Arts and Social Sciences, Irving K. Barber Faculty of (Okanagan)
DSpace
UBCO
Derrickson, Aaron
Doctor of Philosophy - PhD
University of British Columbia
This thesis seeks to understand Syilx leadership through traditional stories (captikʷɬ) and Nsyilxcn. Syilx concepts of leadership are explored through four captikʷɬ: How Coyote Got His Name and Powers; Coyote, Horse, and Dog; Coyote, Porcupine, and the Flies; and The Four Food Chiefs. I discuss power, story, and Syilx leadership and the intersections therein through an analysis of these captikʷɬ in conjunction with the wider academic literature on leadership. The first three captikʷɬ are mechanisms for changing anti-social behaviors, while The Four Food Chiefs activates pro-social behaviors. The methodology research paradigm is what I call Enowkinwixʷ Research Paradigm (ERP). The ERP follows Enowkinwixʷ theory and methodology that are inherently Syilx. I juxtapose these tools with other existing scholarly approaches as a means of demonstrating the contemporary utility of an Indigenous Syilx paradigm for leadership. Leadership in this research comes from a Syilx perspective and is defined through two distinct aspects. Firstly, through the captikʷɬ - leadership is care for land, the people, and all living things. Secondly, through the Nsyilxcn language- the word for leader, yilmixʷm, defines an imperative for the leader as someone who continuously brings together the various strands of community. Traditional Syilx leadership, as learners of captikʷɬ, were empathetic in that the captikʷɬ established the means for that empathy. Empathy, or the ability to read into how our actions affect the emotional state of others, was mobilized in Syilx leadership through Enowkinwixʷ, a complex concept that originates in the The Four Food Chiefs. Findings in the literature, show that power is a resource present in human interactions, and is especially relevant to leadership. In the Syilx worldview, power is shared within various leadership functions (i.e. The Four Food Chiefs), and is represented in community. The foreign introduction of power presented a colonial interruption that forced a transformation of Syilx leadership into structures that were foreign to Syilx thought. Using The Four Food Chiefs as a base point, I show the power-sharing methods inherent to Enowkinwixʷ. The re-institutionalization of these practices in contemporary leadership literately provides the basis for continuously being Syilx.
LEADERSHIP FROM A Syilx PERSPECTIVE ROOTED IN captikʷɬ by Aaron Derrickson A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENT FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in THE COLLEGE OF GRADUATE STUDIES (Interdisciplinary Studies) THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA (Okanagan) August 2024  Aaron Derrickson, 2024ii The following individuals certify that they have read, and recommend to the College of Graduate Studies for acceptance, a thesis/dissertation entitled: LEADERSHIP FROM A Syilx PERSPECTIVE ROOTED IN captikʷɬ submitted by Aaron Derrickson in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Jeannette C. Armstrong, Irving K. Barber Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences Supervisor Dr. John Wagner, Irving K. Barber Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences Supervisory Committee Member Dr. Michael Evans, Irving K. Barber Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences Supervisory Committee Member Dr. Allison Hargreaves, Faculty of Creative and Critical Studies University Examiner Dr. Jean-Paul Restoule, University of Victoria External Examiner iii Abstract This thesis seeks to understand Syilx leadership through traditional stories (captikʷɬ) and Nsyilxcn. Syilx concepts of leadership are explored through four captikʷɬ: How Coyote Got His Name and Powers; Coyote, Horse, and Dog; Coyote, Porcupine, and the Flies; and The Four Food Chiefs. I discuss power, story, and Syilx leadership and the intersections therein through an analysis of these captikʷɬ in conjunction with the wider academic literature on leadership. The first three captikʷɬ are mechanisms for changing anti-social behaviors, while The Four Food Chiefs activates pro-social behaviors. The methodology research paradigm is what I call Enowkinwixʷ Research Paradigm (ERP). The ERP follows Enowkinwixʷ theory and methodology that are inherently Syilx. I juxtapose these tools with other existing scholarly approaches as a means of demonstrating the contemporary utility of an Indigenous Syilx paradigm for leadership. Leadership in this research comes from a Syilx perspective and is defined through two distinct aspects. Firstly, through the captikʷɬ - leadership is care for land, the people, and all living things. Secondly, through the Nsyilxcn language- the word for leader, yilmixʷm, defines an imperative for the leader as someone who continuously brings together the various strands of community. Traditional Syilx leadership, as learners of captikʷɬ, were empathetic in that the captikʷɬ established the means for that empathy. Empathy, or the ability to read into how our actions affect the emotional state of others, was mobilized in Syilx leadership through Enowkinwixʷ, a complex concept that originates in the The Four Food Chiefs. Findings in the literature, show that power is a resource present in human interactions, and is especially relevant to leadership. In the Syilx worldview, power is shared within various iv leadership functions (i.e. The Four Food Chiefs), and is represented in community. The foreign introduction of power presented a colonial interruption that forced a transformation of Syilx leadership into structures that were foreign to Syilx thought. Using The Four Food Chiefs as a base point, I show the power-sharing methods inherent to Enowkinwixʷ. The re- institutionalization of these practices in contemporary leadership literately provides the basis for continuously being Syilx. v Lay Summary Syilx leadership is a vital aspect of daily Syilx practices within the nation, with neighboring nations, and with non-Indigenous people. Colonization interrupted the well- established leadership practices. These foreign types of leadership can be damaging and antithetical to our ways of being. This thesis looks at power and empathy as traditional Syilx leadership practices through our oral traditions, captikʷɬ, in conjunction with academic literature. The captikʷɬ have always influenced how we think as Syilx people. Research showing that empathy is boosted from exposure to story in literature and media-based texts underlines this truth about captikʷɬ as a literary text. The methodology for this thesis is based in the practice Enowkinwixʷ, which creates the opportunity to build empathy, signals individual sovereignty in self-governance, and ensures the continuity of Syilx values. Revisiting the four captikʷɬ provides an opportunity to reflect on previous leadership practices and provides space for thoughtful re-implementation. vi Preface The knowledge structures and philosophy contained in this thesis that directly and indirectly relate to Syilx ways of knowing and being, which include practices, teachings, and systems, are the sole property of the Syilx people, and cannot be reproduced or used