as modernity. Regardless, digital media has had profound and far-reaching influences on how people interact, connect with one another, and experience the world around them. Moreover, youth frequently immerse themselves in a digital world (of television, social media, internet-based media, and so on) which shapes their search for identity (Loebach et al., 2019; Schwartz et al., 2013). As youth navigate and develop their identity, this is intricately influenced by digital interactions. Although these interactions can be beneficial (Hensel et al., 2019; Walker, Palmero, & Klassen, 2019), they can also be destructive (Best, Manktelow, & Taylor, 2014; Rice et al., 2016). Generally, Indigenous youth understand digital media to consist of social media, texting, emails, video chatting, television, movies, online videos, and video games (Loebach et al., 2019). Further, Indigenous youth use digital to connect with one another, share knowledge and stories, and for these reasons, digital media can positively influence Indigenous youth’s health and wellness (Hensel et al., 2019; Sweet, Pearson, & Dudgeon, 2013; Walker et al., 2019). However, little research has been conducted specifically with young Indigenous men to understand how 4 digital media influences their identities and identity expressions from a critical Indigenous Gender lens. If young Indigenous men use digital media to explore their cultural traditions and knowledge systems, it may aid young Indigenous men in creating positive Indigenous masculine identities and act as a tool through which they can reclaim their mental health and wellness. However, if young Indigenous men frequently face violence on digital media in the form of misrepresentations of who they are as people, then digital media may act to confuse and disrupt their Indigenous masculine identity exploration, which may negatively affect their mental health and wellness. When young Indigenous men create their identities, it is important for young Indigenous men to be immersed within their culture, community, and knowledge systems to create identities aligned with their traditional values as Indigenous Peoples (Antone, 2015; George et al., 2019; Tengan, 2008). In turn, this allows young Indigenous men to make sense of the world around them and interact with Mother Earth and all of creation in meaningful ways. However, as a result of colonization, Indigenous men have had their traditional ways of life and the identities associated with them violently taken through a process of historical trauma, forced assimilation, and government policies that continue to confuse Indigenous identities and their associated expressions today (Antone, 2015; George et al., 2019; Tengan, 2008). This process has left Indigenous Peoples in Canada with a legacy of poor mental health that continues to plague our very existence. First, I will explain how media has long been used as a tool by colonial forces to create representations of Indigenous men as uncivilized, primitive, and savage, to reinforce the fear of ‘the Other’ within the imagination of Europeans, Euro-American’s, and Euro-Canadians to justify the colonization of Indigenous Peoples in North America. Within this, I will discuss how 5 these representations were manipulated through the lens of colonial masculinities to reinforce white supremacy and heteropatriarchy by creating notions of Indigenous Peoples racial inferiority and Indigenous men’s primitive hypermasculinity. Moreover, I will demonstrate how the colonial mindset evident in foundational documents such as “the Doctrine of Discovery,” created a precedent through which white society took it upon themselves to name, claim, and categorize, all they found in the name of the Empire (Miller et al., 2010; L. Smith, 2008) and how when these European men could not make sense of what they saw through their lens of colonial masculinities, they sought to transform or eliminate anyone deemed to be infringing upon their understanding of the world (Miranda, 2010). Further, I will discuss this dynamic within the context of Canada through demonstrating how the colonial mindset, and its associated expression of colonial masculinities, was responsible for the creation of the Indian Act, the Canadian Residential Schooling System, and the legacy of ill-health it has left Indigenous Peoples in Canada to bear. Finally, I will discuss the consequences this history has for contemporary times by extrapolating the extent to which these misrepresentations still exist, and the potential ill-effects they have for young Indigenous men’s mental health and wellness. This historical account will be used as a basis for my discussion about digital media and how Indigenous youth may be able to utilize digital media to positively transform their own identities within a colonial world. Specifically, I will discuss the potential for digital media to be used for the reinvigoration of positive Indigenous masculinities based on traditional Indigenous values, and in this way, can act as a tool to promote positive mental health transformation within young Indigenous men. 6 1.1.2.2 A Historical Account of Media’ Representation of ‘the Other’ Settler colonialism is a structure built on the colonial mindset that understands European society to be racially superior to Indigenous Peoples (Fanon, 1963; Friere, 1996; Memmi, 2013; Wolf, 1999) and for this reason has sought to assimilate Indigenous Peoples into the hegemonic white settler societies worldview, inclusive of their heteropatriarchal societal structure (Cannon, 2019; Miranda, 2010; Morgensen, 2011, 2015). This process has effectively altered Indigenous men’s, and peoples associated with Indigenous masculinities, expressions of identity (Antone, 2015), and has had profound impacts on all Indigenous Peoples in Canada’s mental health and wellness (Innes & Anderson, 2015). However, commonly under examined is the role misrepresentations of Indigenous men and masculinities in media have played in justifying settler colonialism. For this reason, this section will examine the role media has played throughout history in creating understandings of Indigenous Peoples as violent savages in need of civilization as justification for the process of colonization and the ongoing structure of settler colonialism. Media has long been used as a tool by colonial forces to categorize Indigenous Peoples and their knowledges into its ever-expanding repertoire of “the Other” (L. Smith, 2013, pp. 47 - 49). Inspired by the Enlightenment era, otherwise known as modernity, (Moore, 1998; L. Smith, 2013, pp. 61 – 79) colonial explorers took to the lands to claim resources in the name of their mother country to sustain their rapidly growing economies (L. Smith, 2013, pp. 61 – 79). Linda Tuhiwai Smith (2013) describes how along with this accumulation of resources was the commoditization of knowledge about the world and its peoples through a process of discovery, categorization, and appropriation (pp. 61 – 79). Driving the Enlightenment era was the law of the 7 Doctrine of Discovery which granted the Christian church authority to enforce God’s will onto the world’s inhabitants who were deemed to be lesser humans (Miller et al., 2010, p. 90). These “Other” “lesser human” beings were cast in the light of a racialized discourse that predicated their inferiority (Fanon, 1963; Friere, 1996; Memmi, 2013; L. Smith, 2013; Wolf, 1999). L. Smith (2013) links this racialized discourse back to images and textual representations of monsters and beasts in Greek philosophy that created an internalization of the savage within the imaginations of European society (L. Smith, 2013, pp. 47 – 49). This resulted in white European societies believe of both their racial superiority and the inherent danger of Indigenous Peoples. Similarly, Memmi (2013) confirms this notion by describing how the colonizer always positions himself as racially superior to the colonized by attributing all negative about the world to the uncivilized and savage nature of the colonized and all that is good about the world to the colonial’s racial superiority (pp. 66 – 70). This white supremacist notion of racial superiority over the earth’s non-Christian inhabitants is but one of many components making up the colonial mindset and its associated expressions of colonial masculinities. Another understanding within the colonial mindset, is the naturalness and divineness of heteropatriarchy (Roscoe, 1998, p. 1; Miranda, 2010). This results from stories told about the Christian creation where the first humans, Adam and Eve, who were built in the image of God (Barr, 1968; Clines, 1968), were bound within a heterosexual relationship based on binary genders (King, 2003). Further, the retelling of this relationship was built on patriarchy, as it placed power in the hands of the male God (King, 2003), and likewise discusses the resemblance of Adam to this God, largely ignoring the feminist aspects found within earlier retellings of the Genesis story (Horowitz, 1979). This solidified into an understanding within Christians of how the world operates under God’s authoritative rule and how it is their duty as Christian human 8 beings to civilize the worlds non-Christian inhabitants by bringing forward the word of God. Evident within the Genesis story, is the dualistic ontologies that exist within the colonial mindset that obtains its teachings from Christianity (King, 2003). This dualism of good vs evil, human vs non-human, man vs woman, allowed Christians to easily categorize their discoveries based on their own understanding of the world, effectively allowing them to control knowledge through its categorization into dualities. This allowed them, as white Christian human beings, to determine whether the Peoples they encountered fit within God’s definition of humanness, and if they did not, to civilize these Peoples so they did fit into the image of God and its understandings of heteronormative and patriarchal societal structures that relies on the dualistic concept of binary genders. Therefore, within the colonial mindset, Christian human beings were given the right to enforce their understanding of the world onto Others, placing them in a paternalistic position that infantilized non-Christians (A. Smith, 2011), which rests on the white supremacist understanding of the racial inferiority of non-white Peoples. As a result of this colonial mindset, upon first encountering Indigenous Peoples in North America, colonial officials could not comprehend how Indigenous Peoples structured their societies. Traditional Indigenous gender norms and roles are incredibly diverse and centered on understandings of gender fluidity (Gilley, 2006; Jacobs, Thomas, & Lang, 1997; Lang, 1998; Rifkin, 2010; Roscoe, 1998; Williams, 1992). For example, there were Indigenous Peoples assigned female sex at birth who performed the duties of both men and women, such as making pottery and clothes, while also joining hunting parties, and having diverse sexual relations (Lang, 1998; pp. 77 – 78). Moreover, there were also Indigenous Peoples assigned male sex at birth who dressed and performed the duties of women, and commonly engaged in sexual relationships with multiple sexes. These gender-diverse peoples held special positions as chiefs (Roscoe, 1998, pp. 9 67 - 98), warriors (Roscoe, 1998, pp. 67 - 98), and healers (Williams, 1992, pp. 31 - 43), as they were understood “not as failed men or women” (Roscoe, 1998, p. 5), but rather as special parts of their communities essential for maintaining balance. These notions of wide-ranging gender diversity within Indigenous communities align with social constructivist understandings of gender norms and roles as being socio-culturally constructed and not rooted in biological sex (Gilley, 2006; Lang, 1998; Roscoe, 1998; Williams, 1992). This refutes essentialist notions of gender, and Indigenous Peoples more broadly, as it provides evidence towards how gender roles, sexualities, and identities are not biologically based, but are adaptable to changing circumstances to ensure balanced and stable communities. However, colonial officials only understood the world through their own colonial mindset. Within the colonial mindset, gender is binary and rooted in biological sex, and men are superior to women because of their biological gifts (A. Smith, 2011; Sneider, 2015). This had very real consequences for Indigenous Peoples of North America as upon European’s arrival, colonial officials were disgusted at the “so-called” barbaric ways Indigenous Peoples chose to structure their societies. As a result of their disgust and divine mission to bring about Christian laws of heteropatriarchy, these diverse gender identities were deemed un-civilized and immoral (Roscoe, 1998, p. 1) and were targeted for elimination (Miranda, 2010). Specifically, Spanish colonial officials made a point of murdering any Indigenous person they found to be “committ[ing] the abominable crime of sodomy” through “be[ing] torn to bits by dogs” (Miranda, 2010, p. 258). These bull mastiff murder machines were employed specifically for this purpose, eating Indigenous Peoples alive as a form of brutal punishment for their inconceivable sins (Miranda, 2010). The fear of these dogs reached such a point that Indigenous communities began sacrificing their gender-diverse peoples to Spanish colonials 10 upon their arrival as a means of self-preservation (Miranda, 2010). This gendercide (Miranda, 2010) was just one of the many ways colonial masculinities sought to suppress Indigenous identities to disrupt traditional kinship ties and replace them with a heteropatriarchal structure (Morgensen, 2011, 2015; Rifkin, 2010). Colonial masculinities were created within these horrendous interactions between settlers and Indigenous Peoples, as “colonial masculinities arose to violently control and replace distinctive gender systems among Indigenous Peoples.” (Morgensen, 2015, p. 38). These masculinities were created to serve a purpose, to justify colonization and remove all those who stood in their way, as it was their God given right to civilize all lesser-humans. As such, these masculinities are rooted in a colonial mindset of white supremacy and heteropatriarchy. These masculinities were created from the manhood that sailed across the seas and sought to civilize the untamed land and its savage peoples (Moore, 1998). Unsurprisingly, colonial men and masculinities played a major role in showcasing Indigenous men as primitive savages in early media, such as painting, drawings, writing, and early photography (Lutz, Strzelczyk, & Watchman, 2020; Kemper, 2014; Maynard, 2000; Minor, 2015). As noted by Minor (2015), there were stark differences in how colonial men understood Indigenous expressions of masculinity compared to how Indigenous men understood and represented themselves. This was apparent from analyzing the differences between some of the first known drawings of Chief Mató-Tópe created by colonial artists and drawings the Chief drew himself. Within these drawings, Minor (2015) describes how the artists homogenized Chief Mató-Tópe’s identity and expression of masculinity into an idealized version meant for consumption by white society, playing up to the Noble Savage trope. However, when offered the ability to represent himself, Chief Mató-Tópe’s drawing spoke to his connections to community, his role as a protector, and other more personal expressions of his Indigenous masculinity. The 11 Noble Savage is a literary character that was created by the colonial mindset and has its roots within Enlightenment ideals where European society understood Indigenous Peoples as cannibals and savages, making the Noble Savage construct deeply intertwined with the racialization process (Ellingson, 2001; Minor, 2015). However, this character later gained a sense of Nobility evident in writings in the early 1700’s as French explorers contextualized their experiences with Indigenous Peoples speaking of a generosity and nobility found within “the savages” (Ellingson, 2001, p. 15). In early photography colonial masculinities created representations of Indigenous men as primitive savages through their manipulation of scenery and providing ‘props,’, such as barbaric weaponry, for their Indigenous subjects (Maynard, 2000). In making these images popular around the world (King, 2003), white society sought to justify their exploitation of Indigenous Peoples and their lands through showcasing Indigenous men’s masculine expressions as something to be both marveled at and feared as a spectacle of the savage nature of the world’s uncivilized places. This point is perhaps most evident when examining how up until 1958, it was common practice to have Indigenous Peoples appear alongside animals in Zoo’s (Boffey, 2018; Purtschert, 2015). These human zoos were inspired by scientific theories from Charles Darwin, that saw Indigenous Peoples existing alongside the exotic landscapes and their native flora and fauna (Darwin, 1859, 2008; Jeynes, 2011; Marks, 2012). As such, these primitive humans were a spectacle to be amazed at, but also a specimen that must be preserved in the name of science. This encouraged Western scientists and explorers to learn all they could about Indigenous Peoples through their Western lens of colonial masculinities, however, what this also accomplished was the misrepresentation of Indigenous Peoples as primitive and savage creatures that more closely resembled animals than Christian human beings. This process further solidified 12 Indigenous Peoples as mythical creatures within the imaginations of European society as written documentations worked alongside drawings and photography to create an essentialized Indigenous identity premised on understandings of Indigenous Peoples unevolved and primitive nature that permeated into the minds of white society. A more recent example of how these racialized discourses influenced white societies understandings of Indigenous Peoples can be found within Karl May’s famous Winnetou character, a classic example of the Noble Savage. As stated by Lutz et al., (2020): German culture has produced an idealized and romanticized fascination with, and fantasies about, Indigenous Peoples of North America that has its roots in the nineteenth-century German colonial imagination…German ‘Indianthusiasm’ is racialized, in that it refers to Indian-ness as an essentializing bioracial and concomitantly, cultural ethnic identity that ossified into stereotype…The most popular image of the Indianer is provided Karl May’s (1842-1912) fictional character Apache chief Winnetou (13). As is evident in this quote, Karl May’s creation of the Winnetou character stems from a colonial mindset and its associated expression of colonial masculinity, reinforcing essentialized and racist understandings of Indigenous men’s identities and expressions of masculinity. This bioracial property that Lutz et al., 2020 speaks of links to how these representations carry with them connotations of white supremacy and the naturalness of heteronormativity. This occurs through these representations reinforcing hypersexualized masculine properties, whilst simultaneously displaying primitivity and savagery that strikes fear in the imaginations of Europeans, Euro-Canadians, and Euro-Americans (Kemper, 2014). Kemper (2014) notes how Indigenous masculinities are almost always misrepresented by colonial masculinities to favour colonial society. Brendan Hokowhitu confirms this notion as he describes what he refers to as “invader 13 masculinities” misconstrued Indigenous expressions of masculinity and replaced them with a masculinity premised on colonial understandings of mind-body dualism and objectivism, and its associated understandings of the naturalness and divineness of heteronormativity (2015). This replacement of traditional expressions of Indigenous masculinity is evident in how colonial men created misrepresentations of Indigenous masculine expression, as they are often filled with violence and misaligned with Indigenous Peoples traditional values (Kemper, 2014). Unfortunately, the understandings of Indigenous Peoples captured during this process more closely reflected the colonial officials’ worldviews than that of the worldviews of Indigenous Peoples and their associated identities and identity expressions (Kemper, 2014; Hokowhitu, 2015; Minor, 2015; Tengan, 2008, p. 12). Throughout history, these misrepresentations served the purpose of reinforcing the naturalness of heteropatriarchy as a biological construct by showcasing the primitive Indigenous man’s hypermasculinity as a feared yet prized example of the savage wilderness to bring about the Christian faiths divine mission to civilize all non-Christian lesser-human beings. These same misrepresentations are evident within our society today, as the Winnetou character continues to have profound impacts on how German’s and people around the globe view Indigenous Peoples of North America (Lutz et al., 2020). These misrepresentations combined with other misrepresentations of Indigenous men and masculinities, such as Geronimo (Kemper, 2014), Indigenous sport mascots (King, 2003), films and television, such as Aquaman (Lopez, 2019) and Twilight (Antoine, 2011; Kemper, 2014), and others, continue to reinforce a false understanding of Indigenous expressions of masculinity in contemporary society. Before discussing contemporary misrepresentations of Indigenous men’s and masculinities and the implications this has for the mental health and wellness of young 14 Indigenous men in Canada, I will first discuss the importance of identity to Indigenous Peoples mental health and wellness with a particular focus on Indigenous men and how settler colonialism in Canada altered their masculine identities and identity expressions. I will also highlight the role misrepresentations of Indigenous men’s and masculinities played throughout history in justifying the project of settler colonialism in Canada. 1.1.2.3 Indigenous Identity, Mental Health, & Wellness In Canada Throughout the creation of this study, a question kept coming up in my mind: What is identity, and why is it important for Indigenous Peoples health? This question was difficult to answer because there really is no concreate definition for Indigenous identity. The closest answer I could find is within the words of Brendan Hokowhitu, “Identity can be everything and nothing” (Hokowhitu, 2011, p. 13). This means there is no concrete definition of identity for Indigenous Peoples as Indigenous Peoples are incredibly diverse (Kirmayer, Tait, & Simpson, 2009; L. Smith, 2008) and therefore it makes no sense to have a single definition that constitutes the multiple forms and expressions identities can take within and across Indigenous communities. What we do know is Indigenous Peoples identities are multifarious, constructed through their unique Indigenous worldviews, and allow Indigenous Peoples to connect to one another and the world around them in meaningful ways (Hokowhitu, 2011; Kirmayer et al., 2009; L. Smith 2008). However, traditional Indigenous identities have been disrupted by colonization which works to remove and replace these identities with an identity of the ‘Other’ (L. Smith, 2013). Colonization has bestowed upon Indigenous Peoples an identity of the researched (L. Smith, 2013, p. 1-2); an identity of the deficient (Moore, 1998); an identity not entirely human (L. Smith, 2013, pp. 26 – 29; Friere 1993; Miller et al., 2010); an identity essentialized, frozen in time, and stuck in the past (King, 2003, p. 37); an identity created from those stories told about 15 us, stories told through the eyes of the colonizer (L. Smith, 2013, pp. 44 – 60). However, “the truth about stories is…that’s all we are” (King, 2003, p. 3). As evident from the history of Media Representations of ‘The Other,” the stories told about Indigenous Peoples, and specifically, Indigenous men, throughout history have had very real-life consequences for all Indigenous Peoples. Within Canada, these stories culminated into legislative practices that sought to civilize the savage nature of its Indigenous inhabitants. A key foundation of the settler colonial project in Canada and its genocidal goals, was the dissemblance of traditional Indigenous societal structures and the Indigenous identities associated with them, which allowed for the removal of Indigenous Peoples from their lands, as it wore down the foundations that connected Indigenous communities, making Indigenous Peoples more susceptible to assimilation (Anderson, 2009; Andersen, 2011; Antone, 2015; Battiste 2000a, 2017; Cannon 2020; Eberts, 2017; Innes & Anderson, 2015; Jobin, 2016; Methot, 2019; Morgensen, 2011, 2015; NIMMIWG, 2019; RCAP, 1994; Sneider, 2015; TRC, 2015; Wildcat, 2015). Today, Indigenous youth in Canada commit suicide at 5 to 11 times higher rates than non-Indigenous Canadian youth (Barker, Goodman, & DeBeck, 2017; Government of Canada, 2006), and when asked about this epidemic, Indigenous youth state confusion and shame associated with their identity as a contributing factor (RCAP, 1994). Confusion and shame associated with one’s own identity is a symptom of historical trauma (Methot, 2019), and within Canada, there is undoubtable evidence the long history of assimilative policies, removal from land base, and cultural genocide enacted on Indigenous Peoples resulted in historical trauma (TRC, 2015) and has massive negative influences on Indigenous Peoples mental health and wellness (Braveheart & DeBruyn, 1998; Duran & Duran, 1995; Hartmann & Gone, 2014; 16 Kirmayer, Gone, & Moses, 2014; Gone, 2013). Historical trauma results from long-lasting unresolved grief, is intergenerational in nature, and can result in the internalization of self-defeating thoughts (Duran & Duran, 1995; Gonzalez, Simard, & Baker-Demaray, 2013; Heart, 1999; Methot, 2019). Further, the impacts of historical trauma on Indigenous Peoples of North America have been linked to many mental health issues plaguing Indigenous Peoples today, such as high rates of suicide, alcohol and drug use, and violence (Braveheart & DeBruyn, 1998; George et al., 2019; Hartmann and Gone, 2014; Gone et al., 2019). Recent scholars have critiqued early conceptualizations of historical trauma as not being fully representative of Indigenous Peoples’ experiences as it ignored the ways colonialism is an ongoing act of structural violence and not something of the past (Gone, 2007, 2014; Hartmann et al., 2019; Kirmayer et al., 2014). For this reason, Hartmann et al., (2019) conceptualizes historical trauma as a critical discourse through which we must work towards the liberation of Indigenous Peoples and refuse scientific conclusions of Indigenous deficiency. If we can allow ourselves to understand how colonialism continues to be a structure of violence enacted on Indigenous Peoples (Borrell, 2015; Cote-Meek, 2014, pp. 19 - 45; Fanon, 1963) then we will be better positioned to create solutions to the mental health ramifications of historical trauma. Therefore, it is important to understand the implications historical trauma has for young Indigenous men’s identities and identity expressions as these dynamics are still relevant today since the ongoing structure of settler colonialism persists. In conceptualizing historical trauma as something of the past, it unintentionally ignores the societal structures keeping Indigenous Peoples in Canada in oppression. This may create a false impression that colonialism is over, making decolonization unnecessary, and reinscribe deficiency-based approaches to Indigenous Peoples mental health. Therefore, central to this study is the understanding of historical trauma as an ongoing process 17 working in parallel with settler colonialism that continues to dissuade Indigenous Peoples from reclaiming traditional Indigenous approaches to mental health and wellness through the disruption of Indigenous identities. Today, these processes are imbedded in Canadian legislation, such as the Indian Act, which reinforces the settler colonial project in Canada by defining Indigenous identities through the colonial mindset, resulting in racialized conceptualizations of Indigeneity and the enforcement of heteropatriarchal societal structures. Within Canada, historical trauma combines with legislative practices, such as the Indian Act, to confuse and disrupt Indigenous Peoples identities and identity expressions by defining Indigeneity through racist and sexist terms. First, the definition of Indian within the Indian Act is racialized because it relies on an understanding of Indigeneity rooted in Blood Quantum. Blood Quantum is a mechanism through which the concept of race is reinforced (Rifkin, 2010; Tallbear, 2013; Waldram, 2009) and was utilized within laws such as the Doctrine of Discovery through which the Christian church solidified the quantification of Indigeneity and used it as the premise for their own racial superiority, allowing them to assume a paternalistic position in relation to Indigenous Peoples (Joseph, 2018; Miller et al., 2010). This was done by scientifically proving Indigenous Peoples were less evolved than European society (Darwin, 1859, 2008; Jeynes, 2011; Marks, 2012). As such, this categorization of ‘Indianess’ was created through the colonial mindset, colonial masculinities, and their associated understandings of white supremacist heteropatriarchy (Cannon, 2019). For this reason, Blood Quantum has confused traditional understandings of Indigenous identities as it works to replace these Indigenous identities with a colonial interpretation of Indigeneity based on race. Second, the Indian Act is racist because the Indian Act places the Canadian government in a position of wardship assuming they have the moral and legal duty and responsibility to manage Indigenous Peoples lives 18 (Joseph, 2018). This paternalistic position relies on racial superiority because it rests on the understanding Indigenous Peoples are not fully civilized and incapable of making their own decisions. In this way, the Indian Act continues to infantilize Indigenous Peoples justified through the understanding of Indigenous Peoples uncivilized nature. Third, the definition of Indigeneity found within the Indian Act is racist because it is purposefully exclusive to limit the legal rights of Indigenous Peoples in Canada and reduce the total number of Indians to the point of complete assimilation (Eberts, 2017). This assimilative goal of the Indian Act can be seen in the following quote from John A. MacDonald, “The great aim of our legislation has been to do away with the tribal system and assimilate the Indian people in all respects with the other inhabitants of the Dominion as speedily as they are fit to change.” (Joseph, 2018, p. 40). Moreover, within this quote, it is evident the Indian Act is used to assimilate Indigenous Peoples into the hegemonic Canadian society through deconstructing Indigenous Peoples traditional societal structures as the Indian Act forced Indigenous communities to conform to societal structures not of their own making, favouring a patrilineal line of descent and placing power in the hands of Indian men (Cannon, 2019; Green, 2017). However, prior to colonization, Indigenous communities were based on values of egalitarianism and matriarchy (Anderson, 2009; Green, 2017; Sneider, 2015; St. Denis, 2017). Therefore, the Indian Act is sexist because it assumed Indigenous men were leaders within Indigenous communities as the colonial mindset saw women as inferior to men and therefore interpreted Indigenous communities as patriarchy driven (Cannon, 2019; Green, 2017; Sneider, 2015). This culminated into instances such as found in the Indian Act where the very definition of Indian is based on patrilineal descent, allowing women and their children to more easily lose Indian Status than Indian men and their children (Cannon, 2019). As mentioned, the Indian Act works alongside historical trauma to 19 continue the traumatization process for one, but also to instate heteronormalization, the process through which Indigenous Peoples were made to conform to heteronormative relationships. As seen, this process consisted of physical violence enacted on Indigenous Peoples to physically exterminate and remove gender-diversity, but was also accomplished through legislative practices defining the structure of Indigenous families, communities, and kinship systems. Prior to colonization, Indigenous communities were not structured around heteronormativity, patriarchy, or conjugal family relationships (i.e., the nuclear family). However, Rifkin (2010) discusses how the racialization process was integral to heteronormalization through its ability to demarcate populations as deviant based on their non-conformity to conjugal relationships within the contexts of a “failed nuclearity” (p. 36). Racialization is key to heteronormalization because of how Christians conceptualized the hierarchy of the world’s inhabitants. As mentioned, Christians placed themselves as Christian Human beings directly below the place of God, whereas they placed Indigenous Peoples (non-Christian lesser human beings) alongside plants and animals. This racialized Indigenous Peoples as a less evolved race because it demonstrated the evolutionary superiority of white society through their connection to the Christian God. This influenced Christian scientists, such as Charles Darwin, to conclude that Indigenous Peoples were a less evolved human race that was bound to go extinct in the era of the Enlightened and civilized world order coming into place (Darwin, 1859, 2008; Jeynes, 2011; Marks, 2012). As a result, within the colonial mindset that creates its worldview from Christian teachings and Western Scientific ‘conclusions’, heteronormativity is naturally occurring and biologically advantageous. Therefore, Indigenous Peoples were less biologically advanced since they adhered to an un-advantageous biological adaptation, interconnected kinship networks extending beyond the nuclear family. This gave 20 colonial officials the ability to correct Indigenous Peoples failed nuclearity first through extreme forms of physical violence, and later through legislative practices that worked to reinforce heteronormative and patriarchal societal structures (A. Smith, 2011). In this way, the Indian Act worked to suppress Indigenous expressions of “gender, sexuality, identity, and ancestry” (Cannon, 2019, p. 15) and dissemble Indigenous kinship ties (Anderson, 2012; Cannon, 2019; Green 2017; Sneider, 2015). This benefits colonial society, as it continues to keep Indigenous Peoples traditional kinship systems dismantled as Indigenous Peoples must now assert their rights within the confines of the Indian Act. Further, Indian Status confuses traditional understandings of Indigenous identity as it works to legally replace them with racialized and sexist notions of Indigenous identity based on colonial ideals, effectively confusing traditional understandings of Indigenous identities and their expressions. Another major and devastating policy implemented through the Indian Act designed to replace Indigenous Peoples traditional identities, is the Canadian Residential Schooling System, which took Indigenous children away from their home communities and forced Indigenous children into ‘education.’ Unfortunately, this education was not intended to provide knowledge to these Indigenous children, but rather, to violently “reshape not only the behaviour of Indigenous people but their very perception of the world and patterns of thought” (Jobin, 2016, p. 45). Marie Battiste (2000a, b) describes how this reshaping of Indigenous Peoples worldviews resulted in cognitive imperialism, where Indigenous Peoples begin to behave and think through a colonial mindset. What also occurred during this process was Indigenous children internalizing gender norms and roles as conceptualized through the colonial mindset. As mentioned, these gender norms and roles were built off heteronormativity and patriarchy, which is in stark contrast to traditional Indigenous gender norms and roles being centered around egalitarianism and 21 matriarchy. Colonial officials running Residential Schools (most often Priests and Nuns of various religious affiliations), accomplished the reshaping of Indigenous children’s behaviours and worldviews through forms of extreme gender violence, such as rape, beating, and gender shaming. Therefore, the Residential Schooling System was meant to teach very explicit and direct lessons about gender norms and roles through gendered violence. The NMMIWG (2019) report describes how the colonization process was also gendered as it was meant to reduce the position of women, girls, and two-spirited peoples. Another result of this gendered violence was the internalization of patriarchy and misogyny in young Indigenous boys (McKegney, 2013) which altered the masculine identities and identity expressions of young Indigenous boys to one rooted within the colonial mindset, otherwise known as colonial masculinities. In “Pain, pleasure, shame. Shame. Masculine embodiment, kinship and indigenous reterritorialization,” Sam McKegeny (2013) describes the punishment a young Indigenous boy suffered while attending Residential School as a result of a nun witnessing the young boys sister waving to him, “To punish him for having acknowledged his sister's love the nun dressed the boy in girls' clothes and paraded him in front of the other boys, whom she encouraged to mock and deride his caricatured effeminacy,” and how this was “political work designed to instruct boys to despise both girls and ‘girly’ boys and to disavow bonds of kinship” (p. 1). Within this quote, it is clear how this punishment could result in the internalization of sexism towards girls and women while also promoting the hypermasculinization of boys and men. Considering Indigenous forms of masculine expression, such as having long hair, can be viewed as feminine through the colonial mindset (Kemper, 2014), this has profound implications for the masculine identities and expressions of young Indigenous men, as they were being instructed to radically alter their understanding of Indigenous masculinities. Unsurprisingly, this brutal punishment enacted on 22 young Indigenous men during RSS influenced how these men, and peoples associated with masculinities, expressed themselves upon returning to their home communities (McKegney, 2013). As mentioned in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission Final Report (2015), upon returning to their home communities, Indigenous children were often not able to cope with the traumas they faced in Residential Schools which inhibited their abilities to learn their traditional ways of life. Since these children were taken away at such a young age, they did not receive the teachings from their traditional Indigenous cultures. This resulted in these Indigenous children not feeling at home within their own communities, as they often did not speak their traditional languages or understand their culture and worldviews. This resulted in these Indigenous Peoples coping with their traumas through alcohol and drug abuse, further reinforcing a cycle of trauma. When unable to cope, these Indigenous children acted out their anger and violence on their home communities and their families. With regards to Indigenous men, Bob Antone (2015) sums it up perfectly: Five hundred years of contact riddled with atrocities has left behind a society of Indigenous men lacking true joyful identities, their authentic humanness erased by generations of countless acts of violence against them. These experiences have left behind beings who have survived through small acts of control and power, who have become household oppressors. They mimic the oppressors they hate, as if this is the only way to be a man (p. 32). As evident within this section, the Indian Act has had tremendous negative impacts on the identities of Indigenous Peoples in Canada through the reinforcement of white supremacist heteropatriarchy and the historical trauma enacted on Indigenous Peoples in the process (Anderson, 2012; Cannon 2019; Green, 2017; Jobin, 2016; McKegney, 2013; NIMMWG, 2019). 23 The justification for these practices were the inherent racial deficiencies of Indigenous Peoples and the fear of their savage nature, rooted in understandings of blood quantum and the racial superiority of white society (Joseph, 2018). The understanding of racial superiority solidified through the mechanism of blood quantum came to fruition in Canada through the implementation of the Indian Act and its associated Residential Schooling System. This further dismantled traditional Indigenous bonds of kinship and greatly altered the identities and identity expressions of Indigenous men and masculinities. In this way, Indigenous men’s expressions of masculinity and how these expressions could be altered through trauma, became a tool of colonization to reinforce heteronormative and patriarchal societal structures within Indigenous communities. 1.1.2.4 At It Again: Contemporary Misrepresentations of Indigenous Men & Masculinities in Digital Media Media has propagated and sensationalized the lived experience of [I]ndigenous Peoples, further reinforcing an account of lies and misrepresentation designed to support an ideology to suppress and oppress the [I]ndigenous experience. (Gonazalez et al., 2013, p. 34) I would argue, Indigenous masculinities continue to be used as a tool by colonial society today, through the misrepresentation of Indigenous men and masculinities in digital media. Since hegemonic masculinities are produced through institutions (Whitehead, 2006, pp. 83 - 112), and within our white supremacist heteropatriarchal society these institutions are largely run by white men, it makes sense these colonial understandings of Indigenous masculine identities and expressions still exist within our society today. A recent example of this is found within the Twilight Series. As stated by Darla Antoine (2011), “…[the] Twilight series…has created such 24 stereotypes about Indigenous men: ‘in addition to shirtless, exotic sex symbols, the men serve as an underlying threat’” (as cited in Kemper, 2014). Evidently, the Twilight series reinforces the age-old understanding of Indigenous men and masculine expression as savage and violent yet remain a spectacle to be gawked at by white society. Perhaps human zoos have transformed from physical cages to 2 dimensional screens whereby Indigenous men and masculinities are still put on display for consumption by white society under the guise of these displays being Indigenous actors ‘free-choice.’ If Indigenous Peoples want to be actors, but the only way they can be actors is through ‘playing Indian’ as a result of the control over our media production white supremacist heteropatriarchal society has, this creates a problem of Indigenous representation within media and results in misrepresentation. Another candid example of Indigenous masculine misrepresentation within digital media today can be seen in other contemporary films, such as Aquaman. Within Aquaman exists strikingly obvious displays of hypermasculinity (Lopez, 2019) which combined with the fact the lead actor, Jason Mamoa, is Indigenous and has integrated his Hawaiian culture into the film series, reproduces settler narratives of Indigenous primitive savagery. In fact, Polynesian masculinities have long been used as a display of the savage nature of Indigenous Peoples in need of civilizing (Hokowhitu, 2004). Ty Tengan (2008) discusses how these Polynesian practices went through a process of hypermasculinization as a result of colonization because these practices were idealized by the colonial settlers. In relation to Indigenous men in Canada this understanding may be transferrable to how the colonization process has also favoured hypermasculinized ideals of Indigenous masculine identities and expressions through the implementation of legal definitions of Indigenous identity built on heteropatriarchy and also 25 through the forceful reshaping of Indigenous masculine identities and expressions through gendered trauma. When pervasive in our media, these racialized misrepresentations can be seen as “just the way things are” and are a form of symbolic violence enacted upon Indigenous Peoples by colonial society (Andersen, 2007, p. 29). Symbolic violence occurs when perceived categories, such as race, become understood as a natural part of life and within Canada the categorization of Indigenous Peoples into Indian’s is a prime example of symbolic violence (Andersen, 2007). Arguably, this can be related to misrepresentations of Indigenous men’s and masculinities in digital media as these understandings are built on the colonial mindset which holds race to be true and holds itself to be superior based on race. Additionally, this can be compounded through epistemological violence (Olson, 2020; Teo, 2010; Teo & Wendt, 2020). Epistemological violence occurs when science comes to conclusions of their subject’s deficiency, even when there are alternative conclusions that could account for the phenomenon under investigation. When problems such as alcohol addiction in Indigenous Peoples are investigated, the conclusions Western research ascertains continues to be based on the biological deficiencies of Indigenous Peoples (Wendt et al., 2019) and is an act of epistemological violence (Olson, 2020; Teo, 2010; Teo & Wendt, 2020). These conclusions often tell us more about the researcher interpreting the data than the actual subject themselves and when interpreted through the colonial mindset reproduce age old settler narratives of white supremacy and the biological deficiency of Indigenous Peoples. Taken together, this creates a tumultuous society within which young Indigenous men must learn to grow and thrive. These understandings of Indigenous Peoples as primitive savages continue to be distributed in popular media and given they are used as justification for the over-26 policing of Indigenous Peoples (Chartrand, 2019), the taking of Indigenous children from their families (De Leeuw, Greenwood, & Cameron, 2010), and the high rates of violence Indigenous men are subjected to (Innes & Anderson, 2015), their pervasiveness is concerning. Further, many other misrepresentations of Indigenous Peoples have emanated from the process just discussed. Often, Indigenous Peoples are viewed as alcoholics, lazy, or uneducated (De Leeuw et al., 2010; Memmi, 2013; Tengan, 2008), as a result of the misinterpretation of these phenomena through colonial masculinities. Analyzing the structure of settler colonialism, it is evident alcoholism is a direct result of historical trauma as it continues to drive Indigenous Peoples to cope with their losses through alcohol and drug abuse (McCormick, 2009; George et al., 2019; Methot, 2019). Further, Indigenous Peoples understand time much differently than white society (L. Smith, 2013), and therefore, the understanding of Indigenous Peoples laziness rests within the colonial mindsets’ misinterpretation of Indigenous Peoples worldviews. Memmi (2013) notes how the understanding of Indigenous Peoples laziness was central to the understanding within the colonial mindset of Indigenous Peoples primitivity and racial inferiority and was used alongside these notions to justify the taking of Indigenous lands for the colonizers white Christian civilized society to develop. Moreover, it is unsurprising Indigenous Peoples obtain lower levels of education within Canada as a result of the historical marginalization Indigenous Peoples have faced within educational institutions, inclusive of Residential Schools. Therefore, it is clear these misrepresentations of Indigenous Peoples being alcoholics, lazy, or uneducated, are directly linked to the structure of settler colonialism. However, this symbolic and epistemological violence has very real consequences for all Indigenous Peoples in Canada today as these misrepresentations continue to justify Indigenous Peoples mistreatment through their perceived racial inferiority (Innes & Anderson, 2015). Within the contexts of colonial masculinities, it is 27 clear why settler men made a point of ensuring the misrepresentation of Indigenous men and masculinities as it served for justification for settler colonialism. Today, the wide-reaching influence of misrepresentations of Indigenous men and masculinities within digital media works to confuse traditional understandings of Indigenous identities within young Indigenous men because they have been misrepresented through the lens of colonial masculinities. These stories told about Indigenous men through the colonial gaze, are imbued with qualities aligning with colonial masculinities own ideals, such as violence, sexism, and heteronormativity. These misrepresentations may interfere with young Indigenous men’s ability to create salient identities within Canadian society as they must navigate these misrepresentations to find their true selves in relation to their traditional Indigenous values and traditions. When frequently encountering negative self-images, historical trauma can result in the oppressed internalizing these negative understandings of themselves (Duran & Duran, 1995; Gonzalez, 2013; Methot, 2019). In the case of young Indigenous men, if they understand Indigenous masculinities to be associated with colonial ideals, they may adhere to the colonial worldview, which may disrupt their ability to connect to their cultures and communities as they internalize their own racial inferiority and deficiency. In turn, this may result in self-defeating thoughts and behaviours resulting in negative impacts to their mental health and wellness. 28 1.1.2.5 There is Hope: Digital Media and the Potential for Positive Indigenous Masculine Identities and Expressions Research demonstrates Indigenous youth’s ability to develop an identity in relation to their culture, community, and land-base, greatly impacts their mental health and wellness (Barker et al., 2017; Crooks et al., 2017; Lines & Jardine, 2019; Trout, Wexler, & Moses, 2018; Wexler, 2009; Williams, Terryann, & Lewycka, 2018). Despite the many potential ill-effects using digital media can have for young Indigenous men’s identity, mental health, and wellness, there is the potential for digital media to positively impact young Indigenous men’s mental health and wellness through connecting young Indigenous men to their communities and cultures, allowing young Indigenous men to reform their identities in contemporary society. Indigenous Peoples understand mental health to be a “balance and harmony between and within the four aspects of a person’s nature, which are mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual” (Ansloos et al., 2019, p. 272). These mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual aspects of our mental health are also deeply linked to Indigenous Peoples identities, as there are wide range of ceremonial, community, land-based, and spiritual practices that Indigenous Peoples engage in to maintain our overall mental health and wellness, which simultaneously help Indigenous Peoples construct their identities (Gone, 2013; Hodgson-Smith & Kermoal, 2016; Kermoal, 2016; Kirmayer et al., 2009). In North America, these four aspects of our being align with Indigenous medicine wheel teachings and allow Indigenous Peoples to create our identities in relation to our traditional Indigenous cultures and values through providing a framework from which we can understand the world around us (Methot, 2019). Gone (2013) speaks to how returning to traditional Indigenous practices and culture can bring about beneficial effects for the mental health and wellness of Indigenous Peoples through “spiritual transformations and accompanying 29 shifts in collective identity, purpose, and meaning-making” (p. 697). Methot (2019) describes how ‘Elder Thrasher,’ calls this system “the right inner measure” (p. 16) and believes this framework is essential for understanding our identities as Indigenous Peoples through reflection and meaning making which allows us to grow individually and collectively as we work to balance the images and understandings of ourselves on the inside with what we encounter in our outside worlds. This ‘healing journey’ (Cote-Meek, 2014) can help Indigenous youth make sense of their lives and move from states of confusion to states of transformation and create critical consciousness towards reclaiming their traditional worldviews and identities (Lee, 2014). This ‘culture as medicine’ (Bassett, Tsosie, & Nannauck, 2012; Brass, 2009) has been critiqued for its simplicity, but yet, has had far-reaching and undeniable positive effects on Indigenous Peoples mental health and wellness (Gone, 2013; McCormick, 2009; Wendt et al., 2019). Therefore, returning Indigenous Peoples to our traditional cultural practices and identities is a vital step towards reclaiming our mental health and wellness. Digital media can act as a tool through which young Indigenous men reconstruct their masculine identities and expressions in light of the long history of assimilative practices that sought to remove and transform these identities. As Graham & Penny, (2014) states: There is no question that self-conscious performances of Indigeneity allow some groups to embrace a shift from essential, substantial, and positivist, definitions of their culture that depend on territorial precedence to constructivist, structural, and relational definitions that are based on self-identification and distinct livelihood strategies (p. 8) This has the potential to inform how digital media can be used as a deliberate tool of identity construction to reinvigorate Indigenous expressions of masculinity created from the imaginations of our own people. If young Indigenous men use digital media to actively perform Indigeneity, 30 they can transform their identities from one rooted within a colonial mindset to one rooted within their culture’s traditional Indigenous values. In turn, this may work to deconstruct essentialist notions of Indigeneity based on racism and sexism and allow space to recreate flexible understandings of Indigenous masculine identities and expressions. Positive Indigenous masculine expressions are based on values of community, family, responsibility, and align with Indigenous Peoples traditional values of peace and non-violence (Anderson, 2012; Antone, 2015; Duran et al., 1998). Further, positive Indigenous masculine expressions consist of the ability to love and be loved, without sacrificing the ability to be strong (McKegeny, 2013). The reconstruction of these positive Indigenous masculine identities has profound implications for improving young Indigenous men’s mental health and wellness (Antone, 2015). Therefore, it stands to reason digital media, given its flexible nature, is a perfect way for young Indigenous men to consciously perform acts of positive masculine expressions as a way of transforming their identities as an act of mental health reclamation. In fact, research demonstrates Indigenous youth use digital media in a wide array of ways for performing their identities (Jacobs, 2019; Rice et al., 2016). Jacobs (2019) discusses how Indigenous youth in Canada are taking an active role in digital media as “creators and ambassadors in digital communities and doing so autonomously, driven by interest” (p. 64). Jacobs (2019) goes on to mention how Indigenous youth in Canada are using digital media to infuse Indigenous knowledge systems with Western practices as a form of cultural activism and the positive consequences this has for Indigenous youth’s identity formations within contemporary society. Further evidence for the validity of digital media to act as a tool to reinvigorate Indigenous masculine identities and expressions as a way of restoring balance, and thus achieving good mental health and wellness within young Indigenous men, comes from 31 research involving Digital Storytelling with Indigenous youth (Eglinton, Gubrium, & Wexler, 2017; Flicker et al., 2020; Loebach et al., 2019;). Specifically, digital storytelling can allow Indigenous youth to take an active role in their own lives, navigate complex societal issues, and have their stories heard by large audiences (Flicker et al., 2020). In turn, this can promote the reconstruction of Indigenous identities in relation to their traditional culture, community, and land-base, inclusive of gender identities (Eglinton et al., 2017), through their creation of stories rooted within their cultural traditions and knowledge systems as a means of performing identity. This identity performance can set the bounds for acceptable identities and identity expressions within these Indigenous youth’s lives, resting on both collective and individual experiences, which can allow space for them to create salient identities allowing them to adapt to contemporary society. Often these identities still align with heteronormative gender roles (Eglinton et al., 2017), but nonetheless, can create room and space for these Indigenous youth to make sense of their lives. Therefore, it stands to reason providing spaces for the performance of identity within young Indigenous men may allow them to reconstruct their Indigenous masculine identities and identity expressions in relation to their traditional Indigenous culture, community, and knowledge systems. Tegan (2008) discusses how Indigenous men’s groups can provide space to cope with and process historical trauma through the non-judgemental exchange of ideas and opinions, combined with the active performance of Indigenous masculine expressions. Clearly, these spaces can be digital as research has demonstrated the effectiveness of digital media to act as a tool for the reconstruction of Indigenous identities in contemporary society (Jacobs, 2019; Rice et al., 2016). Therefore, using digital media to engage young Indigenous men in a group to exchange ideas and opinions non-judgementally, discuss our traditional Indigenous cultures and 32 the understandings of masculine identities and expressions associated with them, whilst being provided with teachings about what it means to be an Indigenous man, may prove effective for the transformation of mental health and wellness within young Indigenous men by allowing them to reconstruct their Indigenous masculine identities despite settler colonialisms objective to remove and replace these identities. 1.1.3 Problem Statement Currently, there is a lack of research on how digital media influences the identity and identity expressions of young Indigenous men and the impacts this has on young Indigenous men’s mental health and wellness. Further, when research is conducted on Indigenous men’s mental health and wellness, it is often not told from the perspectives of the young Indigenous men themselves. To do this, it is vitally important we understand how the long history of misrepresentations of Indigenous men as primitive savages in media combined with historical trauma and forced assimilation to disrupt and transform Indigenous masculine identities and identity expressions and how this continues to impact Indigenous Peoples in Canada’s mental health and wellness. Further, we must understand how in contemporary times digital media can act as both a tool to reinstate settler colonialism through the misrepresentation of Indigenous men and masculinities, and as a tool for young Indigenous men and peoples associated with masculinities to reclaim positive Indigenous masculine identities and expressions. For this community-based participatory project, I will engage young Indigenous men in a Digital Wellness Group to understand their lived experiences using digital media and how young Indigenous men’s experiences in the digital world interacts with their identities. This is being done as an act of reclamation of our Indigenous masculine perspectives as a step towards a Decolonized, Indigenized, and Critically Gendered approach to mental health and wellness. 33 Through this small act of reclamation, I genuinely believe we came one step closer to “uncovering the decolonized Indigenous man.” (Antone 2015, p. 23). 1.1.4 Research Questions In designing this study, a number of questions were created from the literature on Digital media use in Indigenous youth and Critical Indigenous Gendered approaches to Indigenous men’s mental health and wellness: (a) How do young Indigenous men use digital media? (b) How do young Indigenous men think digital media affects their identity? (c) How do young Indigenous men think the interaction between their identity and the digital world affects their health and wellness? 34 Chapter 2: Theoretical Frameworks, Research Methodologies, and Methods 2.1 Theoretical Frameworks 2.1.1 Indigenous Community-Based Participatory Research: Emancipatory Research on the Margins Colonialism has sought to replace Indigenous worldviews with the worldview of the colonizer (TRC, 2012, p. 3). This has had profound impacts on our ability as Indigenous Peoples to conduct research through our own lenses as we are forced to work within “the context of colonial theories and methodologies” (Absolon, 2011, p. 23). Not only is this a result of the cognitive imperialism we face where we now behave and think as if we were a part of colonial society (Battiste, 2008a, b), but also a result of the ways educational institutions, as a primary tool of colonialism (Coke-Meet, 2014, p. 49), continue to devalue our traditional Indigenous perspectives (Battiste, 2017, pp. 23 - 33; Kincheloe & Steinberg, 2008). This space from which Indigenous researchers must work is commonly referred to as researching on the margins (Kovach, 2015; L. Smith, 2006, 2013, p. 198 - 216), as we must navigate the complex worlds of institutional academia and that of colonized Indigenous Peoples. Researching on the margins is a space of struggle that can provide room for the liberation of Indigenous Peoples but is also a space that can provide room for the reinstatement of Western heteropatriarchal thought (Smith, 2006). This means that I, as an Indigenous person researching on the margins, am not in myself adequate to conduct research that is truly emancipatory (Kovach, 2015). For this research to be emancipatory, I must tell these young Indigenous men’s stories from their perspectives and place the young Indigenous men in this group at the center of research (Evans et al., 2014). In doing this, I will put power back in the hands of our people (so-called “research participants”) through the 35 inclusion of our Indigenous communities in every step of the research process (Kovach, 2015). Therefore, this research seeks to reposition Indigenous Peoples as active members of research capable of producing knowledge and allow ourselves to “engag[e] in a counterhegemonic struggle over research” (Smith, 2008, p. 116). To align with the emancipatory goals of this research, I decided to infuse an Indigenous-focused approach with a community-engaged participatory research (CBPR) approach. A CBPR approach was utilized because it shares a history with Indigenous Peoples struggle against colonialism (Evans et al., 2014, p. 182) and values the lived experiences of the people it works with (Tuck & Yang, 2018) through making them the producers of knowledge (McTaggart, 1991). Moreover, CBPR centers the “importance of cultural identity” and can “contribute to consciousness raising, empowerment, renewed cultural identity, individual emancipation, and movement towards systemic transformation” (MacKinnon, 2018, p. 6). The ability for CBPR to work with marginalized communities and attend to issues of marginalization and oppression to transform and renew cultural identities is of vital importance to the current study as I sought to engage young Indigenous men in critically examining digital media to understand how it influences their identity, mental health, and wellness. Through this process, I hoped to come to a better understanding with the young Indigenous men in our group of how digital media may influence young Indigenous men’s identity, mental health, and wellness. 36 2.2 Indigenous Methodologies For Indigenous Peoples to produce knowledge conducive to our needs, we must conduct research from within our own reality (Indigenous epistemology), if we are to conduct research that truly acts in favour of our good health and wellness (Duran & Duran, 2000). If we as Indigenous Peoples do not conduct research based on our own knowledge systems, we risk reiterating the harmful practices of scientific research that have taken place to date. Therefore, when conducting research alongside Indigenous Peoples, it is of vital importance that we conduct said research in a way conducive to the epistemological views of Indigenous Peoples. As Margaret Kovach (2010) states, “epistemology and research methodology are a tightly bound, complex partnership.” (p. 55). Epistemology commonly refers to a “theory of knowledge,” which constitutes the foundations of what each person or peoples know to be true and thus greatly influences their search for knowledge, including which questions they ask and how they go about answering those questions (Hesse-Biber et al., 2004, p. 2). For example, if a question is outside the epistemological bounds of one’s understandings, it becomes impossible to ask that question, since it fails to enter the lived reality of those who are doing the asking. On the other hand, “methodology can be conceptualized as a higher order system that affects the selection of methods in any one instance via a set of principles regarding the nature of knowledge…and the suitable sources from which such information might be derived” (Evans et al., 2014, p. 4). Therefore, the epistemological foundations on which one’s reality rests determines the methodological approach they employ to go about answering their question, which determines the methods they will use to collect data relevant to their research questions. These distinctions become important in Indigenous research because of the long-lasting legacy of genocidal and assimilative practices carried out by the Canadian government, such as the residential schooling system, which aimed to replace our 37 worldviews with a Eurocentric understanding of reality and continues in the form of modern education today (Battiste, 2017, pp. 23 - 33; TRC, 2015). Indigenous methodologies act as a way for Indigenous Peoples to produce knowledge through our own lens (Kovach, 2015). Indigenous epistemologies inform Indigenous methodologies and are holistic, relational, fluid, and incorporate concepts of spirituality (Archibald, 2008; p. 11; Kovach 2010, p. 56; McAdam, 2009, p. 11). These methodologies are unique to, but share common understandings with, other critical methodologies such as Black feminist and Chicana methodologies (Dillard & Dixon, 2016). This results from the heavy influence of feminist epistemologies in qualitative research as a major undercurrent against the ways scientific research had marginalized women through its construction of gender (McHugh, 2014; Cannella & Manuelito, 2008), where Indigenous feminists also took up the fight against hegemonic scientific practices (Green, 2017). When working with Indigenous Peoples from diverse backgrounds it is important to recognize the diversity within Indigenous epistemologies and the methodologies emanating from them, and not create overly pan-Indigenous approaches that homogenize or exclude this diversity. For this reason, a participatory community-engaged approach was taken to this project so that each group member could speak to the topics we discussed in relation to their own Indigenous epistemology. 38 2.2.1 Indigenous Storywork Methodology In “Indigenous Storywork: Educating the Heart, Mind, Body, and Spirit” Joanne Archibald (2008) describes how Indigenous Storywork can be used as a methodology to perform Indigenous research from within Indigenous epistemologies and worldviews. Indigenous approaches to research honour storytelling as a valid form of evidence that centers the lived experiences of those who are telling the story and seeks to reinvigorate Indigenous ways of knowing (ANCESTORS, 2005; Archibald, 2008, p. 19; Jobin, 2016). Personal stories are not seen as valid evidence within the objective science paradigms and for this reason are often discounted as legitimate (ANCESTORS, 2005; Archibald, 2008). However, for Indigenous Peoples storytelling fits with our oral knowledge systems in which our epistemological views rest, and thus storytelling becomes a valid and reasonable way to produce knowledge in Indigenous research. Archibald (2008) uses the four R’s, respect, relevance, reciprocity, and responsibility by Kirkness and Barnhardt (1991) as a starting point for her Indigenous-focused methodology of 7 Storywork principles (respect, reciprocity, responsibility, reverence, holism, synergy, and interrelatedness) emanating from her work with traditional Indigenous Elders. The principles of respect, reciprocity, responsibility, and reverence are used to guide the researcher in their treatment of participants, whereas the principles of holism, synergy, and interrelatedness are used as principles for making meaning from stories (Archibald, 2008; Archibald et al., 2019). First, respect was evident within this study through the treatment of the holistic nature of group members stories through minimal editing of their lived experiences by researchers and through allowing group members to review, suggest edits to, and approve the results from this study. Second, reciprocity was demonstrated by providing learning opportunities to our group 39 members through the inclusion of a traditional knowledge keeper, Elder Grouse, to provide traditional teachings about what it means to be an Indigenous man. Further, reciprocity also took place through providing group members with the opportunity to be a part of the research process, such as data analysis and dissemination, where they could gain experiences and develop skills in Indigenous-focused research processes, including learning how to create and deliver a research presentation. Third, responsibility was evident through our engagement with the Aboriginal Programs and Services (APS) Centre at UBC Okanagan whereby engaging with our community directly we assumed responsibility for the research process with Indigenous students at UBC Okanagan through working with APS to create the research design and working closely with APS on recruitment of group members. In this way, we ensured the consistent engagement of our community partners and our community members allowing the research process to take place as to ensure responsibility to our community, group members, and the knowledge we created. Fourth, reverence was evident within how we approached the treatment of our group members as this study was designed to allow space for the holistic, relational, fluid, and spiritual aspects of Indigenous epistemologies and the ways these aspects of Indigenous epistemologies manifest themselves within the lived experiences of the young Indigenous men in our group. Through providing teachings from Elder Grouse about spirituality and its relationship to Indigenous men’s identity, mental health, and wellness, reverence was ensured as this garnered a deep respect from our group members towards Indigenous knowledges and worldviews and how spirituality is not only a part of these knowledges and worldviews, but foundational to them. Finally, the principles of holism, synergy, and interrelatedness, which are principles evident within Indigenous stories and therefore useful for structuring data collected from the lived experiences of Indigenous Peoples as these principles speak to how we much respect these 40 foundational aspects of Indigenous epistemologies in order to appropriately analyze data collected from Indigenous Peoples. Therefore, these principles directed me, and the researcher, to edit transcripts as minimally as possible to convey proper meaning of conversations without losing depth of experiences gathered during the research process. In this way, these remaining three principles allow researchers to structure and analyze their data through an approach that honours the validity of lived experiences and how stories are a source of knowledge production for Indigenous Peoples. I have decided to use an Indigenous Storywork methodology because storytelling allows Indigenous Peoples to recreate ourselves within our own imaginations and thus storytelling can act as a form of resistance to our erasure by colonial society (Jobin, 2017). This aligns with the emancipatory goals of this project, as I seek to understand how young Indigenous men engage with digital media and how this influences their identity and mental health in order to understand how we can use digital media to reinvigorate Indigenous masculine identities based from within our own Indigenous worldviews. 2.2.2 Critical Indigenous Gender Lens To guide the analysis of data within this project, I have decided to use a critical Indigenous Gender lens emanating from the literature in the fields of Critical Indigenous Gender studies, such as Indigenous Feminism, Queer theories, and Masculinity theories. Although these different streams of Critical Indigenous Gender studies are all distinct, they also constantly exchange information through a set of ever-changing relations. For this reason, they are best thought of as an interconnected understanding of gendered theories of Indigenous Peoples health and wellness, where one does not subsume another, but rather, they each contribute novel theories on how colonialism is a gendered process. Taking this understanding of Critical Indigenous Gender studies to be true, I will use an eclectic approach that centers Indigenous Masculinities. I will briefly 41 outline each of these fields and discuss why I have chosen to use specific literature drawn from within them. Indigenous Feminism was born from Indigenous women’s frustrations with how Indigenous rights movements were being framed from a male-centric perspective which resulted in a lack of critical analysis of how colonialism is a gendered process (Green, 2017). In “Making Space of Indigenous Feminism, 2nd ed.,” Joyce Green (2017) argues her book told from the perspectives of Indigenous feminists provides “[a] better analysis of the conditions that affect Indigenous women’s lives, in particular, of colonialism and the violence that attends it” (2017, p. 1). Further, when this literature is combined with Indigenous feminists, such as Hodgson-Smith & Kermoal (2016), Kermoal (2016), Lee (2014), L. Smith (2013), and St. Denis (2017), it provides an in-depth understanding of issues pertaining to the representation and expressions of gender within Indigenous communities and the influences colonialism has on these identities and expressions. Specifically, Indigenous Feminism has allowed me to understand how colonial officials interpreted Indigenous societies through their own colonial mindset, understanding them to be patriarchal, where they then reinforced these understandings of patriarchally driven Indigenous communities through legislation such as the Indian Act that legislated patriarchy within Indigenous communities (Green, 2017; St. Denis, 2017). This removed the power from Indigenous women, who traditionally held positions as chiefs and leaders in many Indigenous societies (Anderson, 2009), and disrupted the balance of Indigenous communities. Moreover, I have integrated these Indigenous feminist theories with theories from Critical Indigenous Queer Studies with a particular focus on Gilley (2006), Jacobs, Thomas, & Lang, (1997), Lang (1998), Miranda (2010), Morgensen (2011), Rifkin (2010), Roscoe (1998), Smith (2011), and Williams (1992) to provide a depth of understanding on how settler colonialism has 42 historically sought to instate heteropatriarchy into Indigenous societies and how these processes still exist today. Combined these theories provide sufficient evidence to how colonial society deliberately targeted gender-diversity within Indigenous communities to weaken Indigenous Peoples societal ties and prepare Indigenous Peoples for the assimilation process. Since gender-diverse peoples often held special positions within their societies the elimination of these peoples disrupted traditional Indigenous societal structures as gender-diverse peoples were essential for maintaining balance as a result of their ability to relate to both men and women and perform a multiplicity of tasks not necessarily bound within a singular gender role (Gilley, 2006; Roscoe, 1998; Williams 1992). The strategic murdering of these Peoples by colonial officials effectively instated fear of gender diversity within Indigenous communities and therefore encouraged Indigenous Peoples to adhere to binary gender roles and maintain heterosexual relationships as an essential means of survival (Miranda, 2010). This altered the gender identities and expressions within Indigenous communities as traditional understandings of gender were aligned with Indigenous epistemologies of being holistic, fluid, relational, and spiritual (Archibald, 2008; p. 11; Kovach 2010, p. 56; McAdam, 2009) as opposed to being rooted in the colonial mindsets dualistic ontologies as are binary gender roles (Duran & Duran, 1995; Hokowhitu, 2015). Within Indigenous Masculinity theories, I have drawn upon scholars appearing in “Indigenous Men’s and Masculinities: Legacies, Identities, Regeneration” by Cariou et al., (2015) such as Antone (2015), Borrell (2015), Hokowhitu (2015), Innes and Anderson (2015), Minor (2015), Morgensen (2015), and Sneider (2015), while also including theories from Anderson (2012), Cannon (2020), Kemper (2014), Maynard (2000), McKegney (2013), Moore (1998). Combined, these theories have allowed me to consider how the process of settler colonialism has altered the Indigenous masculine identities and identity expressions of Indigenous men and 43 peoples associated with masculinities, through the favouring of hypermasculinized ideals of Indigenous masculinities by eliminating gender-diverse men who expressed themselves in feminine ways within Indigenous communities (Miranda, 2010), legislative practices such as the Indian Act that instated heteropatriarchy within Indigenous communities in Canada by defining Indianess in terms of patrilineal lines of descents and putting power into the hands of men ignoring traditional Indigenous structures of egalitarianism and matriarchy (Cannon, 2019; Sneider, 2015), and through gendered trauma enacted on young Indigenous boys in Residential Schools which consisted of gender shaming feminine expressions, effectively creating the dislike of femininity within Indigenous men (McKegney, 2013). Finally, Indigenous masculinity theories also interrogate how Indigenous masculinities have been typically misrepresented through media (Kemper, 2014; Maynard, 2000; Minor, 2015) and the roles these misrepresentations play in the structure of settler colonialism. Combined, these three streams of theories make up what I refer to as a “Critical Indigenous Gender Lens.” Working with young Indigenous men in this project, I find it most appropriate to use this Critical Indigenous Gender Lens for my qualitative data analysis technique because it will provide a depth of understanding to how young Indigenous men’s digital media use may affect young Indigenous men’s identity, mental health, and wellness. This lens will be fused with Archibald (2008) and Archibald et al., (2019) Indigenous Storywork methodology to bring to light how the stories that have been told about young Indigenous men throughout history relate to the stories young Indigenous men tell when asked to speak for themselves. Specifically, this lens will be applied to analyzing the qualitative data gathered from engaging young Indigenous men in a participatory study about their digital media use, identities, and mental health and wellness. 44 2.3 Methods 2.3.1 Grant Funding This project was developed in conjunction with the Development Grant competition for the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Indigenous Gender and Wellness Initiative. As such, this project was developed as a participatory community-engaged research project in partnership with the Aboriginal Programs and Services centre at UBC Okanagan and Kelowna’s local school district. 2.3.2 Community-Engagement Storying At this point in my life, I did not know how I was going to continue researching within a Western institution that has worked so hard to eliminate the legitimacy of my people, our identity, and our human right to health equity. I was sitting in the APS center looking at a poster when I saw a poster for the Indigenous Gender and Wellness initiative in Montreal being hosted by CIHR. For the application, I needed a letter from a community member or organization to support my proposed research. At this time, I spoke with Aboriginal Programs and Services Centre (APS) at UBC Okanagan Director, Adrienne Vedan, about my recent difficulties finding a path in academia and asked if she could help mentor me to create Indigenous-focused research. Adrienne said yes, and subsequently helped me draft my first research project proposal focusing on Indigenous health and wellness. I was accepted to attend the Indigenous gender and Wellness initiative being hosted in June 2019, where I traveled to Montreal to attend the Indigenous Gender and Wellness initiative. At this conference I learned many things about traditional Indigenous understandings of gender and how gender identities and expressions relate to Indigenous Peoples health and wellness. This motivated me to create a study centering the health and wellness of young peoples from a 45 Critical Indigenous Gender lens. In conjunction with Dr’s. McManus and Te Hiwi, and myself, we created a study to apply to the Indigenous Gender and Wellness Development Grant Competition to fund my master’s thesis working with young Indigenous men’s identity, mental health, and wellness. For this grant, APS signed as our community partner, and we were accepted for funding to run this Indigenous-focused community-based participatory master’s thesis. We were then approved for running our study in November 2020, where we began working with six young Indigenous men who are students at UBCO Okanagan As a part of our CBPR approach, the Director of the Aboriginal Programs and Services centre reviewed and approved our study prior to its running as it aligned with their Moose-Hide campaign and their community goals of reducing violence towards Indigenous women, children, and two-spirited Peoples. Further, Adrienne Vedan acted as a community gatekeeper as she has intimate knowledge of UBCO’s Indigenous student community. In this way, she was able to work with Kristen Pike, Associate Director at APS, to select potential group members for this study based on their knowledge of and connections with their community. Further, I understand this project to work in conjunction with the Aboriginal Undergraduate Mentorship Program offered through APS where Indigenous students receive stipends to gain research experience under Faculty members at UBC Okanagan. As a part of this program, I worked with Dr. Braden Te Hiwi in my final year of my undergraduate degree to research deficit-based approaches to Indigenous Peoples diabetes in Canada. Being partnered with Dr. Te Hiwi, combined with my previous relationship with Dr. McManus, allowed us to come together to develop a grant proposal and receive funding to run my master’s project. In doing this, I hoped to create a space for Peoples with the lived experiences of being a young Indigenous man to come together and research topics important to their mental health and wellness, and the role digital media has in young Indigenous men’s identity. 46 Through the group members inclusion in the structuring of the group, reviewing of results, and dissemination process, I hoped to provide a reciprocally beneficial experience for the People who chose to join this group where they get to be the creators of knowledge, gain a more in-depth understanding about the research process, and be introduced to Indigenous-focused research in the academy. In this way, this project worked to provide research experiences to Peoples with the lived experiences of being an Indigenous man within a safe space as a way to empower our People to reclaim Indigenous ways of knowing and being within the academy. 2.3.3 Group Member’s 2.3.3.1 Inclusion Criteria Since our project aimed to give voice to the lived experiences of Peoples with the lived experiences of being a young Indigenous man and was run in conjunction with APS as our community partner, all group members were required to have the lived experiences of being an Indigenous man, be enrolled as an undergraduate student at UBC Okanagan, and be between the ages of 16 – 30 years. Group members were selected on whether they had the lived experiences of being a young Indigenous man to respect and honour the vast and diverse conceptualizations of gender found throughout Indigenous communities in North America. Therefore, it was up to each group member to decide for themselves whether they have the lived experiences of being an Indigenous man, regardless of assigned sex at birth or current gender expression/identification. In this way, this project sought to deconstruct colonial concepts of gender and reclaim a more fluid and localized understanding of Indigenous gender and what it means to be an Indigenous man. 47 2.3.3.2 Recruitment Recruitment was done by advertisements run through APS’s news delivery systems (i.e., weekly updates & Social media posts), presentations delivered in online classes, and personal recruitment by APS director, Kristen Pike. In this manner, we were able to broadly advertise the study to all Indigenous students in UBC Okanagan through both generalized and localized approaches. Having the APS Director work as a ‘gatekeeper’ (Lund, Panda, & Dahl, 2016) was important as it allowed students access to speak to someone about the project without having to give their identity to the research team. In this way, Kristen worked with Adrienne to understand the community members needs and privately communicate with potential group members in a way to protect the interests of both the group members and the research team. 2.3.3.3 Ethical Considerations The ethical protocols for this study were approved by UBC Okanagan’s ethics review board (H20-00798). When working with a participatory community-engaged approach, it is of vital importance to give group members as much power over the research process as possible (MacKinnon, 2018). Further, to ensure respect, reciprocity, responsibility, and reverence in relation to group members (Archibald, 2008; Archibald et al., 2019) and their contributions to this project, it is important to continuously engage group members about their consent, the structuring of the research project, accuracy of results, and translatability of results to community. This process ensures that the research is serving the best interests of the community, and also acts as a tool to assess the validity and reliability of the research process. For this reason, all group members were given as much freedom of choice as possible with regards to confidentiality, research results, and dissemination. This is often a fine line to balance as it is also important not to overburden the community members we work with and thus myself as the researcher should be taking the brunt 48 of the workload. However, it is important to have the research results verified by group members in a continual negotiation process that is fluid and particularized (Cannella & Lincoln, 2011). Most group members decided they wanted their real names published with research results and wished to participate in dissemination presentations. This allows the group members to be a larger part of the result construction process and further ensured transparency in study results. All group members were in receipt of a 5th generation Apple iPad mini “7.9” 64GB (~$549) and a $400 stipend. The iPads were meant to reduce economic barriers to participating in this project by providing a device through which our group members could engage in this research project. Similarly, the stipend was meant to compensate group members for the time they dedicated to this study to facilitate their full engagement with the project. 2.3.4 Data Collection Data was collected through weekly engagement sessions with group members to achieve three objectives: 1) Create common understanding of key concepts, Indigenous identity & masculinity, digital media, and digital health and wellness that our group can use throughout the project and apply to their own lives; 2) Understand how young Indigenous men use digital media; 3) Understand the types of experiences that young Indigenous men have while using digital media and the impacts that this has on their identity, health, and wellness. To achieve these objectives, our group met in weekly sharing circle sessions and discussed what being an Indigenous man means, how our group engages with digital media, and the ways using digital media interacts with their identity, health, and wellness. 49 2.3.4.1 Research-Sharing Circles Research-Sharing circles are a method of collecting oral information that fits well with Indigenous epistemological views (Kovach, 2015) and the storytelling approach being taken in this project (Archibald, 2008; Archibald et al., 2019). This results from the sharing circle creating a safe space for Indigenous Peoples to open up and not be judged by others. These sharing circles are usually run by traditional Indigenous Elders, who have knowledge on the specific topics being discussed at each group session. These Elders would provide support in terms of assisting group members in processing information discussed in group, mediating conversation to maintain respectful dialogue, and conducting opening and closing ceremonies to create a safe space for the participants. By including traditional Elders in our sharing circles, we would ensure emotions felt during the discussions are respected and cared for in culturally safe ways, which works to protect the mental health and wellness of the young Indigenous men that we are asking to join us in this circle. Although it is ideal to have an Elder who is a traditional knowledge keeper run the sharing circle, I was hesitant to schedule an Elder to conduct these circles ahead of time as I had not yet met with or talked to any of the group members prior to the study. As a part of the participatory approach, I wanted to engage our group members about whether they would like an Elder to be present in the groups to run the sharing circle. I had done this to ensure everyone in the group felt comfortable in the way the group was being structured throughout the process. Therefore, in absence of Elder Grouse who ran 1 of our sessions, I ran the other sessions in a less-formal research-sharing circle. 50 2.3.4.2 Yarning, Audio Recording, & Transcription Yarning is a form of data collection in research that works well with Indigenous oral histories and storytelling approaches (Bessarab & Ng'andu, 2010) and was designed to work in complementarity to Indigenous approaches to research. Yarning consists of a conversational style circle and can take multiple forms (Bessarab & Ng'andu, 2010). Bessarab & Ng'andu (2010) describe what they call a “research topic yarning” (p. 40) that takes the form of an unstructured conversation but is guided by prompting questions. Further, yarning can take place collectively as group members work off one another’s ideas and partake in “collaborative yarning” (p. 40). For these reasons, a yarning approach to collecting data during research-sharing circles was taken to respect the holistic nature of conversations and storytelling (Archibald, 2008), while also ensuring reliability of results through the preparation of guiding questions. As per the research yarning approach (Bessarab & Ng'andu, 2010), I attempted to keep the sharing circle discussions as broad and open as possible to allow the group to dictate its direction. In preparation for the group’s, I prepared questions to act as a guide for the research yarning technique I employed in this study to maintain or promote conversation in times where conversation was sparse: 1. What does being an Indigenous man mean to you? 2. How would you define digital media? 3. What does digital health and wellness mean to you? 4. What types of digital platforms are you using? 5. How regularly are you digitally engaged? 6. Why do you use digital media? 7. What do you encounter while using digital media? 8. Do you think your interactions on digital media influence your identity, if so, how? 9. Given this, do you believe digital media is affecting your health and wellness? 51 All data was collected via Zoom’s audio recording system, whereby they were promptly transcribed into a document. This also fits with the frameworks used in this study as it allows for the voices of group members to be heard and their stories to be told in their fullest. For audio transcription, I auto transcribed the file through Microsoft Word, upon which I listened to the session and went through the transcription and made the necessary adjustments to account for situational factors and transcription errors. 2.3.4.3 Critical Reflexive Journaling Critical reflexivity is built into the participatory, community-engaged, and Indigenous approaches I used to conduct this research. Critical Reflexivity is guided by feminist frameworks to research where it is vital to understand the positioning and lens of the researcher (McHugh, 2014). Therefore, for the duration of this project, I critically reflected prior to and following each group session about my thoughts and feelings as a researcher. This allowed me to structure future groups as I wrote down critical questions which allowed me to formulate plans for future groups (See Appendices A & B for example’s). By taking note of how I was feeling and thinking as the groups progressed, I allowed myself to stay grounded in the group and structure future sessions in the best way possible for how the group members had been responding and serves to provide an understanding of how I influenced the research process. Further, each group member was provided a journal for their own critical reflective journaling practice. The journal in this instance was used to facilitate group members depth of engagement where journaling about their experiences could help them understand their experiences in the group, allowing them to critically reflect on the topics we discussed. In this way, the journal could act as a tool through which group members understood themselves and their experiences. However, as a part of our participatory approach it was up to each group member to decide for themselves whether they wanted to critically reflect 52 through journaling. Group members were not expected to hand in their journal for data, though they were given the option of doing so. Generally, it appeared some group members did use the journal while others did not, where no group members chose to hand in their journal for data analysis. 2.3.4.4 Zoom & Research in the Time of COVID-19 Restrictions As a result of COVID-19 restrictions, this project had to be conducted entirely online through UBC’s Zoom. This was not the original intention in the project, although I am thankful it was amenable to being run online. Having to conduct research online impeded our ability to fully engage in an Indigenous approach. This results from having to do session online and not being able to share a physical space where we can fully connect to one another. As human’s it is important for us to be able to relate to one another through a multitude of senses, such as sight, sound, smell, and touch. Engaging with multiple sense allows us to form more coherent and conducive memories and allows us to connect to one another more holistically. Therefore, engaging entirely online made it harder to connect with one another and disrupted our ability to fully engage. Despite this, group members were extremely engaged, and they spoke to how the process was really rewarding. 53 Chapter 3: Results In running this project, it was not my intention to split up the results section surrounding an Elder session we had with Elder Grouse during our 5th session. However, since this became such a pivotal learning moment for the young Indigenous men in our group, this became an appropriate point at which to split up the results. Prior to our 5th session, our group consisted of 6 young Indigenous men and myself discussing what it means to be an Indigenous man, how our group uses digital media, what the group encounters while using digital media, and how digital media interacts with the group’s identity, mental health, and wellness as young Indigenous men. Following the 5th session, the group reflected on teachings from Elder Grouse and used these learnings to gain a new perspective on previous discussions. Throughout the sessions, several significant topics relating to the theoretical framework of this study emerged where this results section is structured around these topics while also being separated into sections before and after receiving our teachings from Elder Grouse. In analyzing and presenting these results, I have attempted to structure it in ways conducive to Indigenous Storywork principles to allow the reader to follow our conversations more easily, while also maintaining the depth of conversation we had in group and how our group members continuously fed off one another’s ideas in holistic and synergistic ways. 3.1 Introduction to Group Members and Structuring Groups During the first 4 sessions, our goals were to begin building relationships amongst group members, understand how our group uses digital media, and discuss what it means to be an Indigenous man while relating this to our groups’ digital media use. I began the group by acknowledging the traditional unceded territories of the Syilx Okanagan Peoples in order for this work to begin in a good way. Session 1 consisted of introductions, discussing the reason’s we had all gathered, and structuring the group going forward, such as determining how often we 54 want to meet and for how long. Within this, I discussed the reason why I had created a group for young Indigenous men and the Indigenous Storywork values (respect, reciprocity, responsibility, reverence) that I structured into the creation of this group. Further, I discussed the participatory nature of this project and how each group member was bringing in their own lived experiences to help structure and guide the running of the group. This discussion was used as a basis for our ethical code going forward as we continuously touched on being respectful to one another throughout the process, which acted as our fluid ethical contract. This allowed our group to avoid colonial processes such as physical contract signing and allowed us to remain within our Indigenous ethical codes of respect, honesty, reciprocity, acceptance. Within the introductions, although each group member had their own reasons for joining the group, many indicated the need for ‘study groups’ for young Indigenous men to discuss mental health: Adrian: My name is Adrian. I'm from the Secwepemc Nation here just on the other side of the mountains there towards Kamloops area. And I guess what really interested me about the study group is with being part of the nursing program is discussing some research and statistics, I thought this was a great opportunity to get involved in especially, young Indigenous men to be able to have an impact and maybe gain some insights as to some of the learnings that can be developed for the young men coming up and I just thought it was a great opportunity to take part and connect with other like-minded people, so I'm really excited to be here. Ethan: I’m Ethan. I’m from the Nuxalk Nation and part of the reason why I wanted to do this as well is similar to Adrian, I’m in a Psychology course so that kind of ties into that mental wellbeing and all that. Another reason would be just you don’t see a lot of study 55 groups only for men these days you know…so I was just kinda wanting to hop in and see what all of the action was about. Asher: Hi, yeah my name is Asher, I am from the XXXX nation. Yeah, I was interested in this as well, as mental health is a big part of nursing so yeah, I wanted to see where this is going and get some insight on this. That would be really helpful. Mitchell: Hello everyone, my name is Mitchell. I identify as Metis. I'm a third-year mechanical engineering student, and I just thought this would be a good opportunity to connect with other Indigenous young men because I think it’s like less than 1% of engineers are Indigenous so…I thought it would be a good experience to connect more and just overall learning experience. Quinn: Yeah, so I'm related to Adrian. I'm his brother so I'm the same as him were Cree and Shuswap and Metis as well, so and…yeah being in the nursing program there's not many males so it's nice to get together with a group of guys and talk it out so glad to be here, thanks for having me. Ty: Hello, I'm Ty. I'm from the Nuxalk Nation down in Bella Coola and I'm in the Bachelor of Science program…I guess I'm here just going to share my experience and try to connect with other people as well. Following this, I engaged our group members about how to structure the group going forward, such as whether to invite speakers and who to invite. When discussing potential speakers or facilitators to bring into our group, all group members mentioned they would like to have an Elder join us for a session. With regards to this, Adrian mentions his personal reasons for wanting an Elder as he feels it would build a foundation or mindset that could provide direction with the group: 56 [An Elder] might be kind of nice…just to build that foundation and maybe mindset and kind of create some of that dialogue within the group here as well…maybe it sparks some ideas or some memories or kind of gives us a sense of direction. Evident within this quote is Adrian’s eagerness to commence the group and learn from others in relation to having a traditional knowledge keeper join us. Further, Ethan replied stating his personal interest in hearing the perspective of an Elder with regards to what the Elder thinks being an Indigenous man means, “I don't really think like Elders had social media when they were young, so just kind of like what they were expected to do and like what they were expected to be, like when they were young.” Ethan mentions how an Elder may not have intimate knowledge of digital media or how to use it, but how having an Elder present for the group would be beneficial it may provide Ethan with a basis for understanding the expectations placed on young Indigenous men from traditional knowledge keeper’s. Within this session, all group members indicated meeting once a week worked for them, where they also said we could meet more often if needed. This demonstrated their early engagement in the project and excitement to commence our young Indigenous men’s group. 