without expressed direct consent in the form of Syilx protocol. This research was conducted by myself (Aaron Derrickson) under the supervision, support and guidance of Dr. Jeannette Armstrong in Syilx knowledge, protocol and the processes and ceremony of Enowkinwixʷ), and Dr. John Wagner and Dr. Michael Evans in the capacity of structural design and academic rigor. Both aspects of Syilx knowledge and academic structure were at times interchangeable. AI was not used in any way for the production, writing, or research of this body of work. The UBC Behavioral Research Ethics Board approved the research for this thesis. The certificate number is H20-01864.vii Table of Contents ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................................................................... iii LAY SUMMARY ........................................................................................................................................................ v PREFACE ................................................................................................................................................................. vi LIST OF TABLES ...................................................................................................................................................... ix LIST OF FIGURES.. ................................................................................................................................................ .x GLOSSARY . ........................................................................................................................................................... .xi DEDICATION .......................................................................................................................................................... xiv CHAPTER 1- INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................... 1 SITUATING MYSELF ................................................................................................................................................... 1 LITERATURE REVIEW ................................................................................................................................................. 5 Western Leadership Literature ............................................................................................................................. 5 Sqilxʷ Leadership Literature ................................................................................................................................. 6 SITUATING RESEARCH ............................................................................................................................................... 10 CAPTIKʷɬ ..........................................................................................................................................…………………………………………….12 CHAPTER DESCRIPTIONS .......................................................................................................................................... 15 CHAPTER 2- METHODOLOGY, THEORY AND METHOD............................................................................. 19 CAPTIKʷɬ & ENOWKINWIXW ........................................................................................................................................................................... 20 Four Food Chiefs ............................................................................................................................................... 22 ENOWKINWIXW, MIXW, YILMIXʷM: SYSTEMS THINKING ...................................................................................................................... 26 SPACE, PLACE AND THOUGHT .................................................................................................................................. 27 RELATIONALITY VS. REDUCTIONISM ......................................................................................................................... 28 ENOWKINWIXW, RELATIONALITY AND THE ERP ........................................................................................................ 30 Big Circle ........................................................................................................................................................... 34 Small Circle- What is the issue? ......................................................................................................................... 35 Big Circle- What is the issue? ............................................................................................................................ 36 Small Circle: vision-casting for the “middle” in Food Chief groups (4 groups) ................................................ 36 Big Circle: creating one vision ........................................................................................................................... 37 ERP IN THE ACADEMIC CONSTRUCT OF THEORY, METHODOLOGY, AND METHODS .................................................... 38 THEORY: SYSTEMS LENS AND ENOWKINWIXW ....................................................................................................................................... 40 METHODOLOGY AND ENOWKINWIXW ......................................................................................................................................................... 44 METHODOLOGY ....................................................................................................................................................... 46 Autoethnography ................................................................................................................................................ 47 ERP Protocols and the Possible Pitfalls of Autoethnography ............................................................................. 50 Possible Pitfalls .................................................................................................................................................. 52 METHODS ................................................................................................................................................................ 61 Enowkinwixʷ observance and participation ........................................................................................................ 62 Analysis of captikʷɬ ............................................................................................................................................. 63 Lived Experience ................................................................................................................................................ 63 GOAL & USE OF RESEARCH...................................................................................................................................... 64 PERMISSION ............................................................................................................................................................. 66 FINAL THOUGHTS .................................................................................................................................................... 66 CHAPTER 3- STORY ............................................................................................................................................... 