3.2 Digital Media Use Following introductions, we explored the group’s general digital media use to attempt to understand the potential impacts of this digital media use on their identities, mental health, and wellness. Throughout our discussions, the group members indicated their general digital media use habits and how digital media, in one form or another, is immersed into their daily lives. Mitchell states “You know you hate to say it, but probably in terms of the time I'm awake. I'm probably on digital media more than I'm not on digital media” while Ethan indicates he uses digital media “Right around 15 times a day,” and Asher mentions he uses digital media “anywhere from 3 to 4 57 hours a day.” Reasons for using digital media vary, where more specific Indigenous-focused uses of digital media will be discussed in later sections. With regards to general digital media use, Asher stated “I mostly use it for entertainment or, kind of like curiosity,” while Ethan states “that's just for like talking with friends or just trying to get a laugh out of like a video.” Generally, these feelings are shared amongst group members as Ty states “There's a certain point where you just can't focus anymore. You kind of need to take a break or if that's going outside or watching a show. Just kind of like a brain break, you know?” Clearly, our group uses digital media for entertainment and connecting with friends. Further, Mitchell mentions how digital media is integrated into his daily life: It's hard not to [check your phone] because I have my phone right beside my bed so you know you wake up. You have all these notifications and I always have to check my emails in the morning and stuff like that. So it's hard not to do it because there's important things in terms of checking in when you've gotta check my emails and stuff like that for. Indicating the ways digital media has become a necessary component of academic life and how we may not have as much free choice around our digital media use as we may think. Taken together, these quotes indicate our group understood their digital media engagement in several ways indicating either a total amount of time or the number of times they used digital media each day. They also shared the understanding digital media is used for entertainment, connecting with friends, taking a brain break, and necessary for daily life as a student. In terms of types of digital media our group engages, Ty states “I was just kind of expecting more we focus on like movies and like social media apps like Twitter and Instagram.” Further Quinn mentions he engages with “anything from Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Tik Tok, YouTube.” Further, Asher adds to this list by stating: 58 Definitely social media would be the big one but then another one for me personally would definitely be the video game industry. Lots of people that I've known been quite influenced by that so yeah those are the two for me. At another point, Quinn also discusses how much music plays an influence in his life adding “I've also been thinking about our last talk and I realized how much music plays a role in my life so listening to music…is definitely an influence for myself” where Adrian agrees by stating “I always have music going. Music is a big one, especially while being at home and studying.” Throughout the group, Mitchell also mentions news sites and their importance to his digital media use “obviously first ones going to be social media and then the second one for me personally would probably be like news media coverage as well.” Combined these understandings structured our engagement in digital media going forward where we understood digital media to encompass social media, news sites, music, movies, and video games. Although we did not get as much time as I would have hoped to engage digital media and discuss this engagement, the fact each group member was critically thinking about their digital media consumption throughout the group proved to be extremely beneficial to both the groups supportive environment and the findings that emerged. Although all group members spoke to motivations around using digital media, they also mentioned the negative influences of too much digital media use. Specifically, Ethan states how he needs to balance his digital media use, What I see with myself is if I use too much for like hours, maybe, then I kind of just get bored and just like feeling down because I've been staring my phone for like hours like I've noticed with myself it’s about that little balance, so like not too little, not too much, type of deal… 59 In asking Ethan why he felt down about using too much digital media, he noted, “It just feels like it's been an absolute waste of my time. I’ve just spent hours sitting around looking at like disposable entertainment, so I feel like I could have done something more productive in that time.” His twin brother Ty resonated with these feelings and stated: On the negative side it’s pretty much what everyone said, it feels like a waste of time at the end of the day. Like, well, I didn't go outside and go for a walk, I didn’t go play, I just sat here on my phone. Within this quote, Ty indicates other activities he would rather be doing as opposed to over-consuming digital media content. Further, Quinn indicates the negative influences of spending too much time on digital media, “you kind of feel like you waste time when you spend like hours on end on social media and you could start to feel bad about yourself” and how it can be an avenue through which he compares himself to other “For example, you could be at school studying, procrastinating…you see people being productive online, but you're watching them being productive, that kind of thing.” Taken together, it appears the spending too much time on digital media is a concern for many of the members in our group. This concern relates to time wasted that could be better spent going outside or going for a walk. This is a theme that came up throughout our discussions, was the importance of unplugging from digital media and how a connection to nature was integral to the Indigenous men’s identity in our group. 60 3.3 What it Means to be an Indigenous Man Throughout the group sessions, we continually discussed what it meant to be an Indigenous man and how this relates to our digital media use. Within these conversations, some group members discussed their own personal journey with understanding their identity as Peoples with the lived experiences of being young Indigenous men living in Canada. Adrian states: It's actually been quite a learning experience… I was raised knowing that I was Indigenous, but I didn't have my Status, and then when I was 21 there was some genealogy that was able to finally be brought to light…so then I was able to get my Status. Since Adrian got Status later in life, he feels he never connected fully to his culture growing up, as he knew he was Indigenous, but did not have the adequate legal recognition to allow himself to reconnect with his culture. This has left Adrian looking to connect with his culture and its understanding of what it means to be an Indigenous man: …I've always tried to seek out sort of like that Indigenous role model to look up to and I think for me…you know, being 30, it's kind of interesting, I'm just looking for sort of what is an Indigenous male role model? And I think that that's something that I often put out there to try and find that I haven't totally yet. Similarly, Adrian’s younger brother Quinn, mentions his own personal search for an Indigenous male role model and how he is impacted by being an off-reserve band member: My brother [Adrian] and I, our fathers Dutch and English…so our Indigenous side comes from our mother, and so we don't really have…an Indigenous male figure. The primary [Indigenous] male figure for us was probably my uncle, so my mom 's brother …we didn't 61 see him that much... for off reserve band members, which we are, we don't really get much support, and so that's kind of upsetting…I think that's where we could have gotten quite a bit of male influence is from our reserve, but that was never the case, and still isn't. Quinn expresses his frustration with the way he, as an off-reserve band member, is left unsupported by his band in relation to being an Indigenous man. He feels that he could have had an Indigenous male role model support figure from his band, but because he is an off-reserve band member, does not have that opportunity. When Asher speaks to the question, interestingly, he mentions how he was confused about his identity when he first learned he was Indigenous: Um well certainly growing up when I first learned I was Indigenous I thought I was like some crazy spiritual warrior or something, you know? Just seeing all the influences from media, how everybody talks about First Nations… yeah, I used to like watching westerns, and playing games, you see how like Native people are kind of shown so it's like very stoic and very spiritual and the high tendency for violence and the warrior kind of culture so that's kind of what I thought it was when I was growing up as a kid… Evident within this quote is Asher’s confusion as a child about his identity as an Indigenous man comes from stereotypical misrepresentations of Indigenous Peoples on digital media that made him feel that he was supposed to be a ‘crazy spiritual warrior’. He also notes this representation’s high tendency for violence and the warrior culture he absorbed from the ways Indigenous Peoples are represented on media. However, Asher also states “but I don't think I'm some crazy spiritual warrior anymore so...” indicating his ability to navigate these misrepresentations in a way that has allowed him to come to a more solid understanding of his identity as an Indigenous man apart from racialized misrepresentations. 62 Mitchell also discusses his personal journey in relation to his identity as an Indigenous man and the ways he suffered from imposter syndrome growing up: So far, I don't really have too much of an answer… I grew up knowing that I was Metis…then you just feel different from everyone else because everyone else is white, [and] get…impostor syndrome with regards to being Indigenous… Mitchell mentions how growing up he felt different from other’s stating that he suffered from imposter syndrome. However, Mitchell also states how engaging in Indigenous-focused events have sparked an Indigenous journey that allowed him to become more involved in his local Indigenous community, “Now I've been going through this kind of Indigenous journey…and then I've kind of got more involved with the APS at the University and stuff like that.” Here, it is evident how engaging in Indigenous-focused events have allowed Mitchell to create a salient identity despite his struggles with not feeling adequate as an Indigenous person (i.e., imposter syndrome). Further, Mitchell notes how prior to engaging in this group, he had never thought of himself as an Indigenous man, but rather had only considered what it meant to be Indigenous or what it meant to be a man separate from one another: I don't think I've ever really thought to much about them together, obviously you think about what it means to be a man itself or what it means to be Indigenous itself, but…I think just more recently because of hearing about this study, I've thought about what it means to be Indigenous, and a man combined together. Further evident is how engaging in this project has shifted Mitchell’s perspective in that the topics being discussed have prompted him to think about what it means to be both Indigenous and a man combined as opposed to simply thinking of what it means to Indigenous, or a man separate from one another. This may be an important insight into how engaging young Indigenous men in topics 63 related to Indigenous identity, gender, and mental health and wellness, may bring about important insights and meaning-making processes that can allow Indigenous youth to reconstruct their identities within a colonial world. Within our discussions about what it means to be an Indigenous man, group members shared a common understanding of the importance of accepting others for their own understandings of Indigenous masculine expression. This is evident in both Ty’s and Adrian’s responses, as Ty states, “I would say just like kind of being yourself… it's just really being who you are, and what you want to be” and Adrian states, “it's just respecting everyone 's identity, but in myself, just resting on certain core values of who I feel I am as a male.” Here, both Ty and Adrian understand their Indigenous masculine identities being located within open acceptance and respect for other’s own expressions of masculinity. Related to this, Ty also mentions the flexibility of Indigenous masculine identities through extrapolating the ways that being an Indigenous man is contingent on environmental factors: Cause the lifestyles of Indigenous men across Canada is like so diverse, like you got people up North who are kind of born into needing to hunt and provide for the family, but then you have other Indigenous men like myself who just kind of like, ‘Oh I’m a Man, I'll go to school and buy a house and start a family.’ Within this quote, Ty explains the differences between urban and rural Indigenous communities where he understands Indigenous men in rural communities to participate in traditional sustenance activities whereas urban Indigenous men are more inclined to live within the colonial structure of conjugal familial units. In Ty’s understanding of Indigenous men presented in this quote, it is evident he understands the diversity of Indigenous cultures and is open to how geography can impact the expression of Indigenous masculinity. Although throughout the group we do use the 64 words Indigenous masculinity and Indigenous men interchangeably, the group continuously reinforces their understandings of the flexibility of Indigenous masculinities and how their expressions can work in relation to land-based knowledge systems, as evident in Ty’s quote. Throughout our discussions, several traditional Indigenous values aligned with our group’s understanding of Indigenous masculine identity and expression. One major understanding of being an Indigenous man aligns with being community-oriented and a steward to nature. This is evident in Adrian’s quote, where he states: Is there someone I think who for me myself an image of [what it means to be an Indigenous man] would be? A strong connection to community and land [and someone who] really gives back to the next generation [is] what it really means to be Indigenous, and like an Indigenous man. Further, this understanding is concurred through a statement from Ethan, where he describes his own personal understanding of what it means to be an Indigenous man, “I totally agree with [Adrian], like giving back to your community… like teaching [the] next generation…like all about the land, how to like utilize the resources available, and all that.” Ethan also mentions the way himself and his brother Ty, “just had like the Crab Trappers, the hunters, you know? The gramma that teaches how to make fry bread and all… like they're all around us,” indicating their immersion in traditional Indigenous practices of trapping, hunting, and the importance of grandmother figures in their lives. Connection to land is also evident in Asher’s response as he states, “growing up well I kind of liked to stay closer to the land and forage and certainly there's quite a large connection to land.” Similarly, Mitchell discusses how a connection to nature is integral to his own identity as an Indigenous engineer: 65 less than 1% of engineers are Indigenous and I think they just have a different outlook on things when you're an Indigenous engineer…I'm into it's called, bio mimicry… In my opinion there’s so much to learn from nature itself [and] like traditional medicine versus like western medicine and all that…Traditional ways and stuff in terms of whatever field you're into. Mitchell speaks to the importance of a practice he calls bio mimicry in mechanical engineering as he finds it is important for Indigenous Peoples to work with nature. He also mentions the importance for Indigenous Peoples in academia to learn from nature in whatever field you’re into. This may speak to his personal understanding of the climate crises and the urgency for our planet in creating new (but old) ways of mechanical design. Within these responses, our group members shared common understandings of Indigenous masculine identity and expression as working with nature or being connected to nature in some way. Connection to nature becomes an important theme in our group as we begin to link connecting to nature with a spiritual practice through our teachings with Elder Grouse. 3.3.1 Blood Quantum, Indian Status, & Indigenous Men’s Identity Within our conversations around what it means to be an Indigenous man, the topic of Indian Status and Blood Quantum was also prevalent. Specifically, Quinn talks about his upbringing and how he relates being an Indigenous man to Indian Status: The whole status thing it's just so interesting to me because how can you base status off blood quantum that's just ridiculous, like? I just find it interesting that some people like there's a cut-off line for it…and so soon, eventually there won't be any status is what I'm kind of getting at. 66 Ethan then asked Quinn to clarify which leads into a conversation around Indian Status and Indigenous men’s identity, “You just said, it’ll get like diluted?” Quinn responds by saying, “Yeah, exactly. Eventually it'll happen and I don't know if that's the government 's plan for status cards is to kind of get rid of us?” At this point, Adrian prompted his younger brother Quinn with a question: Do you feel that you're sort of in a sense when you think of Blood Quantum, it's kind of a way…you're thinking of it as an Indigenous man and what that identity means is like your trying to protect that sense…of identity of an Indigenous man and like what it means to be an Indigenous male? Is that what you feel as well? Quinn responds by stating the resentment that Blood Quantum and Indian Status can leave within Quinn towards his non-Indigenous girlfriend: Yeah, right now I have a girlfriend who's white so if I decide to have kids with her, my kids won't be status and if I have boys then they won't be identified as status males, so it definitely changes it… Within this quote it is clear Adrian and Quinn work with one another as Indigenous male support figures in life and navigate the complex issues of Indigenous men’s identity within contemporary Canadian society. In further prompting Quinn, Adrian promotes Quinn’s deep engagement with the subject, perhaps allowing Quinn to further understand why he is left with feelings of resentment. At this point, I pose the question “Going forward, how does that make you think about your future?” Quinn responds by stating how he feels obligated towards his children to provide them with Indian Status through his union with an Indian woman: …kind of almost resentful towards my girlfriend. I feel like I'm almost obligated to find an Aboriginal status woman, but I mean, that's quite unfair for me to ask…I never really thought about it until this year… I don't think that's fair to end the relationship just 'cause 67 of that so, but I don't know, you kind of think about your kids too and you're like, oh, I feel bad that they wouldn't be status so. Blood Quantum and Indian Status are a topic that Quinn speaks to throughout the sessions, and it is clear they are important to his identity as an Indigenous man. Quinn expresses his frustration with Indian status and the way he, as an off-reserve band member, is left unsupported by his band. This leads into him discussing his recent conflict about Indian Status and the feelings of resentment it leaves towards his girlfriend which demonstrates the pressures that Indian Status personally puts on Quinn. The definition of his Indian Status is not up to him, but it still dictates the ways he has to structure his life. Further, we can also see the values of community coming through in Quinn’s response. By thinking of his children and their Indigenous identity, Quinn demonstrates how he considers the generations yet to come and how this relates to his traditional Indigenous kinship ties. 3.2.2 Western & Indigenous Gender Roles & Norms In relation to our discussions about what it means to be an Indigenous man, we also discussed gender and how gender roles and norms differ from traditional Indigenous communities compared to colonial understandings of gender norms and roles. Within this, Adrian and Mitchell talked about how gender norms and roles can be stigmatizing and harmful. Adrian states: if you're too manly, sometimes it can be frowned upon… You can almost put yourself on an island… I don't know if sometimes people would take offense to how I'm acting…maybe shooting a gun… being a guy like just feeling free. This statement demonstrates how Adrian feels his Indigenous masculine expression can be stigmatized in certain situations. In confirmation of this, Adrian states the association between 68 these activities and his Indigenous identity, but also how some can be offended by him performing these expressions, “…what I enjoy is that art of what our ancestors went through. And I think that maybe some people can be offended by that.” Here, Adrian is associating activities and characteristics, shooting a gun and feeling free, with being a man or performing masculinity and links his desire to engage in activities, such as shooting, that connects him to his ancestors. The connection to our ancestors through practicing traditional activities, such as hunting, is important for Indigenous Peoples mental health and wellness and has been shown to be important for Indigenous men’s identities. By Adrian mentioning the potential for people to be “scared,” stating “there's nothing to be worried about its…a bit of an art actually in a sense.” speaks to the stereotypical misrepresentation of Indigenous Peoples and our sustenance activities as being violent and primitive. Rather, Adrian is being driven to participate in these activities by his search for Indigenous masculine identity and a reconnection with traditional Indigenous values. This is something that was spoken about throughout the group, is how digital media has been used to reconnect with identity and culture. Unfortunately, perhaps a side-effect of the other images, understandings, and misrepresentations of Indigenous Peoples on digital media is that Adrian has understood these activities to be associated with violence and primitivity when they are activities conducive to Indigenous hunting and gathering practices. In relation to violence, Quinn mentions the strong associations between being a man and violence in digital media, “Yeah, I think that's just something that's portrayed in kind of all movies as well, in most movies, it’s mostly men in violent situations.” He goes on to note potential biological factors for this association, “it definitely has some biological factors to do with why men are so violent, testosterone, or yeah” but also debunks this by stating: 69 But I would say women can be just as violent, so. I would say they can definitely be like Asher was saying, ferocious, aggressive, but mostly in movies I've seen it portrayed only as men being in wars and [other violent situations]. Quinn’s comments here around the associations between being a man, expressions of masculinity, and violence in digital media speaks to the pervasiveness of this representation within digital media. Interestingly, Quinn quickly refutes his explanation of this association being a result of biological factors by stating that women can be just as violent. Perhaps, through digital media’s association between men and violence, young Indigenous men may learn being violent is a natural part of expressing masculinity or being a man. This combined with the explicitly violent imagery that typically goes along with misrepresentations of Indigenous men in digital media, may prove particularly intrusive to the identities of young Indigenous men and their ability to create meaningful identities within contemporary Canadian society as they look to construct their Indigenous masculine identities in relation to traditional Indigenous values. Within our discussions about gender, Mitchell mentions the damaging consequences of gender norms and roles from his understanding, if you take into account like gender norms and gender roles themselves…in my opinion, [are] pretty damaging to lot of people… because people can feel invalidated based on these traditional gender norms and stuff like that. Which is just a social construct that I feel like these days a lot more people are moving away from. Further, Mitchell states how he feels that: in digital media at least, you have an Indigenous standpoint, I feel like it's still not at the point where a lot of other cultures are at in terms of gender norms and stuff like that. I 70 feel in my head Indigenous communities… are a lot further behind than, say other western cultures gender norms are. Mitchell goes on to mention: Men are the protectors, hunters…and women stay back and traditionally bead and tend to the kills…it might just be because of all the stereotypes growing up and stuff like that, about gender norms…. And I think that's still prevalent in my head of what Indigenous gender norms are…the thing is I'm not really sure if this is actually true or it's just what I think. I feel like the men still have to be manly men and stuff like that, women, feminine and stuff like that. Versus like Western Culture, where it's a lot more blurred lines between gender norms and gender roles these days. These statements from Mitchell aligns with how Indigenous gender norms and roles can be misconstrued as heteropatriarchal when retold through a colonial mindset that relies on dualistic ontologies and views gender through a binary lens. Mitchell goes on to mention how he obtained most of his understanding of Indigenous Peoples from his K-12 Canadian Education, “and for some reason whenever I think of that, I always think of textbooks. I always think of like those textbook images of like Indigenous people offering things.” Mitchell is discussing how he has obtained a lot of his information about Indigenous Peoples histories and their associated gender norms and roles from textbooks in high school. This may be where he developed his understanding of the heteronormativity of Indigenous gender roles and their static nature. He even mentions that these may not be accurate understandings but are what he has come to believe is true potentially based on information he has consumed about Indigenous Peoples. At another point during our conversations, Asher and Ethan discussed their personal understandings of Indigenous women and how they seem to defy the gender norms and roles of 71 European women. Asher states “My dad always talks about how ferocious his Naân was, I certainly think some [Indigenous] women can be very, very scary…and ferocious.” Upon asking if Asher thought these characteristics were normally applied to women? He responded, “I mean, yeah, sometimes certainly, especially if they're like, you know? An MMA fighter or something.” Within this conversation, Asher understands that women can have and present masculinity, which is a topic that comes up periodically throughout the group. At this point in the conversation, Ethan added his opinion by stating: a lot of the Native women these days tend to be strong willed… Ah personally… just from the woman in my life, they tell me all these like bad life experiences they've gone through and just like thinking, ‘Holy shit I can agree with you on that type of crap.’ So yeah, I definitely think the ones in my life at least are strong willed…if you're to like stereotype Native woman… if you take like your average like white woman, then like a Native woman…would seem a lot more like rough or more masculine… The fact Indigenous women are strong and seem to defy the characteristics of European gender norms and roles is something that is continually brought up throughout our groups as we wrestle with colonial constructions of gender norms and roles and their relationships to Indigenous masculine expressions both within ourselves and as evident in digital media. In a later session Ethan adds how within his personal experiences, the woman in his life are the ‘high boss’: At the end of the day, like the mom or Auntie has the final word like she is God, you know, like you just do no matter what she says type of deal like at the end of the day…you see the woman like as the high boss, like her word is final type of deal. This quote from Ethan demonstrates how Indigenous societies are still structured, at least in part, around matriarchy and egalitarianism. These discussions demonstrate how throughout our 72 groups, everyone engaged with the topic of gender and how it relates to Indigenous mental health and wellness to bring about important knowledge around contemporary understandings of important issues in young Indigenous men’s identity. 3.4 Representations and Misrepresentations of Indigenous Men Throughout the group, we frequently discussed misrepresentations of Indigenous Peoples with a specific focus on Indigenous men and masculine expression and how these understandings of Indigenous Peoples can permeate into our daily lives. Early on, Ethan recollects on an understanding of Indigenous men that a German exchange student had internalized: [There’s this] Stoic native from this German movie called Winnetou that an exchange student showed me…When this German exchange student came over he was expecting like all the native’s to have like long hair, kind of tall, kind of burly, he was just like “oh what the fuck are you? You're just some short brown kid” and then he just showed me this movie and’s just like, ‘I want you to be that! It would appear from what Ethan is saying, the German exchange student he talked to had internalized the Primitive Savage stereotype of Indigenous men created through the colonial mindset and its values of hypermasculinity and heteronormativity. Winnetou is a famous misrepresentation of Indigenous Men of North America that has created a fascination with Indigenous Peoples within the mind of German’s and people around the world. Mitchell then directs a question at Ethan with regards to gender: I have a question for Ethan about that, exactly in terms of gender. Ethan, did this exchange student expect just the Indigenous men to look that way or do they also expect Indigenous women to be like traditional Indigenous women? 73 Ethan responds by saying “Oh no, he only expected the men, he had no perspective on Indigenous woman at all” and discussed how the exchange student he met did not have a pre-determined notion of what Indigenous women should be as a result of their lack of representation in the digital media, “'cause there were like none in the movies so he was just completely open about woman being whatever, but he expected all the men to be like sort of this spiritual warrior.” This misrepresentation of Indigenous men aligns with what Asher mentioned about the “crazy spiritual warrior” and within Ethan’s quote, he uses Asher’s terminology with regards to how Asher felt Indigenous men should be when he was a child. This demonstrates the ways our group continuously works with one another’s ideas to add their own perspectives, experiences, and provide further depth to our conversations. Another misrepresentation of Indigenous Peoples and men in digital media also discussed was the understanding of Indigenous Peoples as being lazy and uneducated. Again, this stereotype was prompted by a discussion with Ethan where he mentions his experiences with the misrepresentation of Indigenous Peoples being lazy and uneducated: [Also] I don’t really remember like what this is from, but you always see like this one fat Native guy who's always drinking on his porch surrounded by laundry machines in his car lot. I don’t know there’s also like a lazy stereotype for Native men as well. Ethan’s quote around the misunderstanding of Indigenous men as lazy demonstrates how Ethan has encountered these stereotypes in his life throughout digital media. Questioning whether this stereotype applied only to Indigenous men, Mitchell stated, “I feel like fat, lazy, uneducated, those ones also play to stereotypical, you know, when you think of same kind of stereotypes for Indigenous women” demonstrating how some of the misrepresentations we discussed related to all Indigenous Peoples and not specifically men. Although this was the least talked about stereotype 74 in our group prior to our session with Elder Grouse, it did serve to be a theme that emerged later on in relation to what our group learned from the Elder session. Another representation for Indigenous Peoples in digital media that surfaced was that of the peaceful Indigenous man. With regards to Asher’s experiences with ‘Spaghetti Westerns’ he notes “I used to watch a lot of Spaghetti Westerns, and…the Natives in there were either like violent or like the ones trying to make peace…[or] maybe coexist?” This statement from Asher speaks to how Indigenous men are sometimes cast in digital media as the last of their kind, a peaceful part of the dying past. This representation is in stark contrast to the Savage though still contains notions of stoicism and nobility so is not completely unique to the Noble Savage stereotype. Mitchell adds to this conversation by mentioning: in terms of like old movies and stuff, you always see, generally the white people come over on their ships and the Indigenous people are the ones who are offering them things and trying to make peace and stuff like that, in terms of offering and trying to work with them and stuff. Mitchell then goes on to reaffirm his view on Western history and his hesitancy to trust the information he comes by, “I mean, you know how history turned out.” Mitchell then notes how he believes the Savage stereotype is more common than the peaceful stereotype “[but] I don't think it's as common as…the Savage or whatever, like in terms of depiction.” Again, this statement by Mitchell speaks to the pervasiveness of the violent misrepresentations of Indigenous men, and Peoples more broadly, as being primitive savages. Although the peaceful Indigenous man stereotype is present within digital media and seems to be cast in a less negative light with regards to our group’s understanding of this character, it still creates an understanding of Indigenous Peoples as being part of a primitive past. 75 I investigated the group’s understanding of this phenomenon by asking whether Mitchell felt these understandings of Indigenous Peoples were true, Mitchell responded by saying “It's hard to say, 'cause in a sense, you know? Movies are usually vaguely based off of historical accuracy or they gather influence from historical events…and stuff like that, but it's hard to say.” This quote from Mitchell may speak to the power of digital media (movies specifically) to create realities that entrap Indigenous histories within them. In no way do movies need to be based off history or even reflective of what happened in history, yet they can create a sense as if they are a glimpse at an untold past. This is potentially damaging to young Indigenous Peoples (and men more specifically) as they view movies as if they are being told, at least in part, a truth about themselves and their past. Another representation that we discussed throughout our group sessions was that of the Indigenous man being a provider and protector. This is perhaps one of the stereotypes that our group members identified with being associated with what it means to be an Indigenous man from their own perspectives. We discussed whether we think that being a provider is something that is seen in relation to Indigenous men on digital media. Ethan mentioned his experiences with Disney movies as a child: I can only speak to some of those Disney movies like Brother Bear, like where they’re fishing for the salmon. Yeah, you always see them in Pocahontas going out hunting and fighting the white man, bring back food, and all that shit. Ethan’s quote here mentions how he identified with characters like those seen in Brother Bear and Pocahontas as a child. He understands these characters to have truths that he identifies with as an Indigenous man, such as being a provider. Although Pocahontas is a movie with many controversies and in no way did our group condone the movie as a representative piece of the past, 76 it was mentioned with regards to how being a provider is integral to Ethan’s understanding of Indigenous men’s identity. At this point, Adrian also mentions his personal experiences with Indigenous men being represented as providers in digital media: I don't think I really see too many current media movies as being providers I think is yeah, it's much more of a classical sense or [Indigenous men] used to be providers. Again, can’t think of any movies as far as something that stands out where it's a more modern that Indigenous men are providers. Adrian’s comment here may point to how digital media represents Indigenous Peoples as being stuck in the past. In this, Adrian refers to how it appears to be in the past that we were providers as Indigenous men, but it does not appear to be as prevalent in the present. This may speak to the ways Indigenous men’s traditional roles as providers and protectors have been radically altered through colonialism and replaced through rapid societal shifts. Within the group, Mitchell also mentions the potential for Indigenous men to be represented as protectors. This occurred through his discussion of a “zombie movie that's all about Indigenous people” he viewed where the Indigenous men were represented as protectors: I have one that's not so much providers, but more like kind of like protectors… basically in the movie it's all the most of the women are back at the camp as being like, you know? Helping people and stuff, while the men go out and like scavenge like…buildings and stuff like that, 'cause it's a zombie movie. Linking this quote back to Mitchell’s earlier discussions around Indigenous gender norms and roles, this may show how gender norms and roles presented within digital media may influence the identity of young Indigenous men. If our young men do not understand traditional Indigenous 77 gender norms and roles, and they are inundated with misrepresentations of these norms and roles through digital media, then perhaps this may influence their own understanding of what traditional Indigenous gender norms and roles are. This may, in turn, influence their own expression of Indigenous masculinity and what it means to be an Indigenous man. As noted, the expressions of Indigenous masculine identifying Peoples as protectors today, is quite often misconstrued through colonial ideals of hypermasculinity, violence, and power, whereas traditional Indigenous understandings of protection relate to being community-based and open and caring to others. 3.4.1 Violence Throughout discussing digital media, what we see while using digital media, and how it makes us feel, a salient topic that emerged was violence towards Indigenous Peoples. Within these conversations, Mitchell discussed a news article “about the RCMP enforcing racist and discriminatory legislations [and a policy being implemented that aims]…to…remove racism within the RCMP especially towards Indigenous Peoples” and how he views these types of news articles as propaganda, and mentions you cannot judge the efficacy of policies such as these until you see the results for yourself: Of course, a lot of it to a degree is…you could say propaganda…but then you can't really judge it until you see the change itself and like actually see it 'cause like they can always say they have these policies and stuff in place, but until you actually see it getting reduced in practice and stuff, you can't really judge how well these policies work… The fact that Mitchell states these news articles are usually propaganda may speak to his skepticism towards the real-life implementation of policies that aim to reduce racial discrimination in the policing of Indigenous Peoples. This may also speak to Mitchell’s concern about racism towards Indigenous Peoples present within Canada and how this may influence his identity as an 78 Indigenous man. At this point in the conversation, Adrian asked Mitchell how the article makes him feel, to which Mitchell gave a surprising response, “it makes you feel some hope that things could get better. I mean, it's hard for me to say personally because I don't have any firsthand experience with it.” Mitchell’s response to Adrian shows Mitchell’s hopefulness towards the future and the ways he seeks to understand things in a positive light. Retaining hope is an important protective factor for Indigenous Peoples in the face of colonial violence and may speak to why our group seems so capable of navigating digital media regardless of the negative themes that emerge throughout our sessions. Throughout the groups, Adrian also struggles with news stories he encounters frequently on digital media of violence and racism towards Indigenous Peoples. I asked him what usually prompts him to use digital media, where he states “Curious with sort of the times that are going on…how it's affecting Canadians and communities” and continues by saying: Unfortunately, it's not something great that's going on, back to the violence kind of thing…so I’m just getting sucked into the other news sometimes…like with Colton Boushie…for myself I'm feeling like I'm reliving it but you know for [the families of the victims] it's everyday…I think that I'm also looking for...maybe more stories that are bio mimicry, where they're interesting and their innovative ways of coming up with resolutions. Adrian mentions within this quote the ways that he encounters stories of violence towards Indigenous Peoples in his search for positive stories about topics like Mitchell brought up about biomimicry. Adrian even mentions how he feels he relives the negative feelings associated with violence towards Indigenous Peoples, in this case specifically talking about Colton Boushie, an incident in recent years where a young Indigenous man was shot dead by a Saskatchewan farmer 79 and the case was mishandled by the RCMP, but that he feels even worse for the victims of the families who have to deal with it every day. This speaks to how violence towards Indigenous Peoples in our digital media can negatively impact Indigenous youth’s health and wellness, but also to how our group seems to be able to navigate the violence within digital media while they utilize digital media in their daily lives. 3.4.2 Misrepresentations, Trauma, & Mental Health of Indigenous Peoples in Canada As mentioned, within conversations around undoing stereotypes, the group also discussed trauma, Residential Schools, and their associations with stereotypes and the mental health of Indigenous Peoples in Canada. This dialogue was precipitated by earlier comments about teachings Ethan and Ty had been given in relation to Indigenous Peoples health and its associations with RSS, as Ethan mentions: I had this one BC First Nations teacher who said that like the reason why all these…bad habits [happened] that made us adapt is because of Residential schools and like the children grew up to be bad parents so that those parents grew up to be kind of bad. Within this quote, it is evident how Ethan’s education on RSS has allowed him to make sense of some of the topics we have discussed in group. Specifically, he is starting to relate how ‘bad habits’ of alcoholism and drug use are an adaptation mechanism that Indigenous Peoples have employed to survive trauma. This conversation is added to in a later session where Ty reflects on this experience in the same class: we were in the same class and our teacher really like nailed it on the head, where she said Residential schools really screwed up some kids and then those kids when they became parent’s they were just not the nicest and they kind of like raise a generation of not failures, but really harsh parents you know. 80 Here Ty is speaking to his education on RSS and how trauma enacted on Indigenous Peoples created Indigenous Peoples who could not parent their children in a loving and supportive way which has had an immense impact on Indigenous health and wellness. These conversations sparked many important insights on the cycle of violence that has been put in place throughout colonialism and the ways that stereotypes play into this cycle. Throughout the sessions, Mitchell talked about misrepresentations frequently, and related non-Indigenous Peoples understandings of Indigenous Peoples to stereotypes that are pervasive in our society. At one point, Mitchell states, “I think the reason non-Indigenous Peoples are uneducated about Indigenous Peoples is because of stereotypes, so again it goes back to the stereotypes,” and later on adds: Yeah, I think it also really affects Peoples like…mentality of self-worth as well… Stereotypes, you think you're never gonna amount to anything because all you’ve heard is stereotypes, your depicted as a stereotype, so that's all you think is you're just going to fulfill the stereotypes and end up being a drunk or something like that, and that makes yourself worse, you have no confidence, [it’s] harder, and then people stereotype you in person and stuff like that, and it does even more damage to your mental stability as well…like a chain reaction…Residential Schools cause trauma, trauma causes like addiction, addiction causes…Then you become...bad parents, you pass that along, and then that addiction causes depression and stuff like that, affects your mental stability, and then that leads to like higher suicide rates and stuff, its kind of more of like a chain reaction… It's just one thing leads to another…and then that leads to stereotypes and stereotypes just keep fueling the fire of like the chain reaction. 81 Here Mitchell is referring to the negative mental health that can result from these stereotypes about Indigenous Peoples discussed in group. How this links to self-worth and how that links to your mental stability. In a later session Quinn re-hashes this conversation by connecting this dynamic to the Canadian Residential Schooling System (RSS) from his perspective and relating this to conversations we had with Ty and Ethan: I think a lot of stereotypes were based around the trauma that happened in Residential Schools, it led to drinking, it led to a lot of different things that are now seen as stereotypes, but it is…mostly due to the trauma…I guess it's now passed on to other generations and you see it now also mental illnesses and mental problems, like depression. And so at least that's what I've seen I know suicide rates are high in Indigenous communities and that's really unfortunate to see… So yeah, it kinda has to tie in with stereotypes I feel like…the drinking was just a way to kinda forget about what happened or as well as other drugs, but, and then that led to uh….well overdoses, and then people losing their loved ones or being stereotyped, and then, you know? Committing suicide. So, I think it all kind of ties in together at some point… I think the trauma kind of created these stereotypes in a way…or atleast influenced them…And so I do believe that these stereotypes need to change…like Ty and Ethan we're saying, not all Indigenous people are lazy people, so, for the most part, they work pretty hard…and their strong [laughter]. A lot of Indigenous people are pretty strong. Here Quinn summarizes what we had discussed so far in relation to the history of Indigenous Peoples in Canada and its impacts on Indigenous Health and Wellness, and ties this back into the importance of undoing stereotypes. Quinn speaks to how trauma may not be the ‘cause of the stereotypes but are undoubtedly reinforcing them. These coping behaviours that can be attributed 82 to our people are not of our own fault but are a result of a long-lasting legacy of traumatization. Within these quotes, it is evident how our discussions built upon one another in a holistic and synergistic manner where group members learned from one another and built off each other’s earlier statements. In turn, this allowed our group to make sense of the topics we discussed and provided learning opportunities for everyone involved, including myself. Within our discussions about misrepresentations of Indigenous men in digital media, the idea of ‘undoing stereotypes’ (deconstructing misrepresentations) emerged and seemed to remain a significant theme for the rest of the group’s sessions. The importance of undoing these preconceived notions of Indigenous Peoples emerged amongst conversations where Ty commented on a show he enjoys watching about non-Indigenous Peoples that learn to confront their stereotypes about Indigenous Peoples through going to live with an Indigenous community: There's this show…[where] just like 6 non-Indigenous people get their thoughts and opinions and there usually all negative like, “you can't live off of welfare”, “start paying taxes”, and then they go live with a band for like a month or something and then it changes their whole perspective. It's just all these [Indigenous] people aren't like fat and lazy, they're working hard for their lives…so that's what I found interesting. At this point, I asked Ty “why do you enjoy watching the show? What's interesting about it for you?” and he responded by saying, “Oh, just how they change so fast. [The non-Indigenous people] just they don't think of [Indigenous Peoples] as like dumb, lazy people, they think of them…like kind of hard working and almost sacrificing.” This leads into an interesting conversation about stereotypes and how they can permeate into the minds of people, where Mitchell comments on how stereotypes can leave non-Indigenous people uneducated, “I think the reason that [non-Indigenous Peoples] are uneducated is because of how Indigenous people 83 are stereotypically depicted on digital media. So again, it goes back to the stereotypes.” Mitchell’s quote demonstrates how these racialized misrepresentations are prevalent in our digital media and how aware the young Indigenous men in our group are about the impacts these stereotypical misrepresentations can have on our lives as Indigenous Peoples. Through associating the negative comments the non-Indigenous people make towards the Indigenous Peoples with how Indigenous Peoples are misrepresented through digital media, Mitchell draws the conclusion these stereotypes are having very real-life consequences on us as Indigenous Peoples as he points to how they can misinform the views of non-Indigenous Peoples. Ty then mentions how he believes some of these stereotypes to be true, “Yeah, well some of the stereotypes were accurate like their providers. But you know it really changed the bad ones like lazy, welfare, like the main ones.” I then asked if anyone thought undoing stereotypes was important. Ethan stated, “On a professional level, I can definitely see undoing stereotypes kind of useful for like job applications or other employment or just other professional issues like that…” indicating his understanding of the real-life consequences that these stereotypes can have for Indigenous Peoples. This leads into a story from Ethan and Ty (twin brothers) about an encounter with racism during one of their previous jobs: Yeah I mean, Ty can advocate for this, but like when we were in grade 10 like we were applying for a job at the Timmies…and there’s this old lady who had the stereotype…like she had a few other natives work for her and she stereotyped based on those Natives and [she] like talked with me and Ty specifically, saying “I need you guys to pick up the pace, 'cause I had a few other Indigenous people who had a bad wrap around.” In a later session, Ty recollects on the story saying: 84 I mean, from what Ethan said earlier. We never drank before that job, but uh, we didn't do drugs nothing…we weren’t like all the…negative [stereotypes], but it really affected us when we tried to get that job. Like, she took us out and she just said, ‘Please don’t be like these 2 other girls, like I’ve had experience with you people,’ and I'm pretty sure it's like a lot more Indigenous people were like clean slate, no problems, were just kind of like getting stereotyped and not necessarily being treated as equals. Here Ethan and Ty discuss the harms of stereotyping people based on racist misrepresentations. Ty states that him and his brother were really clean people in terms of alcohol and drugs and hardworking and had no right to be stereotyped based on the behaviour of others or the understanding of their co-worker/manager. Ethan reaffirms this understanding by saying “you gotta assess every person on their individual basis, you know? Go from individual to individual, not just generalize based on what color he is,” as he further discusses the importance of not judging people on racist terms but rather judging everyone individually for their own “work habit.” This conversation revolving undoing stereotypes was directly related to other in-depth conversations around Misrepresentations, Trauma, and Mental Health. 3.5 Digital Media as a Tool for Cultural Revitalization and Identity Reconstruction in Young Indigenous Men Although many topics were discussed in group that could be referred to as ‘negative’ our group also utilized digital media for their creation and reformation of Indigenous masculine identities. This occurred in various ways, such as researching Indigenous place names, traditional bow-making practices, and Indigenous language/culture apps for children. Further, Quinn and Adrian discussed how they use digital media for reconnecting with traditional Indigenous ceremonies. Although these engagements differed in scope, I would argue that they revolved 85 around a common goal of reclaiming Indigenous ways of knowing and allow us to better understand how digital media can be a tool through which our group members access information and learn about their culture. Further, our engagement with Elder Grouse solidified this notion where we were able to utilize digital media to connect with a Traditional Knowledge Keeper to bring about positive learning experiences for our group members in relation to the topics we had been discussing. This allowed for our group members to receive teachings about what it means to be an Indigenous man from Elder Grouse’s traditional Syilx perspective which allowed them to deepen their meaning making processes in relation to our discussions. Early on, Ty discussed how he uses digital media to conduct research about Indigenous place names and his views on renaming Canadian landmarks after their traditional Indigenous names: Known places being named after Indigenous origins that took up like my whole weekend. And what was interesting was that like there's like 350,000 something officially named places in Canada, like cities, bodies of water, land islands. Yet only like 11%, which is like 23,000 of those places are named after Indigenous origins, so I don't know how I felt about that just a little. Like they could do better than just 11%...I'm actually writing a paper of like Indigenous issues and well, that's like a really good topic like it's really easily researchable. And yeah, just read like a whole bunch of articles on that. It is evident within this quote how personal the naming process of Canadian landmarks is for Ty in relation to his research on this issue. He states his frustrations with the naming process and the small percentage of Canadian landmarks named after their Indigenous origins. He goes on to say. “Definitely felt like Canada could've done better than just that 'cause like the whole naming process, which I found was it takes a lot of time, it takes like 3 levels of government approval” 86 reconfirming this view. This can be seen as a form of cultural revitalization for Ty as re-claiming Indigenous landmark names is an important step towards reconciliation. However, upon asking Ty if reconciliation in Canada has a personal stake to him, he responds by stating, “I'm not really into reconciliation, but you know how much better would Haida Gwaii sound, it does sound better than Queen Charlotte island so.” This interesting response by Ty perhaps speaks to how younger generations of Indigenous Peoples are not as into reconciliation in terms of its neoliberal intent and lack of actual progress towards liberating Indigenous Peoples in Canada. This seems to coincide with #ReconciliationIsDead, a popular Twitter handle within Indigenous youth activism in recent years. In relation to cultural revitalization, Asher mentions how he uses YouTube to engage with traditional Indigenous bow making practices: I’m really into bow building at the moment…I'm just interested in all these different designs from different nations and different people…I thought that was really interesting and most of the people who are building them aren't the people, you know? That made them in the first place their people from like different cultures and backgrounds trying to recreate it or what not… there's lots of different types, too. There's like sinew back, which is like animal tendons and then there's like horn bows, which they made from goat horns just like different cultures and all these different types of designs so that was pretty cool. But most of them like the ways like building them have mostly been like loss, so it's just people trying to like find ways that they made them and everything, so it was kind of cool. Within this conversation, Asher mentions reviving bow making practices that have been lost which may speak to the importance he places on reviving Indigenous traditional practices. Earlier in the groups, Asher mentioned that he generally uses digital media in the form of 87 YouTube to engage in this learning. It is clear from this quote, that traditional bow making practices are important to Asher as an Indigenous man and reviving these practices may serve to promote positive identity formation within him. Interestingly, Asher does not mention violence towards Indigenous Peoples throughout the sessions, opposed to the Noble Savage stereotype. Perhaps, Asher’s usual digital media engagement focuses on cultural revitalization which may aid in his ability to navigate the potential ill-effects of misrepresentations of Indigenous masculinity in digital media. Early on, Asher mentions video games as a source of entertainment from digital media, but rarely draws experiences or interpretations from them in reference to our digital media discussions. Perhaps this results from other group members lack of focus on video games, where Asher is more comfortable going along with the conversation’s precipitated by others. Using digital media to reconnect with traditional Indigenous ceremonies is another form of cultural revitalization that emerged from our discussions. This was a major theme within Quinn’s personal digital media use as he reflected on the ways he and his brother, Adrian, use digital media for reconnecting with ceremonies: There is some pretty big ceremonies where they're dancing, and they're playing the drum, and there's like usually 10 people around a drum, and that's cool to see…I haven't seen much of that here… You get to see like people dancing, I should say, Aboriginal men dancing in their dresses and I think well are they called for regales? [regalia]... it's just very interesting to see how they move and the different types of dancing they are involved with. It is evident the importance Quinn places on seeing Aboriginal men participate in traditional ceremonies in their traditional dresses [regalia]. He goes on to mention the importance of digital media for his ability to reconnect with these ceremonies, “so it's nice that you have platforms like 88 You Tube where you can look up ceremonies and different kinds of ways of how they celebrate I guess.” Upon asking Quinn if he feels reconnecting with these ceremonies through digital media is important for Indigenous Peoples, he responded: Yeah, I do because, for me anyways. I don't get to see it that often, so I feel like it's a big side of like my culture I'm kind of missing out on and not seeing those traditional ceremonies, so it's nice. I mean, it's not really specific to myself seeing other Aboriginal communities doing it, but at least you get an idea of how different communities do their celebrating…. just how they tell stories with it. This speaks to the ways that Quinn personally uses digital media to reconnect with his Indigenous traditions and search for his masculine identities. He mentions that although these ceremonies are not necessarily specific to his culture, he still finds it important to be able to see how Indigenous Peoples celebrate. This may link to comments that are also made towards how engaging in this group allowed group members to find a common ground with other like-minded people where they have had limited opportunities to do so prior to this group. If Quinn is able to see other Indigenous masculine identifying people like him connecting to their culture online, then it may provide Quinn with an avenue to begin engaging in this practice himself and have positive influences on his health and wellness. Throughout the group sessions, the importance of having access to our Indigenous cultures’ and languages came up frequently. As someone who stated that he is actively looking for a role model of what being an Indigenous man means, and thinks about what it means for the next generation, unsurprisingly, Adrian focuses on an article he found in relation to cultural revitalization apps for Indigenous children: 89 there's actually digital media for like young Indigenous people. So, it was kind of neat, it had some stories and had some like games…I think just how we're now talking about the influence of digital media on ourselves per say, and then just seeing how maybe the next generation and I think that kind of speaks to sort of the Indigenous culture is always sort of the next generation and how can we make it better. And I think that sort of question or that mindset sort of queued me to kind of look into like hey? What are they promoting? Or what are these games about? Or these stories?…it's a Anishinaabe game where kids can learn like traditional songs. So, I thought it was really neat that they had like a game…that would teach them in a fun interactive way, that's mobile, about their language….it was on CBC so it’s easy to come across and look into. Adrian’s discussion about teaching the next generation and its importance to him links to intergenerational knowledge exchange and the importance of protecting future generations for Adrian at this point in his life. In this quote, Adrian is considering how current technology along with the images and understandings it conveys can influence the identities of Indigenous children. Thinking of the next seven generations to come is a concept that relates to many Indigenous Peoples across Canada’s cultures and demonstrates the importance of kinship and intergenerational knowledge exchange to Indigenous health and wellness, which may speak to why Adrian feels it is important to care for the next generation. 3.5 Digital Media as a Tool for Cultural Revitalization and Identity Reconstruction in Young Indigenous Men Although many topics were discussed in group that could be referred to as ‘negative’ our group also utilized digital media for their creation and reformation of Indigenous masculine identities. This occurred in various ways, such as researching Indigenous place names, traditional 90 bow-making practices, and Indigenous language/culture apps for children. Further, Quinn and Adrian discussed how they use digital media for reconnecting with traditional Indigenous ceremonies. Although these engagements differed in scope, I would argue that they revolved around a common goal of reclaiming Indigenous ways of knowing and allow us to better understand how digital media can be a tool through which our group members access information and learn about their culture. Further, our engagement with Elder Grouse solidified this notion where we were able to utilize digital media to connect with a Traditional Knowledge Keeper to bring about positive learning experiences for our group members in relation to the topics we had been discussing. This allowed for our group members to receive teachings about what it means to be an Indigenous man from Elder Grouse’s traditional Syilx perspective which allowed them to deepen their meaning making processes in relation to our discussions. Early on, Ty discussed how he uses digital media to conduct research about Indigenous place names and his views on renaming Canadian landmarks after their traditional Indigenous names: Known places being named after Indigenous origins that took up like my whole weekend. And what was interesting was that like there's like 350,000 something officially named places in Canada, like cities, bodies of water, land islands. Yet only like 11%, which is like 23,000 of those places are named after Indigenous origins, so I don't know how I felt about that just a little. Like they could do better than just 11%...I'm actually writing a paper of like Indigenous issues and well, that's like a really good topic like it's really easily researchable. And yeah, just read like a whole bunch of articles on that. It is evident within this quote how personal the naming process of Canadian landmarks is for Ty in relation to his research on this issue. He states his frustrations with the naming process and the 91 small percentage of Canadian landmarks named after their Indigenous origins. He goes on to say. “Definitely felt like Canada could've done better than just that 'cause like the whole naming process, which I found was it takes a lot of time, it takes like 3 levels of government approval” reconfirming this view. This can be seen as a form of cultural revitalization for Ty as re-claiming Indigenous landmark names is an important step towards reconciliation. However, upon asking Ty if reconciliation in Canada has a personal stake to him, he responds by stating, “I'm not really into reconciliation, but you know how much better would Haida Gwaii sound, it does sound better than Queen Charlotte island so.” This interesting response by Ty perhaps speaks to how younger generations of Indigenous Peoples are not as into reconciliation in terms of its neoliberal intent and lack of actual progress towards liberating Indigenous Peoples in Canada. This seems to coincide with #ReconciliationIsDead, a popular Twitter handle within Indigenous youth activism in recent years. In relation to cultural revitalization, Asher mentions how he uses YouTube to engage with traditional Indigenous bow making practices: I’m really into bow building at the moment…I'm just interested in all these different designs from different nations and different people…I thought that was really interesting and most of the people who are building them aren't the people, you know? That made them in the first place their people from like different cultures and backgrounds trying to recreate it or what not… there's lots of different types, too. There's like sinew back, which is like animal tendons and then there's like horn bows, which they made from goat horns just like different cultures and all these different types of designs so that was pretty cool. But most of them like the ways like building them have mostly been like loss, so it's just people trying to like find ways that they made them and everything, so it was kind of cool. 92 Within this conversation, Asher mentions reviving bow making practices that have been lost which may speak to the importance he places on reviving Indigenous traditional practices. Earlier in the groups, Asher mentioned that he generally uses digital media in the form of YouTube to engage in this learning. It is clear from this quote, that traditional bow making practices are important to Asher as an Indigenous man and reviving these practices may serve to promote positive identity formation within him. Interestingly, Asher does not mention violence towards Indigenous Peoples throughout the sessions, opposed to the Noble Savage stereotype. Perhaps, Asher’s usual digital media engagement focuses on cultural revitalization which may aid in his ability to navigate the potential ill-effects of misrepresentations of Indigenous masculinity in digital media. Early on, Asher mentions video games as a source of entertainment from digital media, but rarely draws experiences or interpretations from them in reference to our digital media discussions. Perhaps this results from other group members lack of focus on video games, where Asher is more comfortable going along with the conversation’s precipitated by others. Using digital media to reconnect with traditional Indigenous ceremonies is another form of cultural revitalization that emerged from our discussions. This was a major theme within Quinn’s personal digital media use as he reflected on the ways he and his brother, Adrian, use digital media for reconnecting with ceremonies: There is some pretty big ceremonies where they're dancing, and they're playing the drum, and there's like usually 10 people around a drum, and that's cool to see…I haven't seen much of that here… You get to see like people dancing, I should say, Aboriginal men dancing in their dresses and I think well are they called for regales? [regalia]... it's just very interesting to see how they move and the different types of dancing they are involved with. 93 It is evident the importance Quinn places on seeing Aboriginal men participate in traditional ceremonies in their traditional dresses [regalia]. He goes on to mention the importance of digital media for his ability to reconnect with these ceremonies, “so it's nice that you have platforms like You Tube where you can look up ceremonies and different kinds of ways of how they celebrate I guess.” Upon asking Quinn if he feels reconnecting with these ceremonies through digital media is important for Indigenous Peoples, he responded: Yeah, I do because, for me anyways. I don't get to see it that often, so I feel like it's a big side of like my culture I'm kind of missing out on and not seeing those traditional ceremonies, so it's nice. I mean, it's not really specific to myself seeing other Aboriginal communities doing it, but at least you get an idea of how different communities do their celebrating…. just how they tell stories with it. This speaks to the ways that Quinn personally uses digital media to reconnect with his Indigenous traditions and search for his masculine identities. He mentions that although these ceremonies are not necessarily specific to his culture, he still finds it important to be able to see how Indigenous Peoples celebrate. This may link to comments that are also made towards how engaging in this group allowed group members to find a common ground with other like-minded people where they have had limited opportunities to do so prior to this group. If Quinn is able to see other Indigenous masculine identifying people like him connecting to their culture online, then it may provide Quinn with an avenue to begin engaging in this practice himself and have positive influences on his health and wellness. Throughout the group sessions, the importance of having access to our Indigenous cultures and languages came up frequently. As someone who stated that he is actively looking for a role model of what being an Indigenous man means, and thinks about what it means for the 94 next generation, unsurprisingly, Adrian focuses on an article he found in relation to cultural revitalization apps for Indigenous children: There's actually digital media for like young Indigenous people. So, it was kind of neat, it had some stories and had some like games…I think just how we're now talking about the influence of digital media on ourselves per say, and then just seeing how maybe the next generation and I think that kind of speaks to sort of the Indigenous culture is always sort of the next generation and how can we make it better. And I think that sort of question or that mindset sort of queued me to kind of look into like hey? What are they promoting? Or what are these games about? Or these stories?