69 STORY’S INFLUENCE ON OUR BRAINS ....................................................................................................................... 72 STORY AND STORYTELLING ..................................................................................................................................... 71 STORY’S DARKSIDE- NEGATIVE INFLUENCE AND ITS REPERCUSSIONS ..................................................................... 73 INDIGENOUS STORY AND CAPTIKʷɬ ............................................................................................................................................................. 76 viii FIGURE 3.1 ............................................................................................................................................................... 79 THEORY OF MIND .................................................................................................................................................... 80 FIGURE 3.2 ............................................................................................................................................................... 80 Theory of Mind, Fiction and Visual Media ......................................................................................................... 82 Captikʷɬ as a Literary Text and Theory of Mind ................................................................................................. 84 Captikʷɬ and Theory of Mind .............................................................................................................................. 88 CHARACTERS ........................................................................................................................................................... 93 CHAPTER 4- LEADERSHIP ................................................................................................................................... 97 PRE/POST LEADERSHIP ............................................................................................................................................ 99 COLONIAL HISTORY IN THE OKANAGAN VALLEY .................................................................................................... 99 SYILX PROCESSES.................................................................................................................................................... 101 POST CONTACT FUNCTIONAL LEADERSHIP ............................................................................................................ 105 LEADERSHIP ........................................................................................................................................................... 108 Dominant Leadership ....................................................................................................................................... 108 Syilx Leadership ............................................................................................................................................... 111 TABLE 4.1 .............................................................................................................................................................. 115 Leadership in Captikʷɬ ...................................................................................................................................... 115 CHAPTER 5- POWER ............................................................................................................................................ 124 SYSTEMS AND ENOWKINWIXW .................................................................................................................................................................... 125 FOOD CHIEF DYADS AND DIALOGUE ..................................................................................................................... 127 ENOWKINWIXW: THE MIDDLE ..................................................................................................................................................................... 129 ENOWKINWIXW: POWER, PROTOCOLS AND ETHICS ............................................................................................................................. 131 ENOWKINWIXW AND EMPATHY AND HUMILITY ................................................................................................................................... 134 ENOWKINWIXW: GENERATIVE RELATIONS ............................................................................................................................................. 138 ENOWKINWIXW: BALANCING POWER ....................................................................................................................................................... 139 POWER AND LEADERSHIP ....................................................................................................................................... 142 Coyote .............................................................................................................................................................. 142 Coyote, Porcupine, and the Flies ...................................................................................................................... 145 “POWER WITH” OR POWER SHARING ..................................................................................................................... 146 POWER AND RESOURCES ........................................................................................................................................ 148 Coyote, Horse, and Dog ................................................................................................................................... 152 The Taming of Dog ........................................................................................................................................... 157 LEADERSHIP AND SELF-CARE ................................................................................................................................ 158 LEADERSHIP AND TIMING AND SELF-CARE ............................................................................................................ 162 How Coyote Got His Name and Powers & The Four Food Chiefs ................................................................... 164 “Dysfunctional” Leadership ............................................................................................................................. 169 Traditional Syilx Leadership ............................................................................................................................ 172 Enowkinwixʷ as an act of leadership ................................................................................................................ 174 CONCLUSION ........................................................................................................................................................ 179 WHAT IS LEADERSHIP? .......................................................................................................................................... 179 METHODOLOGY ..................................................................................................................................................... 