…it's a Anishinaabe game where kids can learn like traditional songs. So, I thought it was really neat that they had like a game…that would teach them in a fun interactive way, that's mobile, about their language….it was on CBC so it’s easy to come across and look into. Adrian’s discussion about teaching the next generation and its importance to him links to intergenerational knowledge exchange and the importance of protecting future generations for Adrian at this point in his life. In this quote, Adrian is considering how current technology along with the images and understandings it conveys can influence the identities of Indigenous children. Thinking of the next seven generations to come is a concept that relates to many Indigenous Peoples across Canada’s cultures and demonstrates the importance of kinship and intergenerational knowledge exchange to Indigenous health and wellness, which may speak to why Adrian feels it is important to care for the next generation. 95 3.5.1 Lack of Elders on Social Media In our discussions surrounding digital media, group members mentioned the importance of connecting with traditional Indigenous knowledge keeper’s (Elder’s) and the lack of accessibility even with digital media. Specifically, Mitchell mentions: I think there's a lack of Elder representation on social media. I think it's most probably due to the generational thing, they’re less on the Internet and what not based on their age, but I think you know Elder representation would be good on social media… I feel it's important…’cause I know…Elders are so hard to reach Within this quote, it is evident how Mitchell is seeking connections with Elders as he states that he knows how hard Elders are too reach. However, he reasons this by noting the generational differences between our group and Elders, implying the rapid cultural shifts that have occurred in the past 20 – 30 years as a result of digital media and the internet. Ty then confirms the need for Elder representation on digital media by adding, “I would totally agree with [Mitchell] like there's almost no Elders on like any social media. Besides like maybe a couple of movies at best, so would love to see more of them.” This statement from Ty, prompts his twin brother Ethan, to state “It would be nice…to go on Facebook and see this Elder posting a story or something instead of having to be there in person to hear the story.” Taken together, the statements made here by Mitchell, Ty, and Ethan, speak to how the young Indigenous men in our group are looking for access to Elder’s and intergenerational knowledge exchange. Connecting to one’s culture, undoubtedly positively influences Indigenous youth’s ability to form salient identities in relation to their traditional Indigenous values, thus making sense why our group is so keen on engaging with Elder’s. Fortunately, we were able to have 96 Elder Grouse run one of our sessions which provided our group members with this much needed connection to an Indigenous Knowledge Keeper with the lived experiences of being a man. 3.5.2 Connecting with Elder Grouse During our 5th group session, we had Elder Grouse Barnes provide us with teachings about what it means to be an Indigenous man and how it relates to his mental health and wellness from his traditional Syilx knowledge system. Our conversation with Elder Grouse was very personal and deeply impacted our group members where I have separated the results to account for this junction. Having a Traditional Knowledge Keeper to run a sharing circle was a decision made by our group members during the first group session and works in conjunction with the participatory nature of this project. Further, an important part of Indigenous pedagogies is the inclusion of Traditional Knowledge Keepers to provide intergenerational knowledge exchange to our young Peoples, therefore, this component also fits well with Indigenous research and can further promote meaning making processes as these young Indigenous men could draw upon these teachings to make sense of the topics we discussed in group. Since it was not my intention to provide an in-depth understanding of Elders’ perspectives on what it means to be an Indigenous man, but rather, to provide the group members with a reciprocal learning opportunity for them to listen and ask questions with a traditional knowledge keeper, I will only mention Elder Grouse’s personal life to the extent it is necessary to convey a proper understanding of the conversation. Following our meeting with Elder Grouse, we discussed what each group member learned through this engagement, with a specific focus on understanding how Elder Grouses’ teachings related to our previous discussions around Indigenous masculine identities, gender roles, and their relationships with digital media. Through our engagement session with Elder Grouse and the follow up discussion session, group members 97 indicated how they related to Elder Grouse’s resiliency, his deep belief in Syilx ways of knowing and how he uses traditional practices for his own healing processes, and used Elder Grouse’s teachings to further engage representations of Indigenous Peoples and men in digital media to understand how they may be impacting their Indigenous masculine identities, and their mental health and wellness. Moreover, these sessions demonstrated the importance of technology to connect Indigenous Peoples in times of distress, such as during COVID-19 restrictions, and reaffirmed the importance of including an Indigenous Knowledge Keeper in any group that looks to support Indigenous Peoples mental health and wellness. 3.5.2.1 Resilience in the Face of Adversity A major topic our group picked up on in our discussion with Elder Grouse was that of Resiliency. This is evident in Ethan’s remarks towards the adversities Elder Grouse faced in his lifetime and how he understood resilience to be the most prominent message emerging from this conversation: If you were to like, compile all of what [Elder Grouse] said into like one general main idea, I would say I took away to like find a way to deal with their own shit type of talk I felt like he was trying to give to us. The way he would tell us like he found these ways to deal with alcoholism, like divorces, all this hardness, losing his parents, and like he still found a way to deal with that shit, so he can be where he is now today right, so that's the main takeaway. Within this response, it is clear being resilient personally identified with Ethan’s understanding of the message of Elder Grouse’s conversation. Many others in the group also felt the lesson of being resilient in the face of adversity was what they took away from our discussion with Elder Grouse. Mitchell states, “I feel like when people say like Indigenous people are resilient, I feel 98 like [Elder Grouse is] kind of like the embodiment of that.” Further, Ty relates this conversation to how he finds Elder Grouse to be a ‘tough guy’: What stood out to me was what Mitchell said, was his really strong resilience. Just a rough childhood from what he described and maybe not so great adulthood, but you know, he rose up to that, he apologized to the woman he's hurt…yeah he’s just a really tough guy. Upon asking Ty if by ‘tough’ he is referring to mental toughness, he responds “Yeah.” These comments show how our group identified with Elder Grouse’s aspects of being resilient in the face of adversity. This is a prominent theme within the literature on Indigenous Peoples mental health and wellness as we have had to face much adversity over the past 500 years through which we have and continue to survive. Elder Grouse himself spoke to this resilience multiple times, highlighting spiritual practices that allowed him to stay grounded throughout his journey. Adrian makes this connection in his statement, “[Elder Grouse has] faced a lot of adversity and then to overcome that I think he's relied upon sort of what that inner voice was saying to him and really tuning into that.” This inner voice Adrian refers to is something that Elder Grouse spoke about in relationship to how as Indigenous men we can put up a façade as a protection mechanism that masks our inner self. Elder Grouse spoke to how this façade is often hypermasculine, where Indigenous men mask themselves in toughness, and that connecting with ‘our ways’ brings out our inner selves as we connect to creator and all living things. 3.5.2.2 Belief in ‘Our Ways’ Throughout our session with Elder Grouse, he continuously spoke to how ”believing our ways” was a foundation of who we are as Indigenous Peoples. He mentioned that it was up to us to believe in the ways of our own people, as our group comes from a diverse set of Indigenous cultures and knowledge systems. Elder Grouse mentioned how he does not want to be dogmatic 99 about his approach and does not ever force anyone to accept his advice, but rather, gifts his stories to be used as needed by each person. Asher spoke to his experience learning about traditional medicines and spiritual practices from Elder Grouse and relates this to his practice as a Nursing student: I think it's interesting how he uses his spirituality to kind of overcome some difficulties he's had in life, like his alcoholism and through like traditional uses…he was talking with …uhm but instead of using like kind of modern medicine and how modern medicine really didn't help him a whole lot. But these traditional ways definitely helped him, so I found that interesting… And certainly we don't use [traditional medicine’s] in the hospital often so… I think we actually do have a place in the hospital where you can smudge, like one of the safe spiritual sites. Here Asher relates Elder Grouse’s teachings around spirituality to the differences between Western and Indigenous medicine. He states the hospital does not really use traditional medicines, apart from a spiritual site for Indigenous Peoples to use themselves, and brings up how Elder Grouse mentioned Western treatment programs did not help his alcohol addiction, but Elder Grouse’s traditional Syilx practices did. In relation to this, Quinn also mentions his association with Elder Grouse’s discussion about traditional medicines in relation to Western medicine: Kinda what Asher was saying there about how he does his own medicine in a way through spirituality, how he talked about sweating ‘cause I’ve always been curious about it, I’ve always heard stories, but it’s good to know someone and be invited, that’s such an honour so that’s what I liked about it. 100 This demonstrates how Quinn’s mind is open to traditional Indigenous practices for healing purposes, such as engaging in ceremonial sweat lodge practices. Using traditional healing practices seemed to resonate with our group as it became the focus of our discussion with Elder Grouse. Adrian then draws an interesting conclusion that spirituality was a large part of Elder Grouse’s identity, and the ways Elder Grouse understands himself as an Indigenous man: I think it was pretty interesting seeing how [Elder Grouse] spoke about himself for one and then he really mentioned, I think, because spirituality and ceremony and I think that was a strong identity of who he is and I think as far as like an Indigenous man and like looking for role model, he seems like someone who I think has a very interesting life. These discussions about spiritual practices connect to Adrian’s mention of what it means to our group to be an Indigenous man and how he believes being spiritually grounded is an essential part of Indigenous masculine identities and identity expressions from Adrian’s perspective. Spirituality became an important topic from this point onward, as we used Elder Grouse’s teachings as a foundation from which to understand our previous conversations. At this point in the conversation Ethan asks, “I'm not like quite familiar with smudging like just what would that exactly be like?” This engagement from Ethan demonstrates how engaging in conversations of spirituality and traditional Indigenous spiritual practices may help our group make sense of themselves in relation to their Indigenous cultures’. This engagement sparks a memory from Mitchell as he responds by saying: “Yeah, my grandma used to smudge my siblings and I when we were younger. I think she used like sage or something” further demonstrating the reciprocally beneficial and holistic meaning making processes these conversations can have for the young Indigenous men in our group. This conversation sparked a learning opportunity for our group as I was then able to discuss what I had been taught from Elder’s with regards to smudging. At the 101 end of this session, I looked up videos on digital media of Elder’s discussing the importance of smudging in their culture and the protocols surrounding them. In this way, I attempted to provide reciprocity in whatever way I could by providing learnings to the group members from traditional knowledge keepers relating to the topics we discussed in group. 3.5.2.3 Deconstructing Misrepresentations of Indigenous Peoples & Masculinities Perhaps one of the most salient themes that emerged from our Elder Grouse session was how his expression of being an Indigenous man seemed to be in stark contrast to the representations we had discussed were present within digital media, but also how Elder Grouse’s understandings of Indigenous masculine identities and expressions aligned with our own understandings of what it means to express positive Indigenous masculinities, Quinn stated: Uhm I thought it was interesting he started off asking about if we were spiritually connected…It's a good question like, ha, I don't really ask myself that much, too often so it's good that he did. I also thought it came from our previous meetings. Like the points that we brought up of what it means to be a young Indigenous man. It was very similar to kind of what [Elder Grouse] was explaining in the ways of being yourself, being connected with nature and family and your community, so I thought our points were pretty similar to what he was saying. Within this quote, Quinn links topics we have discussed throughout the group to how our own understandings of positive masculine expressions are different from what was often encountered in digital media. This allowed our group to further engage this topic, where Mitchell then discusses how Elder Grouse had to confront stereotypes in his life by being the opposite: I feel like the….main thing that stuck out to me was when he was talking about the lazy stereotype….I saw like a parallel between what Ethan and Ty talked about, the Tim 102 Horton's, and like people already having like assumptions about being like lazy and stuff and so he had to like overcome that and like always be on time and show up early and stuff like that just to overcome pre-existing stereotypes that would have hindered him…And I mean, obviously if that's still going on from when he was younger, to still now. Mitchell mentions how Elder Grouse had to show up early for work in order to undo the stereotype of Indigenous Peoples being lazy. Elder Grouse himself mentioned how these preconceived notions still exist in the imaginations of Euro-Canadian society and that we must continuously work towards undoing these stereotypes by aligning ourselves with our traditional Indigenous values. As mentioned, this became a theme of our group, where our findings have been structured to account for how our group identified with what it means to be an Indigenous man, how they feel digital media portrays Indigenous men, inclusive of Indigenous masculine expression, and the relationships this had with our learnings from Elder Grouse. At this point, Adrian also relates to this discussion by stating how Elder Grouse encompassed Indigenous men as having big hearts and being community-based as opposed to having a violent nature, like that normally seen in digital media: He did say that like, well, [Indigenous] people I think have big hearts as well so that was kind of interesting that there's sort of that humor, and then big hearts, and yeah, he didn’t really bring that sort of aggressive tendency or nature in there, I guess, but he made a point of saying that [Indigenous Peoples] are really community-based. [Indigenous Peoples] do go out of their way kind of thing for each other, when he's leaving his door open for whoever to come by and have some food. 103 This may relate to earlier conversations with Adrian where he mentions that sometimes he feels his expression of masculinity can offend others or activities that he likes to participate in can be seen as scary. He also mentions how he is solidified in his core values, one of which is being kind to others. Having a big heart seems to resonate with Adrian’s personal identity and understanding of what it means to be an Indigenous man as he grapples with the ways Elder Grouse framed his own identity in relation to the topics we discussed. Further probing during this conversation by asking if our group members were seeing representations of Indigenous men that aligned with Elder Grouse’s values and the values we identified in group, prompted Ethan to respond by saying: Like all of my friends who are like around the same age and also Native like I always see them on social media like posting them taking a bong rip [smoking cannabis/marijuana] or like just drinking out with friends type of stuff, so I'd be like, at least kids my age, I would see like the complete opposite of what the Elder was trying to make him out to be, and just kind of like get into that life of drugs and alcohol and recklessness. Evident within this quote is during Ethan’s usual experience using digital media, he witnesses his peers participating in activities such as smoking cannabis and drinking alcohol. Since Elder Grouse touted a sober life, Ethan draws the conclusion these images are the exact opposite of what Elder Grouse was discussing in relation to being an Indigenous man and its associated expressions of positive Indigenous masculinities. This connects back to our discussion about the lack of Elders on social media and may speak to the importance of having positive expressions of Indigenous masculinity, and their associated role models, more present on digital media. 104 3.6 Humor The importance of humor for Indigenous Peoples to cope with hardships was another salient topic we discussed in group that was also presented within Elder Grouse’s talk about positive Indigenous masculine identities and expressions. Specifically, Quinn recounts: How [Elder Grouse] said most Indigenous people deal with trauma through humor, just to laugh a lot and never to lose your fun side and I thought that was really interesting and that kind of relates to being a lover and not a fighter so that's kind of what I thought he was really trying to emphasize on. Earlier on in the groups, Ethan also mentioned lessons about the importance for Indigenous Peoples to remain humorous from an Indigenous male role model in his life, his uncle, and how he and his friends make light of racial stereotypes in day-to-day situations: I'm just quoting like my uncle, but we were up in the cabin this summer and he said Native humor is just shitting on other Natives and making fun of their stereotypes. So, I think it's kind of good to have a laugh at stereotypes. Sometimes in like a non-serious type of manner like hey, we'll get that. That's us like you know. But then like it just on a serious manner, just… In relation to Elder Grouse’s lesson, this story from Ethan may show the importance of humor for Indigenous Peoples ability to cope with racial stereotypes. Humor is something Ethan mentions throughout the group’s as he consistently references how he jokes about stereotypes in his daily life, “in the Close Friend Group we can just joke all we want, it's like you know? No hard feelings, don't take it personally were all just telling jokes and trying to have a good laugh.” It seems humor is important to Ethan as it may act as a protective factor against the negative 105 feelings racial stereotypes can elicit in young Indigenous men and those who associate with Indigenous masculinities. At another point in the groups, Ethan also mentions how he does not care if other’s stereotype him or his family, “But, like a lower level, like in school or in such, I don't really have a problem with people thinking that my whole family is just a bunch of drunks or Stoic people.” It is unclear exactly why Ethan feels this way. Perhaps, it has to do with Ethan being solidified in his family connections and his identity where the perspective of outsider’s is no longer important to him. On the other side, it may be that Ethan has not considered the ramifications of outsider’s viewing his family through the lens of racial stereotypes and feels it does not affect them. However, considering Ethan’s earlier story about the importance of not holding racial stereotypes towards others, it is likely Ethan has a strong family and cultural connection which acts as a protective factor against racial stereotypes about his people. This comment from Ethan elicits an interesting response from his brother Ty, “I mean like that was us, right? Just like other kids, like other Indigenous kids probably won't like, there’s probably some that won't like being stereotyped as much as we laughed about it, so I see a problem with that.” This response from Ty was interesting as he comments towards Ethan’s relatively easy-going attitude towards stereotypes and the ways they have laughed about them in their friend group. Perhaps engaging in these conversations in group have allowed Ty to more deeply consider how racial stereotypes about Indigenous Peoples may influence their lives as he seems to consider the ramifications of this process and extrapolates its potential ill-effects on Indigenous Peoples in Canada. 106 3.7 Final Meeting The final group meeting occurred three weeks following session 6, where we recapped the teachings from Elder Grouse. This session was used to provide feedback to the group about results and discuss with them the accuracy and representativeness of what I had compiled. We then discussed how digital media influences our groups health and wellness in consideration of our discussions thus far. 3.7.1 Influences of Digital Media on The Mental Health of Young Indigenous Men Throughout the group, we discussed many topics about digital media that could be considered positive and negative. Although there were some potential ill-effects of digital media that we discussed in relation to violence, misrepresentations of Indigenous men and Peoples, and the addicting qualities of digital media, the group generally felt that digital media has a positive influence of their health and wellness as young Indigenous men. 3.7.1.1 Positive As it is important in Indigenous research to not only understand and divulge how colonization has negatively impacted Indigenous Peoples identities, health, and wellness, but to also focus on how engaging Indigenous Peoples in the research process can bring about positive results and how in the face of adversity, Indigenous Peoples often do focus on the positive, I would like to center how, regardless of the stereotypes and violence that can be found on digital media, our group strove to use digital media for positive identity creation processes. Our group embodied this understanding as throughout the session’s the group members continuously spoke to positive uses of digital media and the ways they seek out the positive in life. Specifically, Adrian spoke to how he uses digital media to gather knowledge and further his own thought processes, including his search for identity as a young Indigenous man: 107 I enjoy looking up and utilizing [digital media] as a sort of a tool to further my learnings or inquiries that I'm looking into. So, looking on the positive side of things, uhm, to try and find stuff that is maybe philosophical or culturally engaging and then always just trying to learn, and I think that really struck me when Elder Grouse kind of said that just about the learning component is that, when I am online and using digital media, it always tends to be something about learning or how to make something or how to…just gather more knowledge or just build it for the relationship and it probably is definitely most of the time to do with outdoors…Just trying to look for answers all the time. Within this comment, it is evident Adrian constantly uses digital media to search for answers. In earlier sessions, Adrian mentions his search for an Indigenous male role model which appears to, at least in part, take place through his digital media engagement. His brother Quinn also resonates with this positive use of digital media as he states the ways he uses digital media for education, connecting to other people, and learning about his ‘traditional Indigenous ways:’ It's a great educational tool, a great tool for communicating and getting your message across to more people than you would just by talking face to face, so I think it's great that way because I've learned a lot, especially traditional Indigenous ways...There's the fact that you know, maybe it might not be specifically your nation's culture, but I mean, it's still Indigenous culture[s] either way, so it's great to learn more about how different tribes do what. Clearly, Quinn also uses digital media to search for his personal identity, including understanding his traditional Indigenous culture and its associated expressions of masculine identities. It is likely that Adrian and Quinn engage in this act of searching for identity together, as they appear to be significant Indigenous male support figures in one another’s lives. 108 In relation to personal search for identity, Mitchell discusses the ways positive representations of Indigenous men make him feel more appreciated: I feel like when you see more Indigenous content and Indigenous men content, I think as an Indigenous man, even though it's not your content whatever, you just feel more seen and appreciated and stuff just 'cause like it's more representation I guess. Uh, I don't think under representation really affects me negatively, though I think just the representation itself kind of affects me positively. Mitchell finds positive representations of Indigenous men and masculinities in digital media important as he notes the lack of representation does not affect him, perhaps implying that negative representation does affect him. This seems to be a theme throughout Mitchell’s discussions as he has been critical of ‘propaganda’ and how stereotypes may have influenced his understandings of Indigenous Peoples. Using digital media to search for knowledge also resonates within Ty’s response during this final group session: I think it’s really positive how it influences my mental health, 'cause you know, just click of a button and you get up to speed with like the whole world with like all the news and stuff… It's like movies and stories and other stuff like that, you know? It's just really cool to like watch and experience everything. Within Ty’s response, it is evident he uses digital media to connect with stories and information about the world around him. This type of knowledge gathering may allow Ty to explore his identity through digital media and provide a framework for meaning making processes. By connecting with stories, he may be able to better understand himself in relation to the world around him and his traditional Indigenous values. This combined with the earlier quotes from Adrian and Mitchell, speaks to how our group uses digital media for their own personal searches 109 for knowledge, and how it has positively influenced their identities, and their mental health and wellness. Interestingly, in relation to positive influences of digital media, Ethan mentions the ‘mood boost’ he can receive from using digital media: From a positive side, I would say that like just a little bit like, not too much, like it can kind of boost my mood and kind of give me motivated to do stuff. When you're like, you get like cool videos or like talking with friends or anything like that, it really boosts your mood and just makes you feel better for a little moment… Ethan finds that he can get motivation from using digital media, even if it is simply talking to his friends. Ethan seems to utilize digital media for the motivation it can provide. Asher also mentions positive benefits of using digital media, “you can learn some things and it's a good access for like resources” indicating that he also uses digital media to gather knowledge and further his own thought processes. Being a life-long learner was a topic that Elder Grouse mentioned in our meeting with him and has clearly resonated with our group and their learnings. 3.7.1.2 Negative Following up asking Ty about how stereotypes in digital media affected him, he responded: Well, it used to really bug me, but not very much anymore. I don't know, like most stereotypes I see are just from CBC or APTN and it's just a, not really more of like the old stereotypes of like stoic or brave or whatever, it's more stereotypes of just living on the rez, like living off of welfare. I then asked Ty why the stereotypes did not bug him anymore, to which he responded, “Overexposure that's my best guess,” again indicating the pervasiveness of these misrepresentations on digital media. This speaks to how he has encountered a large number of 110 stereotypes about Indigenous Peoples and he feels that they no longer affect him due to ‘overexposure.’ I then readdress the circle and see if there is anything else that anyone has to add to our discussion. During this time, Quinn mentions misinformation about Indigenous Peoples “a negative thing about social media could be the misinformation that you get from it” noting that “some people do fit into those stereotypes, it's kind of misinformation to assume that everyone is like that.” This resonates with our earlier discussions about being who you are and not trying to live up to an idealized version of what Indigenous Peoples are, such as the Noble Savage, and the emerging theme of undoing stereotypes. Unsurprisingly, some group members also noted the ways that violence towards Indigenous Peoples on digital media can negatively influence their health and wellness. In Adrian’s response, he once again discusses how topics relating to violence towards Indigenous Peoples and the RCMP affect him: Yeah, just kind of as we sort of mentioned, like the violent side of things, RCMP, and some of the conflicts that happen sometimes it's kind of tough coming across that…, but, you know that's one area that to me is definitely when I see it, I just sort of, just feel my heart sink a bit because you know that someone is facing that adversity?...for me I feel comforted that I could potentially call the police and they would actually help… I feel that there are a lot of you know, First Nations and Indigenous people and communities that probably feel that they don't have that option, and I think that for me that's hard to hear. Adrian goes on to mention the ways that engaging in this content can result in burnout and his hope for a better future: So, when I see that I just sort of I read a bit about it, but I just find myself kinda wondering how to fix it, but I don't know that answer, so I just kind of burnout after a certain amount 111 of time reading about it and, Uh, that's when I go outside and just go “Hey, I hope we find an answer someday. The questions Adrian raises in relation to how to fix violence against Indigenous Peoples in Canada can undoubtedly hang heavy on the minds of young Indigenous men, as evident in our groups responses the ways these issues continue to affect their daily lives. Mitchell continues discussing violence towards Indigenous Peoples in Canada in relation to comments he has seen made towards other Indigenous Peoples: There's a lot of Indigenous content on social media that gets a lot of hate and stuff you could go into the comments and stuff. I feel like that affects you negative 'cause you see a lot more of the hate from people and stuff like that. Where if you just didn't go to the comments and stuff, you wouldn’t see it 'cause like in every day, you don't really see it as much, but when you go online and stuff, I feel like people have that anonymous kind of more brave side that they can publicly display their hate more online anonymously rather than like you wouldn't ever, they'd never say that to anyone like that in person usually. Here Mitchell discusses his general feelings towards comment sections on Indigenous-related content in social media. He mentions that if he didn’t go into the comments sections that he would not be exposed to these harmful comments. He relates this to how people can feel more anonymous online and make comments they would never make in face-to-face interactions. He continues by talking about a specific incident where he witnessed someone telling an Indigenous person to commit suicide: I think she was Inuit or something like that up there, and she's talking about how they, their food storage and stuff, and they have, like you know, like preserved whale meat and stuff, and…it's their Indigenous right to be able to hunt whales and stuff like that, it’s part of 112 their culture. And then you know you get all the hate from people saying how like…like it can get pretty bad, like people like literally telling them to like kill themselves and stuff because of them hunting whales and stuff, even though it's their right and stuff…I feel like that just affects people negatively. As a bystander and probably the person themselves as well… Upon asking Mitchell how encountering these harmful comments made him feel, he responded by saying: ..it kind of just makes you feel, I guess it's just more down and stuff because you know you think as a society you're supposed to move forward, but then you see all this kind of hate that you know the same hate that they'd seen in this, you know, since like since they first came over and stuff like the discrimination and stuff like that about their practices and stuff like that same thing since like the 1600s and stuff…Yeah, I mean like yeah 'cause, especially when like you know, nowadays everything seems a lot more progressive and stuff. Mitchell points to how in our contemporary times, there is supposed to be less violence and racism towards Indigenous Peoples than in the past. However, he states that “but then when you see those things, it doesn't seem so much” indicating his skepticism towards this claim. Combined, violence towards Indigenous Peoples and the RCMP are topics that Adrian and Mitchell discuss throughout the group perhaps indicating its pervasiveness in their lives. This may have extremely negative effects on young Indigenous Peoples abilities to reconnect with their culture through digital media if they are facing violence during the process. Social media is supposed to act as a tool for connecting individuals, but in this case may act to reproduce discrimination against Indigenous Peoples from settler society. 113 3.7.1.3 The Importance of UnPlugging Throughout the group sessions, our group talked about how they find it important to unplug from using digital media as it is so immersed into our daily lives. Although there are not many specific quotes relating to these discussions, we did touch on the subject at the beginning of groups, sometimes prior to recording, when casually talking about our weeks. There were many occasions that I asked the group if they felt ‘unplugging’ was important and there were head nods and signs of acknowledgement. This feeling is evident in an earlier quote from Ty, where he states using too much digital media makes him feel bad because he did not get to go outside. Specifically, in relation to this topic, Adrian commented: Yeah, yeah. Just the vastness out there, you know? It’s perfect the way it is, and we tend to tinker with it a bit much so, it’s nice to kind of go out there and just see what you see. Yesterday seeing a Golden eagle is pretty amazing and a red tail Hawk kind of fighting, uhm, just reminds yoUniversity of what what's going on around us and and just when we kind of, you know? Just look like once in a while so. I mean, it's a pretty nice, pretty amazing place to live. Within this quote, the importance Adrian places on unplugging and connecting with nature is evident. As mentioned previously, connecting with nature was a salient theme throughout our group in relation to what it means to be an Indigenous man. Confidently, many group members held similar understandings towards nature as Adrian. Further, connecting to Creator and all living things was a topic in relation to spirituality we discussed with Elder Grouse, and the influence this discussion had on Adrian where he is able to unplug and utilize the teachings of Elder Grouse through this grounding practice. 114 3.8 Benefits of Young Indigenous Men’s Group for Promotion of Meaning Making and Identity Reconstruction Processes. Throughout the groups each one of the group members voiced how supportive of an environment the group was and how engaging with other young Indigenous men has been beneficial. Asher mentions, “I find it really helpful and nice, I think it's always kind of cool to see what other people are thinking and somewhat reassuring, definitely that there are other people out there kind of like thinking the same thing and what everybody else’s take is on it.” Connecting with others through our group seems to have allowed Asher to find commonalities with other like-minded people. This is important for creating identity, as it allows us to construct our identities in relation to other’s we connect to. Adrian’s response parallels this by stating: It's just been nice to kind of talk about being an Indigenous man and certainly the digital media aspect of it creates an interesting discussion. Because I think like the mental health side of it can tie into the digital media side of it…so I think it's been a really great space to connect with other classmates and just kind of share, you know? I respect everyone 's opinion and thoughts and I just think it's pretty amazing to hear and be a part of so yeah, it's been really great. Within this quote, Adrian brings digital media into the discussion where he notes how he finds the topic to be important. At another point Adrian mentions, “I think the timing of this group was really interesting and certainly with the digital media aspect of it.” This comment solidifies the understanding that Adrian feels the digital media aspect of the group was important and the timing was beneficial. Although this project was conceived prior to COVID-19 restrictions, it does seem to have filled a much-needed gap during these hard times where we have been more isolated than ever before. Adrian continues by saying: 115 I think it's really healing. I think it kind of just takes you to place it sometimes, maybe you're nervous, you’re a little apprehensive, but you show up and you're in the meetings, some weeks you talk more, some weeks you talk less, but I think that it's a nice balance. It's a nice environment to be a part of. These comments serve as early confirmation of the needs for groups for young Indigenous men and the ways that engaging topics of digital media use, identity, and health in a supportive environment can bring about beneficial results for group members. Ethan then mentions the ways that the group has allowed him to have a space to discuss underlying thoughts about what it means to be an Indigenous man: This has been like really great for me personally because there's been these underlying thoughts I've been having about being an Indigenous man that I haven’t had quite the right place to just share with others about my own viewpoint and this study is just a great place to, not vent, but just kind of, unload on, you know?...so this group just kind of provides a nice little common ground if you will, for everyone just to speak their mind about these subjects regarding Indigenous personality and manly-hood if you will, again, thanks for hosting this type of environment. Again, these comments speak to how the simple act of engaging in weekly discussions with a group of like-minded peers can be reciprocally beneficial for the members of the group. Mitchell also indicates the gap this group has filled in his own life: I think it's good 'cause I've never really had Indigenous people to talk to…engineering is literally 99% White guys and so like you're around guys, but like they're all not the same as you know Indigenous guys so that's good, it's been good for that 116 This statement from Mitchell confirms how having Indigenous men in a group is beneficial over and above a more generalized men’s group. This makes sense when we consider the cultural ramifications of gender norms and roles and the shifting expectations that occurs within cultures across time. It is hard enough for young Indigenous men to keep up with changing gender norms and roles, not having supportive environments that understand the contexts of Indigenous Peoples in Canada and the ways the influences modern day Indigenous Peoples may further are leave young Indigenous men to navigate their identities unsupported. Mitchell further explains how he feels by stating: Just I'm not sure if this is just 'cause it's a pandemic thing or not, but I feel like just kind of connecting more with people, and I mean I feel like we all have a lot more in common and I think that just kind of helps it a lot more, and yeah, I just feel like it's from cultural aspect and more in like an individual aspect. Kind of relating to people that way kind of helps as well. Further, Quinn recollects on his anxiety towards losing his culture and the ways the group has helped him ground himself by engaging with others in similar situations: I’d say [the group has been beneficial] for myself too. I mean, it's kinda hard to find an Indigenous Mens group… so it’s definitely a great opportunity, grateful to be here… I just feel like our culture is kind of being lost to some degree and that kind of worries me and the fact that I don't know much about my culture so this kind of came at a good time to kind of talk with others and see where it's at with other people, so it's been helpful for myself…I found this beneficial like just to be here and talk and especially to talk about our, you know our culture and like as I've said I don't know much about my Indigenous culture so it's nice to speak to everyone here and kind of learn more from everyone, and Elder 117 Grouse there, uhm, so I think could be beneficial in that way to have a group to support Indigenous men, especially culturally speaking. These responses speak to the need for Peoples with the lived experiences of young Indigenous men to have support systems in place where they can discuss what it means to be an Indigenous man today and get a non-judgmental response from a group of like-minded peers. This is something that has been mentioned throughout the study, how needed a group for young Indigenous men was and the ways that engaging digital media in this manner has allowed group members to develop a deeper perspective of the issues we discuss in group. Combined with earlier comments, this speaks to the great need for groups of like-minded peers for young Indigenous men. Within this discussion, many group members also mention the ways their perspectives have changed as a result of engaging in the group. Ethan states “Since this study has started, I've kind of noticed myself in the background, like just noticing how little Indigenous or like looking for Indigenous men on social media and Indigenous communities, just at all” which may speak to the ways that engaging in this group has allowed him to be more vigilant about the content he is consuming on digital media as he speaks to the lack of representation of Indigenous Peoples within media. Adrian also notes this dynamic by stating how his own perspective changed throughout the groups: How I'm observing stuff as well is changing which is interesting to kind of see the perspective sort of change as we move along…I sort of observe myself from an outside perspective of what I'm actually engaging in or inquiring about...that's kind of interesting. Although Adrian does not mention Indigenous representation within digital media, he does note how his perspective has changed as a result of engaging in the group. This also resonates with 118 Mitchell as he adds, “Same as everyone else, ever since this study it's just constantly been in my head about noticing Indigenous people and Indigenous men more on social media. Kind of just like not noticing them more, but just kind of like consciously. Analyzing things more based on if I do see it or not.” These comments speak to how engaging young Indigenous men in a group of peers can support meaning making so that they are better able to navigate their identities as they use digital media through coming to a better understanding of how what they are consuming may influence them. 119 Chapter 4: Interpretations & Discussion of Results 4.1 Overview of Study Although there is a growing body of work within the social sciences regarding Indigenous youth’s digital media use, including ways to use digital media for positive identity reclamation, there is little if any research examining the effects digital media has on the identity of young Indigenous men and how this may influence their mental health and wellness. Given the long history of the use of media within colonial society to create misrepresentations of Indigenous men as being primitive, savage, and uncivilized, it is important to understand how the continued misrepresentations of Indigenous men within digital media, influences the identities and identity expressions of young Indigenous men. Since the identity of Indigenous youth is integral to their mental health and wellness, it is important to understand the dynamics between digital media use, colonial violence, and misrepresentations of Indigenous Peoples in order to understand how to use digital media for the positive reclamation of Indigenous identities and identity expressions for positive mental health transformation within Indigenous youth. Therefore, the purpose of this project was to engage young Indigenous men in a digital wellness group to help create knowledge around what is important for young Indigenous men while using digital media, how this influences their identity, and the impacts this has on their mental health and wellness. This study was conducted using an Indigenous Storywork methodology (Archibald, 2008; Archibald et al., 2019) fused with a CBPR approach (Evans et al., 2014; MacKinnon, 2018; MacTaggart, 1991; Tuck & Yang, 2019) in order to create an environment of reciprocity and respect through which we could create knowledge to honour the voices of young Indigenous men from their own lived experiences in ways that represent the synergistic and holistic epistemologies of Indigenous Peoples There were three main research questions that framed this study: 120 (d) How do young Indigenous men use digital media? (e) How do young Indigenous men think digital media affects their identity? (f) How do young Indigenous men think the interaction between their identity and the digital world affects their health and wellness? These questions were created in response to the literature within critical Indigenous Feminist theories, Indigenous Queer theories, and Indigenous Masculinity theories. This theoretical framework helped guide this study as sub-problems were created relating to major topics of study within these fields, such as the importance of Indigenous identities to health, misrepresentations of Indigenous Peoples created by colonial society, how the implementation of heteropatriarchy effected Indigenous identities, inclusive of gender, and its relationship to Indigenous Peoples mental health and wellness. Further, general questions pertaining to digital media use were created in response to recent literature on digital media use in Indigenous youth, such as “how often are you digitally engaged?”, which was integrated with the critical Indigenous gender theories mentioned to critically analyze how digital media use influences the identity, mental health and wellness of young Indigenous men from a Critical Indigenous Gender lens. As a result of COVID-19 restrictions, data was collected through online Zoom meeting’s using Zoom’s audio record feature, hand-notes taken by the researcher, and through both group member and researcher reflexive journaling. A yarning approach was taken to running these groups to have a very open structure that gave primacy to the flow of the participants conversations, rather than sticking to prepared conversation points. Group members were engaged during the first session regarding how to structure the group going forward, including how often to meet and for how long, the type of data we would collect, and who we would invite to our group. Through these discussions, we decided to meet once per week for 6 weeks, take 2 weeks off for 121 final exams, and meet one last time for data collection. These meetings ran for a duration of 1 ½ - 2 hours and consisted of weekly discussions structured by the questions created through our theoretical framework. Following data collection, all group members received the results section to be reviewed and approved in order to ensure accuracy of interpretations of results. Throughout the group, many topics emerged relevant to the theoretical framework of this study. Major topics emerging were representations and misrepresentations of Indigenous Peoples as our group noticed how often Indigenous Peoples were cast as violent savages, but also how they used digital media to reconnect with their Indigenous cultures and knowledge systems in order to reclaim their identity. They mentioned how their own understanding of what it means to be an Indigenous man, being community-based, giving back to the next generation, and having a connection to land and the spiritual world, was misaligned with the majority of representations they were encountering while using digital media. Further, they mentioned how Elder Grouse’s discussion of what it means to be an Indigenous man was aligned with their own understanding but misaligned with the majority of representations of Indigenous men on digital media. There were also incidences where the group members mentioned positive representations of Indigenous men reclaiming their traditional practices and cultures within digital media as a source of Indigenous male role models. 4.2 Discussion of Results and Conclusion Although there are many discussion points which could be focused on, I will attempt to remain as brief as possible. For this reason, I have reduced the results section to address our 3 main research questions created, “How do young Indigenous men use digital media?”, “How do young Indigenous men think digital media affects their identity?” and “How do young Indigenous men think the interaction between their identity and the digital world affects their health and wellness?” 122 As such, these sections are meant to provide a brief overview of the topics featured in Ch. 3 while also linking the importance of these topics to the Literature Review in Ch 1. Following this, I present a visual representation of our findings located on a Medicine Wheel framework to understand Indigenous Peoples identities inspired by a discussion in Methot (2019, pp. 1 - 30) where the author integrates traditional teachings into her work in Indigenous Peoples identity and mental health. I will end with a brief conclusion where I will my personal understanding of the findings of this study and make recommendations for future work. 4.2.1 How do young Indigenous men use digital media? To fully understand the implications digital media use has for young Indigenous men’s identity, mental health, and wellness, I gathered the groups knowledge around what digital media meant to each of them and how often they were digitally engaged. Similar to findings in Loebach et al., (2019), the young Indigenous men in our group felt digital media encompassed any and all interactions within digital spaces, including social media, movies, music, playing video games, and online video content. Further, group members indicated digital media’s full immersion into their lives as they used digital media throughout the day for purposes ranging from entertainment, connecting with friends, and work-/school-related purposes. Further, our group indicated they used digital media for taking a break and distracting themselves, where they felt using digital media helped them focus at times when they were trying to get motivated to engage in university work through its ability to provide a brain break or motivation towards finishing their goals. However, our group also indicated this comes with a downside where they felt if they spent too much time on digital media it negatively impacted their mental health and wellness. This occurred through eliciting negative feelings around time use, where our group members felt they could have better spent their time going out with friends or enjoying nature as opposed to 123 over-consuming digital media. Further, the young Indigenous men in our group mentioned how they use digital media for reconnecting with their Indigenous cultures through engaging with cultural ceremonies, researching Indigenous place names, and gathering Indigenous-based knowledges, such as traditional bow-making practices. 4.2.2 How do young Indigenous men think digital media affects their identity? Clear from the outset was how the young Indigenous men in our group understood themselves in different ways than Indigenous men and masculinities were being represented on digital media. To begin, the conceptualization emerging from our groups understanding of what it means to be an Indigenous man and express positive Indigenous masculinities was rooted within traditional Indigenous values of being community-based, land-based, and spiritually connected (Anderson, 2012; Antone, 2015; Duran et al., 2008; Gone, 2013; McKegeny, 2013). However, the young Indigenous men in our group indicated they regularly encountered misrepresentations of Indigenous men where most often Indigenous men and masculinities were being presented as primitive savages and our group agreed with the notion of this character’s heteronormative and hypermasculine nature (Hokowhitu, 2015; Kemper, 2014). Further, our group indicated they encounter misrepresentations of Indigenous Peoples generally, as being alcoholics, lazy, and uneducated. We also discussed other representations of Indigenous men and masculinities in digital media, such as being peaceful, a provider, and a protector, and how these other representations held some truths, but may also be misinformed as they have been told through the eyes of the colonial mindset. Evident within quotes from Asher is the confusion misrepresentations of Indigenous men and masculinities can create within young Indigenous men in relation to their identity. Specifically, Asher spoke about how misrepresentations of Indigenous men as “crazy spiritual 124 warriors….shown…very stoic…and the high tendency for violence” within digital media, momentarily disrupted his ability to connect to traditional understandings of Indigenous masculine identity where he thought he was supposed to live up to this violent warrior misrepresentation. However, reconnecting to traditional Indigenous bow making practices, and other cultural revitalization tactics deployed through digital media, allowed him to come to a better understanding of himself as an Indigenous man, where he now understands himself to be connected to nature, which combined with Asher being in a Nursing profession, likely speaks to his identity as a nurturer and provider as opposed to an identity rooted within understandings of hypermasculinity and violence. Further, Mitchell spoke to how positive representations of Indigenous masculine role models within digital media makes him feel seen and understood. This demonstrates how digital media can be used positively by young Indigenous men, where if they take an active role in digital media creation, it can help young Indigenous men positive transform their Indigenous masculine identities within contemporary society (Jacobs, 2019), despite the effort by colonial society to remove these identities (Fanon, 1963; Friere, 1996; Memmi, 2013; L. Smith, 2013; RCAP 1996; TRC, 2015). On the other hand, Mitchell also spoke in depth about violence towards Indigenous Peoples present on digital media, in the form of news articles about RCMP violence and within comment sections of social media apps. Of particular importance, is how Mitchell stated he has witnessed an Indigenous woman being told to commit suicide for advocating for her rights to practice her cultures traditional sustenance activities of hunting whales and preserving whale meat. These extremely harmful and racist commentaries indicate the potential ill-effects of digital media on young Indigenous men, where racist content that promotes understandings of Indigenous Peoples primitivity and racial inferiority may negatively impact young Indigenous men’s 125 identities. Similar to Indigenous knowledges, Indigenous sustenance practices are often seen as inferior, obsolete, and primitive, in comparison to colonial societies industrial farming practices. However, these practices are deeply interrelated to Indigenous Peoples identities and have a significant gendered component to them where participation in these activities help constitute gender identity and expression within Indigenous communities (Antone, 2015; Hodgson-Smith & Kermoal, 2016; Kermoal, 2016). When young Indigenous men are unable to conduct their traditional practices unhindered by colonial society and the racial violence emanating from it, this can disrupt identity formation in young Indigenous Peoples as it disrupts their ability to reconnect to their traditional Indigenous cultures understanding of masculine identity, creating discrepancies between what young Indigenous men feel on the inside and what they encounter in their outside worlds. Through witnessing other Indigenous Peoples being targeted by settler society for trying to reclaim their culture, as in the case with Mitchell’s comments, this may disrupt young Indigenous men, and peoples more broadly, from reclaiming their culture as they internalize the understandings of their cultures primitivity, creating a disconnect between themselves and their culture. In relation to Indigenous men’s and masculinities, this can have serious impacts on young Indigenous men’s abilities to reconstruct their Indigenous masculine identities and expressions within contemporary society as these identities and expressions have been criminalized throughout history and continue to be criminalized today as they are used for the justification of the over-policing of young Indigenous Peoples within Canada (Chartrand, 2019), the taking of Indigenous children from their families (Leeuw, Greenwood, & Cameron, 2010), and the high rates of violence Indigenous Peoples face (Innes & Anderson, 2015). A candid example of how Indigenous masculinities can be criminalized comes from Adrian’s discussion about how his 126 performance of Indigenous masculinity, such as reconnecting with Indigenous sustenance activities of hunting through participating in target shooting, can be seen as violent or scary by others, but how these performances are acts of trying to reconnect with the art of his ancestors. Combined with other comments by Adrian, such as mentioning he is solid in his core value of being kind to others, and his understanding of Elder Grouse’s message of non-violence, speaks to how Adrian seeks to connect with traditional Indigenous values despite the associations with violence others deem these activities to have. Further, Quinn’s reference to how its usually men seen in violent situations on digital media speaks to the associations between masculinities and violence presented within digital media in general. These dynamics may be compounded when considering Mitchell’s comments about his education in high school and how the representations of Indigenous Peoples he encountered reinforced heteronormative and patriarchal gender roles and norms that are static and unchanging. Within this conversation, Mitchell mentions how history is told through the eyes of the victor, indicating how this history has been manipulated to favour white society. As mentioned, colonial men misrepresent Indigenous Peoples, men, and masculinities to favour colonial society (Kemper, 2014), through attributing all that is negative about the world to the savage nature of the colonized (Memmi, 2013). This can have very real impacts on young Indigenous men’s mental health and wellness as this feeds into the cycle of traumatization that continues through the structure of settler colonialism to oppress Indigenous Peoples in Canada. Mitchell and Quinn both mention the negative mental health effects that occur because of this dynamic as they extrapolate the connections between the high rates of suicide, alcohol and drug abuse, and general poor mental health statistics within Indigenous communities to racial discrimination, continued misrepresentation in digital media, and the extreme forms of trauma enacted on Indigenous Peoples during Residential Schooling. 127 Combined with previous discussions about misrepresentation and the impacts they have on Indigenous Peoples in Canada, this seems to point to how misrepresentations of Indigenous masculinities can create the understanding within society of the savage and primitive nature of these identities and expressions as a result of their associations with violence. In turn, this can result in Indigenous men like Adrian feeling uncomfortable reconnecting with traditional Indigenous practices, such as hunting, in fear of them being viewed as violent. Further, this can inhibit young Indigenous men like Mitchell, who understand static gender roles and norms to be harmful, from reconnecting with traditional Indigenous practices they may have a desire to reconnect to but are inhibited by the view of these activities as being feminine or outside the bounds of Indigenous masculine expressions. As mentioned, the misrepresentation of traditional Indigenous identities and expressions, inclusive of gender, in media result from the assumed racial superiority of white society within the colonial mindset (Kemper, 2014; Memmi, 1964; Smith, 2012) where they took it upon themselves to ‘correct’ Indigenous identities and expressions through the manipulation of photos (Maynard, 2000) and textual representations (Kemper et al., 2014; Lutz et al., 2020) to justify the project of settler colonialism which combined with a series of physically violent (Miranda, 2010; Morgenson, 2015) and legislative practices (Cannon, 2019) to instate heteropatriarchy into Indigenous societies, radically altering the identities and identity expressions of Indigenous Peoples. These colonial ideals of heteronormativity and patriarchy go against the gender fluidity and complementarity found within traditional Indigenous communities (Anderson, 2009; Gilly, 2006; Green, 2017; Jacobs et al., 1997; Lang, 1998; Rikfin, 2010; Roscoe, 1998; Sneider, 2015; St. Denis, 2017; William, 1986) which may have implications for young Indigenous men’s and Indigenous youth’s more broadly, abilities to create meaningful identities. If these meaningful 128 identities are in conflict with the notions of Indigenous identity and gender found within the digital world, it serves to reason this may cause confusion and shame associated with one’s identity and identity expressions. In fact, Indigenous youth have been found to be concerned with the hegemonic societies understanding of socially acceptable ways to act being projected through digital media and how this may influence their own mental health and wellness (Loebach et al., 2019). The misalignment between young Indigenous men’s external and internal world’s may have profound implications for young Indigenous men’s identities as they have to navigate their identities whilst being bombarded with associations between Indigenous men, masculinities, and violence, which are not conducive to traditional Indigenous understandings of masculine identity and expressions. Undoubtedly, the dominant societies understanding of the primitive and savage nature of these Indigenous masculine expressions and the activities associated with them is influenced by the misrepresentations of Indigenous men and masculinities within digital media and this dynamic has the potential to influence young Indigenous men’s identity construction. Despite the large associations between Indigenous men, masculinities and violence present on digital media, the young Indigenous men in our group viewed Indigenous masculine identities and expressions as being connected to nature, providing for their families, and being respectful of other peoples’ identities. These understandings of Indigenous masculine expressions as containing qualities of respect, reciprocity, and being community-based align with traditional Indigenous values associated with Indigenous masculine identities and expressions (Anderson, 2012; Antone, 2015; McKegeny, 2013). This speaks to how these young Indigenous men are faced with contradictions in how Indigenous men and masculinities are represented on digital media and how they understand their own Indigenous masculine identities and expressions. 129 Therefore, digital media has the potential to either disrupt or promote the formation of young Indigenous men’s identities as it can act as a tool through which young Indigenous men gather knowledge, express themselves, and connect to one another, but can also be a tool through which settler colonial dynamics are reproduced and transmitted. 4.2.3 How Do Young Indigenous Men Think The Interaction Between Their Identity And The Digital World Affects Their Health and Wellness? A main focus of conversations within our group was understanding misrepresentations (stereotypes) and their relationships to Indigenous Peoples mental health and wellness with a particular focus on Indigenous men and masculinities. This was prompted by early conversations with Quinn where he struggled with the conceptualization of Indigeneity found within Indian Status and how Blood Quantum dictates whether or not his children are Status Indians. Quinn stated frustration and resentment towards this dynamic as he has had to consider the ramifications this has for his future family, leaving him feeling as if he is being forced to marry an Indigenous woman in order to retain his future children’s Indigenous identity. Quinn’s reference to Blood Quantum, Indian Status, and Indigenous men’s identity is an important finding with regards to how these dynamics can create pressures for young Indigenous men in relation to their identities and familial structures. As mentioned, the Indian Act and Indian Status are based on patrilineal lines of descent, heteronormative gender roles, and designed to reduce the total number of Status Indians over time to the point of complete assimilation (Cannon, 2019; Eberts, 2017; Green, 2017; Joseph, 2018). Further, the Indian Act is based on notions of Indigenous Peoples racial inferiority and places the Canadian government in a paternalistic position allowing them to assert control over nearly every aspect of Indigenous Peoples lives (Joseph, 2018). This places a burden on young Indigenous men, and peoples more broadly, as they must work to understand their Indigeneity in 130 the midst of the confusion caused by the implementation of Blood Quantum (Waldram, 2009) through legislation, such as the Indian Act (Anderson, 2012; Cannon, 2019; Eberts, 2017; Green, 2017). Therefore, the Indian Act dictates how Indigenous communities can be formed as it relies on an understanding of ‘natural’ societal structures as being patriarchal and heteronormative. However, as evident in the literature, this is not conducive to how Indigenous Peoples in North America have structured societies since time immemorial as these Indigenous communities were often egalitarian and matriarchal (Anderson, 2009; Green, 2017; Sneider, 2015; St. Denis, 2017) and understood gender to be fluid and diverse (Gilley, 2006; Jacobs, Thomas, & Lang, 1997; Lang, 1998; Rifkin, 2010; Roscoe, 1998; Williams, 1992). However, the implementation of white supremacist heteropatriarchy within legislation such as the Indian Act has had profound implications on Indigenous Peoples in Canada’s identities (Cannon, 2019), resulting from the misalignment between traditional Indigenous ways of knowing and being and how Indigenous Peoples are forced to structure their societies today, which has resulted in disruption to traditional understandings of identity, inclusive of gender identity and expression, and negatively impacted all Indigenous Peoples in Canada’s health and wellness (Cariou et al., 2015). Another topic relevant to Indigenous identity and mental health and wellness our group discussed was around trauma, Residential Schools, and their relationships with misrepresentations (stereotypes). This has important implications for the identity of young Indigenous men as the disruption of traditional Indigenous identities in Canada took place through gendered trauma meant to reshape how Indigenous Peoples viewed themselves and the world around them (Jobin, 2016; McKegney, 2013; Methot, 2019; TRC, 2015). This is perhaps most evident when investigating Residential Schools, the trauma enacted on Indigenous Peoples in the process, and the disruption to traditional understandings of Indigenous masculine identities 131 resulting from this gendered trauma. Within our conversations it was evident the young Indigenous men in our group understood and were able to make sense of this process as they clearly verbalized the cycle of traumatization leading to intergenerational historical trauma and the implications this has for Indigenous Peoples mental health and wellness in Canada (Braveheart & DeBruyn, 1998; Duran & Duran, 1995; Gone, 2019; Hartmann and Gone, 2014; Heart, 1999; Kirmayer, Gone, & Moses, 2014; Methot, 2019; RCAP, 1994; TRC, 2015). Further, these young Indigenous men identified the role misrepresentations of Indigenous Peoples continue to play in upholding the structure of settler colonialism (Friere, 1993; Kemper, 2014; King, 2003; Maynard, 2000; Memmi, 2013; L. Smith, 2013; Tengan, 2008), where they discussed how trauma that occurred in Residential Schools created the impetus for some of the misrepresentations about Indigenous Peoples we discussed in group, such as being alcohol and drug abusers, uneducated, and poor parents. These conversations led into discussing occurrences with racism in our group’s daily lives as Ty and Ethan drew upon an encounter they had with a manager who held racialized notions about Indigenous Peoples. Within this conversation, our group was able to extrapolate the potential ill-effects misrepresentations of Indigenous Peoples on digital media have in this process where Mitchell understood stereotypes disseminated through digital media to be central to the process of racial discrimination towards Indigenous Peoples in Canada. Having these learning moments may allow young Indigenous men to be more resilient towards racial discrimination as they can draw upon their understandings of the world to firmly place themselves within it as a meaning making process. In turn, this may allow these young Indigenous men to reconstruct salient identities within Canada’s white supremacist heteropatriarchal society as they can draw upon their education and experiences to make sense of 132 incidences of racism and misrepresentation of their Indigenous masculine identities and identity expressions. Clearly, education on the history of colonization in Canada, historical trauma, and Indigenous mental health and wellness can be beneficial for young Indigenous men’s ability to make sense of the topics we discussed in group. These conversations have important implications for Indigenous Peoples identity as they demonstrate how the history of treatment towards Indigenous Peoples in Canada has culminated into a system of oppression and continues to uphold settler colonialism through its misrepresentation of Indigenous Peoples and the influences this is having on young Indigenous men in Canada, and the role misrepresentations of Indigenous Peoples on digital media play in the process. These conversations demonstrated how the young Indigenous men in our group encountered misrepresentations about Indigenous Peoples on digital media regularly, the negative influences this has had on their professional lives, and how they feel this negatively impacts all Indigenous Peoples mental health and wellness, including their own. Undoubtedly, Indigenous men are still cast within a racialized discourse when represented on digital media, as they commonly fall into a hypermasculinized ideal that reinforces fear of Indigenous Peoples within colonial society (Lopez, 2019; Kemper, 2014) and continues to confuse traditional understandings of Indigenous masculine identity and expression today. As noted, spectacles such as Indigenous actor Jason Mamoa in Aquaman, who are cast within a hypermasculinized, misogynist, and heteronormative role, represent colonial ideals of masculinity as opposed to traditional Indigenous understandings of masculinity of being connected to nature, community-oriented, and spiritually grounded. When Indigenous men are misrepresented such as this, it may hinder young Indigenous men’s abilities to create salient identities as they search for role models of Indigenous men in digital media and are met with 133 colonial understandings of masculinity as opposed to Indigenous ones. Colonial understandings of masculinity are centered around violence, sexism, and racism (Moore, 1998; Kemper, 2014; Hokowhitu, 2015) and if our young Indigenous men internalize these understandings of their masculine identity and expressions, it can have negative impacts on them and those around them as they adhere to an identity that seeks to obtain power through small acts of violence and control (Antone, 2015). Further, findings from our group indicated reconstructing positive Indigenous masculinities is a potential way for digital media to be used for the positive mental health transformation within young Indigenous men. First, it was evident the young Indigenous men in our group undertook an active search for Indigenous masculine role models and digital media was being used to facilitate this search. When discussing what the young Indigenous men in our group encountered while using digital media, a major motivation for young Indigenous men’s digital media use that emerged was cultural revitalization. Within this context, I use the term Cultural Revitalization broadly to mean any act that seeks to reclaim traditional Indigenous ways of knowing. It was clear, our group engaged digital media in a variety of ways to work towards their own decolonization and reclamation of their traditional Indigenous cultures. This occurred through their exploration of Indigenous language and culture apps, researching traditional bow making practices, watching traditional ceremonies, and using the internet to research Indigenous place names in Canada. This is an important finding of this study because reclaiming Indigenous cultures can have profound positive impacts on the mental health and wellness of Indigenous Peoples as it allows Indigenous Peoples to construct identities in relation to their traditional Indigenous values and relate to the world in meaningful ways (Bassett, Tsosie, & Nannauck, 2012; Gone, 2013; Hodgson-Smith & Kermoal, 2016; Kirmayer et al., 2009; Methot, 2019). In order for Indigenous 134 Peoples to be able to reclaim our mental health and wellness it is of vital importance that we are given the ability to structure our societies in ways that align with our traditional Indigenous values and knowledge systems in order to restore balance within our communities. In being granted the ability to structure our societies around traditional Indigenous understandings of egalitarianism and matriarchy, the masculine identities and identity expressions associated with these structures can be reconstructed which may allow young Indigenous men to reclaim their mental health and wellness. Digital media may act as a tool through which young Indigenous men reconstruct their Indigenous masculine identities in relation to traditional Indigenous values despite the constant misrepresentations they encounter that are misaligned with these values. Although many of the cultural practices the young Indigenous men in our group spoke to engaging in through digital media were from other Indigenous cultures throughout North America and even the world, exposure to other Indigenous cultures is an important step towards the reclamation of our own cultures as Indigenous Peoples as it allows us to begin the learning process of decolonizing, otherwise known as a ‘healing journey’ (Cote-Meek, 2014). Another finding of this group was how connecting young Indigenous men with one another in a safe and supportive environment can provide beneficial knowledge exchange and production in respectful and reciprocal ways. This may speak to the benefits of engaging topics of digital media, identity, and mental health and wellness in a group setting where collaborative meaning making can allow group members to understand their digital media engagement in new ways. In turn, this may allow young Indigenous men to make better sense of their digital media use, what they encounter while using digital media, and how this influences their mental health and wellness. This knowledge and the perspective shifts accompanying it, can then act as a framework through which young Indigenous men, and Indigenous youth more broadly, 135 understand their digital media engagement and their lives. Providing a framework rooted within traditional Indigenous values from which young Indigenous Peoples can make sense of the world around them can then act as a protection mechanism and increase their resilience to life stressors, including racial discrimination and incongruencies in identity, inclusive of gender. As such, this may work to reduce the negative effects of historical trauma as confusion and shame are reduced within these young Indigenous men because of their ability to make sense of colonial society, the history of Indigenous Peoples in Canada, and the reasons Indigenous masculinities are often misrepresented. This framework is created through reclaiming traditional Indigenous values and heightened through collective meaning making within groups such as this, as it allows young Indigenous men to connect with other young Indigenous men searching for their identities within colonial society. This was further heightened by the inclusion of Elder Grouse, a traditional knowledge keeper, to provide teachings and share his wisdom about what it means to be an Indigenous man from his traditional Syilx perspective. Most group members spoke to how engaging in this study brought about perspective changes within themselves where they became more aware of the content they consumed on digital media and how this may influence their mental health and wellness. Specifically, multiple group members spoke to their newfound attention being paid to positive representations of Indigenous men and masculinities in digital media and the extreme lack of these positive role models being presented. This was spoken about also in relation to Elders where our group indicated a lack of Elders on social media to provide support to young Indigenous men looking to reclaim their Indigenous masculine identities and expressions. This may speak to the importance of having a feminist lens in place within this research study that understands identity, mental health, and wellness from the intersections of race and gender as the 136 young Indigenous men in our group experienced perspective changes once engaging the topics of race and gender and how they can influence mental health and wellness in Indigenous Peoples (McHugh, 2014). In this way, young Indigenous men’s groups such as this can work to connect young Indigenous men with a masculine role model to learn about traditional Indigenous ways of knowing and can positively impact young Indigenous men’s mental health and wellness through bringing about meaning making processes, altering perspectives, and allowing space for positive identity shifts. This aligns with other studies of Indigenous men’s group’s demonstrating the positive mental health benefits of engaging Indigenous men in groups to learn about their culture through non-judgmental exchanges of stories, ideas, and experiences through the reformation of traditional Indigenous masculine identities and how this process can work towards mitigated the ill-effects of historical trauma (Antone, 2015; Tengan, 2012). Clearly, there is potential for engaging young Indigenous men, and Indigenous youth more broadly, about their digital media use, identities, gender, and mental health and wellness to bring about beneficial exchanges of knowledge. In turn, this may work to further deconstruct essentialist, racialized, and heteropatriarchal misrepresentations of Indigenous men’s and masculinities and allow us to reinvigorate positive Indigenous masculine identities and expressions as it brings about meaning making processes within young Indigenous men, crucial to Indigenous Peoples identity constructions, and mental health and wellness (Gone, 2013; Hodgson-Smith & Kermoal, 2016; Kirmayer et al., 2009). Therefore, it makes sense young Indigenous men would seek Indigenous masculine role models within digital media performing Indigeneity (Graham & Penny, 2014) as an act of reclaiming their own Indigeneity. In turn, this allows young Indigenous men to create “true meaningful identities” (Atone, 2015) through “uncovering the decolonized Indigenous man” (p. 23). Although there were many negative topics 137 we discussed in our group, the young Indigenous men who shared their stories with me undoubtedly focused on the positive in their digital media use as they sought to reclaim their Indigenous ways of knowing and the Indigenous masculine identities and identity expressions associated with them. 4.3 Findings in Relation to Identity Medicine Wheel of Masculinity. Figure 1: Study Findings in relation to Identity Medicine Wheel of Indigenous Masculinities. We can use the medicine wheel to understand how digital media can work to reinforce colonial understandings of masculinity within young Indigenous men through providing an avenue through which settler society can enact violence on Indigenous Peoples and through the continued misrepresentation of Indigenous men and masculinities. The left-hand medicine wheel represents an identity bound within the confines of colonial masculinities where the violence enacted on Indigenous Peoples through the colonization process resulted in historical trauma. 138 This works to create an internalization of the colonial mindset within Indigenous Peoples, otherwise known as cognitive imperialism (Battiste, 2000a), through the internalization of self-defeating thoughts and images (Gonzalez et al., 2017; Methot, 2019). This process results in disconnection of young Indigenous men from their traditional cultures, communities, and spiritual practices which can further disrupt their abilities to form salient identities within colonial Canada. This process is undoubtedly reinforced through misrepresentations disseminated within digital media as these misrepresentations contain notions of Indigenous masculine identity and expression as being conducive to colonial masculinities which adheres to values of violence, sexism and racism (Moore, 1998). Internalization of negative self-images as a result of misrepresentations of Indigenous men and masculinities may combine with historical trauma which can result in identity confusion and shame as this creates a disconnect between Indigenous masculine identities rooted within traditional Indigenous values and the masculinities young Indigenous men encounter in their daily lives. This combines with cultural, community, and spiritual disconnect while also reinforcing it, which can further promote a cycle of violence and trauma in relation to young Indigenous men’s identities as they can internalize masculinity as being naturally violent and adhere to these masculine ideals while also being left without a framework to understand their experiences in relation to their traditional Indigenous knowledge systems and cultures. In turn, the adherence to masculinities rooted within the colonial mindset promotes violence towards one another, alcoholism, and drug abuse, as these ideals are typically associated with Indigenous masculinities, and masculinities more broadly, within digital media. However, as can be seen on the right-hand medicine wheel, if we can provide young Indigenous men with the tools necessary to understand their identities within a colonial world then it can promote the transformation and reconstruction of positive Indigenous masculinities, 139 rooted within the traditional values of the Indigenous cultures from which the person stems. In turn this can allow young Indigenous men to be better positioned to make sense of their lives by providing a framework from which they can understand their experiences, which can create a generation of young Indigenous men who are vulnerable and emotional, flexible and adaptable, spiritually connected, and adhere to traditional Indigenous masculine values of being a provider, caregiver, and protector. In being vulnerable and emotional, young Indigenous men will be better suited to create meaningful long-lasting relationships built from foundations of trust and respect which can promote community building and work towards restoring balance within Indigenous communities. This can promote flexibility within young Indigenous men mentally, where they are better able to understand their emotions and therefore be more aware of their thought processes adding to their ability to be reflexive about themselves and those around them. Again, this can promote balance restoration as it can promote community building. Being spiritually connected is a foundation of Indigenous epistemologies and therefore spirituality is integral to understanding Indigenous cultures and worldviews. As mentioned by Elder Grouse, reconnecting to spiritual practices can remove the façade young Indigenous men put up to protect themselves (typically hypermasculinized) and allow them to connect to Creator and all living things. This can undo the effects of historical trauma as it allows young Indigenous men to release built up emotions they are unable to process and provide them with a framework from which to understand their hardships. This may allow young Indigenous men to understand who they are on the inside as opposed to who society makes them out to be (Misrepresentations) and promote the formation of salient identities. As noted by Methot (2019), Elder Thrasher discussed how the medicine wheel can be conducive to Indigenous Peoples identities, in this case talking specifically about nehiyawak (Plains Cree Peoples), where trauma has resulted in inflexibility, 140 disconnection, and the adherence to violence. For Indigenous Peoples to reconstruct identity, it is of vital importance that flexibility in ones’ emotions and thought processes are restored, as it allows people to make meaning from their lives through constant searching and exploring of ones’ identity. As Bob Antone (2015) states, traumatization has left a population of Indigenous men devoid of meaningful identities, where returning to traditional Indigenous masculine practices and ceremonies can aid Indigenous men in restoring and reconstructing meaningful identities. This can restore complementarity within Indigenous communities (Sneider, 2015) as it will work to undo patriarchy through allowing Indigenous men to understand their places within their traditional societies more fully, providing them the emotional and mental flexibility to remove their hypermasculinized facades, and allowing them to be more vulnerable. This works in conjunction with traditional Indigenous values, such as humor, being life-long learners, and being open and honest to others, as these values provide the framework from which our identities are derived. 4.3 Conclusion and Recommendations for Future Study In conclusion, digital media can act as a tool through which young Indigenous men explore their identities which may allow them to reconstruct positive Indigenous masculine identities and masculinities in relation to their traditional Indigenous cultures and the values associated with them. In this way, digital media can promote both the deconstruction of misrepresentations of Indigenous men and masculinities and the reconstruction of positive Indigenous masculine identities and masculinities through providing space for young Indigenous men to reclaim their cultures. When these performances of Indigeneity align with our traditional values as Indigenous Peoples, they work to refute notions of essentialist, racialized, and heteropatriarchal Indigenous men’s identities and masculinities and reinvigorate positive 141 Indigenous men’s identities and masculinities created from the fluid, holistic, and synergistic nature of Indigenous worldviews. This will allow our young Indigenous men and young peoples who associate with masculinities to have positive representations of Indigenous masculine role models, which will aid the creation of their own meaningful identities as they work to reconcile the images and understandings of themselves on the inside with what they encounter in their outside worlds. Further, there is vital importance of including a traditional knowledge keeper in this process to provide access to traditional Indigenous knowledge for one, but also to create relationships through which our group members could better understand themselves in relation to their traditional Indigenous values. In turn, these identities will allow our young Indigenous Peoples to make meaning from their lives and work towards their own mental health and wellness decolonization. Further, through the re-presentation of Indigenous Peoples as dynamic parts of the present and future, performances of Indigeneity and the identity reconstruction processes accompanying them, can work to undo the structure of settler colonialism as it will work towards refuting misrepresentations of Indigenous Peoples’ primitivity and savagery within contemporary society, de-justifying the very existence of settler colonialism. It is my recommendation that future study is taken to understand the complex dynamics of settler colonialism, misrepresentations of Indigenous men and masculinities, and the influences these dynamics continue to have on the mental health and wellness of Indigenous men and peoples associated with Indigenous masculinities. Further, it is of vital importance that digital media is considered when examining this dynamic as it can both serve as a tool to reinstate settler colonialism and as a tool through which Indigenous Peoples perform Indigeneity to reconstruct their identities. Given the long history of misrepresentations of Indigenous masculinities being used as the premise for Indigenous Peoples being viewed as lesser humans 142 and Others, it is important we actively reclaim our position within contemporary society through our positive representation within contemporary forms of expression, such as digital media. Therefore, more work is needed in understanding how Indigenous youth can use digital media for identity reclamation and reformation processes through providing spaces of identity performance. Moreover, this work must be done by and for young Indigenous Peoples if it is to truly act in favour of young Indigenous Peoples positive mental health and wellness. Given the history of paternalistic practices from Western science, community-driven participatory approaches are required for this work to be conducted in alignment with Indigenous Peoples traditional values and to reduce the chances of exploitation of so-called ‘research participants’. 4.4 Strengths and Limitations to Study Strengths of this study were the ability for us to create a group of young peoples with the lived experiences of being an Indigenous man in such a way as to promote the open and non-judgmental discussion of sensitive topics relating to Indigenous men’s identities, masculinities, gender, and mental health and wellness. The young Indigenous men who joined me in this group demonstrated their willingness and capacity to tackle such topics with relative ease where they were not afraid to provide their input whilst being open and respectful to those in the group and the topics we discussed. Further, the motivations demonstrated by the young Indigenous men in our group for engaging in research was profound, where all group members were eager to participate in the research process. This engagement facilitated this project and its findings as it allowed our group to go into depth on important topics relating to the research problem at hand. Moreover, our partnership with APS at UBC Okanagan allowed this project to run in a way that honoured the lived experiences of their students as they were able to provide meaningful connections to the community we worked with apart from my own immersion within the APS 143 centre. Having Elder Grouse join the group for a session would likely not have been possible without the efforts and dedication of our community partners at APS. Providing these teachings was an integral part of our reciprocity component of this project and facilitated this work greatly as it allowed our group members to have a positive Indigenous masculine role model as a basis for their own identity searching and formation processes. Limitations to this study were COVID-19 restrictions forced our group to take part entirely online. Although this fits with the topic of discussion,our group members mentioned the importance of being in person, which was reconfirmed through our discussions with Elder Grouse. Being in a physical space with one another allows us to connect more fully as we are engaging a multiplicity of our senses as opposed to simply engaging our visual and auditory senses. In this way, energies that can be detected within physical spaces, including emotional responses, are not as evident and therefore the ability of the researcher to respond to group members emotions and needs were limited. 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Is there a formal data collection process we want to undertake? 4. Do we want an Elder to be a part of or run the group? Session 2 1. What does being an Indigenous man mean to you? 2. How does [image/representation/topic] make you feel? Session 3 1. Do we see a link between being a man and violence? How about being an Indigenous man? 2. Are you seeing representations of Indigenous men that coincide with what being an Indigenous man means to you? If so, where? How does this effect you? 3. Why do we use digital media? Session 4 1. What does gender mean to you? 2. How does gender relate to our discussions so far? Session 5 – Elder Grouse Session This was the session Elder Grouse joined our group to provide teachings, therefore, these questions were directed at Elder Grouse. 160 1. What does being an Indigenous man mean to you? 2. What do you expect young Indigenous men to be when they grow up from your perspective? 3. How did stereotypes about Indigenous Peoples affect you during your life? Session 6 1. What did you take away from the talk with Elder Grouse last week? 2. How does Elder Grouse expect young Indigenous men to be? a. Does this align with our understandings of being an Indigenous man? b. Does this align with what we see Indigenous men being in digital media? Session 7 1. Given our discussions in group so far, how do you think digital media impacts your health and wellness? Appendix B: Sample of Session Flow & Reflective Journaling Session 1 Session Flow During the first group session, the goals were to begin building relationships amongst myself and our group members through discussing the reason we had all gathered, introduce ourselves to one another, and then start structuring the group going forward, such as determining how often we want to meet and for how long. I began the group by acknowledging the traditional unceded territories of the Syilx Okanagan People’s in order for this work to begin in a good way . I then discussed the reason why I had created a group for young Indigenous men and the values that I structured into the creation of this group. This discussion was used as a basis for structuring our group going forward where we proceeded with introductions and moved into the 161 specifics about structuring the group. I began with introducing myself where we proceeded around the sharing circle in alphabetical order introducing ourselves and explaining why we had joined the group. At this point, I went through the history of the research project starting from the time I applied to the Indigenous Gender and Wellness initiative through CIHR. During this time, I discussed the participatory nature of this project and how we were looking to have each group member bring in their life experiences to the group to create knowledge around what is important to young Indigenous men’s health while using digital media. I explained how this would be done through engaging digital media in ways that our group members felt comfortable doing, where we could collect data in a variety of ways. We then proceeded with discussing how often we would meet as a group, when we would meet, and generally how the groups would be run (data collection methods). I discussed with the group briefly about the iPads and how they were to be used as a tool through which they could engage digital media to facilitate their participation in this project. I also posed a question as to whether they would like to invite others into our group, such as traditional knowledge keepers (Elders), speakers, or other guests. All group members indicated that meeting once a week would work for them, where they also said we could meet more often if needed. This demonstrated their early engagement in the project and excitement to commence our young Indigenous men’s group. All group members mentioned they would like to have an Elder join us for a group. With regards to this, Adrian and Ethan had some insight on the importance of having an Elder join us for the group At this point, I asked the group what they would like to focus on in digital media and how they envision going about collecting data. 162 Decisions Made by Group At the end of this session, we decided to go away for a week and start looking at digital media and critically thinking about what we saw in relation to ourselves as Indigenous men and recording our thoughts in our journal. We used our group’s understanding of digital media encompassing movies, social media, news media, and video games to guide our engagement where we would come back next week and discuss what we had encountered/found. I used the information from this session to guide my approach going forward. For example, Ethan had mentioned that he felt having questions or talking points for the group to focus on would be beneficial for group flow. This allowed me to understand how the group expected me to prepare for the next session where they expected questions or talking points for me to use as reference in times where discussing needed to happen again. Furthermore, Quinn had discussed his journaling preferences where we have other group members acknowledge that note-taking/journaling about their thoughts would work well for them. This fit well with the qualitative approach in this study where each group member gets the freedom to journal how they want, where they can choose whether to bring that information or thought process to the next session. Post-Group reflection I should provide more time for answer before commenting. I should try to speak more slowly and in full sentences so I am easier to understand. During the next group, I need to clarify that 6 to 8 sessions of data collection is plenty for the project and we need to place a limit on data collection. 163 Session 2 Session Flow During the second group session, the goals were to begin understanding how our group members were using digital media, including what they were encountering and how this made them feel, and to discuss what it meant to our group to be an Indigenous man. I used this as an opportunity to understand the benefits and limitations to the approach I had taken to running each group session. I wanted to remain as unstructured as possible until I had a better grasp of what the group needed. Therefore, we simply went around the sharing circle and I asked each group member to discuss what they had written down in their journals in relation to digital media. This conversation was used as a basis of this session, where we then moved onto understanding what it meant to our group to be an Indigenous man. This portion of the group wrapped up our talk about digital media for that week. The group had mentioned they would like some prompt questions or discussion points to facilitate conversation, so at this point I introduced some of the questions we had created to guide the project. We used the remaining portion of the session to discuss what being an Indigenous man meant to each of our group members to begin understanding how this relates to digital media. For the remainder of the session, we discussed how the group was going thus far and potential changes that we wanted to make to the group process going forward. We used this as a basis for how to have myself structure the groups. At the end of the session, we touched on the dates that we would be meeting to collect data and further discussed how the project would look going forward. All group members acknowledged that it would be helpful for them to engage in the project if they had a platform to discuss digital media with one another apart from our weekly video conferencing sessions. Therefore, I sent out an email to connect all of our group members 164 and I used this email thread as an opportunity to provide the group quotes from our last session to engage them about what we had discussed. In this way, the group members were an active part of the data analysis process. Personal Reflection from Journal March 18, 2021 Last night was our second group session. We discussed digital media generally, what everyone was seeing and doing, and what it means to be an Indigenous man. The group went extremely well and we had some deep conversation about some really important issues. I will need to listen to the audio recording and pick up on some things to discuss next group. Everyone in the group expressed that they have really liked how the group is being run so far, such as going around in a circle and posing broad questions to the group for discussion. March 24, 2021 I have been thinking a lot about the group, its direction, and how to move forward with some of our topics. One thing on my mind has been gender and how our group understands gender and sexuality. It is a topic we must discuss because it is so central to our analysis. I feel that since we have now broached onto topics of representations of Indigenous men, it is a good time to talk about gender. Once gender is discussed, we can then refocus on digital media, likely in a better position to look at gender and identity within it. I am a bit torn as to when to ask some of my questions around digital media such as frequency of use and why we use digital media. I feel that we have touched on these topics slightly, but that not everyone has had a chance to address them. When looking back at our research proposal we created, I realized that we are well on our way to achieving our first 2 objectives, creating common understandings of key concepts, 165 relationship building, and understanding how the group uses digital media. Since this next session (session 3) is almost halfway, it seems to be a good point to wrap up these objectives. We can then use the rest of the time to engage digital media and look towards how to support other young Indigenous men.
Thesis/Dissertation
eng
Health and Exercise Sciences
Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
Graduate
McManus, A. M. (Alison M.)
Digital Wellness Project for young Indigenous men : Indigenous masculinity, identity, and mental health and wellness
Text