181 THEORY ................................................................................................................................................................. 182 METHODS .............................................................................................................................................................. 183 STORY .................................................................................................................................................................... 183 POWER ................................................................................................................................................................... 186 LIMITATIONS .......................................................................................................................................................... 187 FINAL THOUGHTS .................................................................................................................................................. 188 REFERENCES…………………………………………………………………………………………………………..191 ix List of Tables Table 4.1 Dysfunctional Leadership vs. Syilx Leadership… ......................................... 118 x List of Figures Figure 3.1 xw as an abstract concept of understanding time and space ......................... 81 Figure 3.2 A model of the relationship between empathy and ToM ............................ 83 xi Glossary: note- the convention of no capitalization for writing nsyilxcn is used throughout unless exception allows. awtmasqilxʷ: nsyilxcn word for an evolutionary/philosophical stage in Syilx being. captikʷɬ: nsyilxcn word for Syilx Oral Traditions. suxʷawa’m: nsyilxcn word for a spokesperson for the village chief in Syilx villages. әnәɬnasqilxʷtn: nsyilxcn word for People-Eaters/Monsters. Enowkinwixʷ: nsyilxcn word for a consensus building ceremony resident in captikʷɬ which lends itself to a process of inquiry. k’ɬpax̌: Syilx concept of conscious thought. mixʷ: many many spreading out in individual strands. ntityx: nsyilxcn word for Spring Salmon. tmixʷ: nsyilxcn word for all living things on the land. k̓ ʷasic: nsyilxcn word for the last (possible) evolutionary stage of Syilx being. kʷilstn : nsyilxcn word for sweathouse. smymay: an anecdotal, personalized recounting of an event that is the result of many recounts over time through different tellers. smipnwiɬn: a collective recounting of an event that has been verified over and over by many. stunx: nsyilxcn word for beaver. snk’lip: nsyilxcn word for Coyote. xii Syilx: One of the nsyilxcn words for the Okanagan, Indigenous people of the southern interior of B.C.. The transliteration implies, “the ones who coil.” sqilxʷ: One of the nsyilxcn words for the Okanagan, Indigenous people of the southern interior of B.C. The transliteration is “people from the land.” syilxʷcawt: nsyilxcn word that implies a way of doing business that is autochthonously Syilx. skmxist: nsyilxcn word for Black Bear. siyaʔ: nsyilxcn word for Saskatoon. spiƛ̓ әm: nsyilxcn word for Bitterroot. yilyalmixʷm: nsyilxcn word for a leader with responsibilities for the protection of the land and for all living beings – more specifically through the transformation of people-eaters. yilmixʷm: nsyilxcn word for Chief/leader. xiii Acknowledgement I would like to thank Catherine, Samuel and Lewis for supporting me through this process. Your words and your presence were sometimes all that kept me going. I would like to thank my parents for supporting myself and my family during these trying years. Without their presence, I’m not sure I’d be at this stage in my academic journey. I would also like to thank my committee for their indispensable support, wisdom, and guidance through many queries and quests. I would like to thank my graduate studies professors, without whom I would not have achieved the accolades and awards bestowed upon me. I would like to thank the Syilx knowledge keepers who supported me in various ways, both academically and emotionally. I would like to thank all the haters who told me through their actions and words that I was not enough for this process- you were used for my good. Lastly, I would like to thank my community for supporting me through grad-school. I am blessed to have been supported by Westbank First Nation’s system and structure of governance that allows for community members to pursue post-graduate (doctoral) education My hope is that other community-members, and Syilx people alike, follow- suit and aim high in their dreams. xiv Dedication I would like to dedicate this thesis to Catherine, Samuel, Lewis, and all those who will come after us. My hope is that this will serve you in any time or place, no matter the context. The path of the upright grows brighter and brighter. 1 Chapter 1- Introduction Situating Myself Coyote and Chickadee While roaming the hills one sun, looking for food, Coyote met Chickadee, who was carrying his elk-rib shoo’-mesh bow. Chickadee was very proud of his bow and the short stubby arrows that it used. Coyote thought he would like to have that. So he made fun of it. “That bow is no good, Zst-skaka’na,” he said. And such short, fat arrows. They cannot fly far- cannot kill anything. People will laugh at you for carrying such poor weapons. You had better throw them away.” “My bow and arrows may look poor and queer, but I like them,” answered Chickadee. “And you think they cannot shoot far. I will show you. Go to the top of that ridge and walk slowly along ridge. Go there and I will show you.” “I will go, Silly Zst-shaka’-na,” Coyote said. “That bow cannot put an arrow halfway to the top of the ridge. Go there, and I will show you.” Coyote felt gay. He trotted along, thinking about many foolish things, and by the time he reached the top of the ridge he had forgotten why he was there. He sang as he walked along the top of the ridge. H was enjoying the bright sunlight and the sweet smell of the air. All at once he heard a noise like that of a strange wind and he stopped to listen. “Eh-ahe!” he said. “That must be the spirits of other snows whispering to me.” The words were but out of his mouth when one of Chickadee’s arrows was in his ribs. It killed him. Chickadee went after the arrow. He pulled it out, but he did not keep it. “Caw! I do not want that arrow. It smells bad,” and he threw it away. He went on from there. He was 2 going to a big council, a council of all the Animal People. A few suns later Fox came upon the body of his twin brother. He knew that Coyote had been into mischief. He stopped over the body three times, and that brought Coyote to life. “Eh-ahe! I have slept long, Why’ay’looh.” Coyote yawned. “I was resting on this ridge.” (Dove, 1933, pp.205-206) This captikʷɬ ironically and comically provides an appropriate backdrop and allusion for setting the stage for this thesis. We are Coyote. We, as Indigenous people, have (to some degree) forgotten the ‘why’ in walking according to our ways of being and knowing. In the least of cases, if we remember our ways and reconnect to them, we realize the gap of implementation that truly exists. What begets this unfortunate reality is that Indigenous people have faced, and still face, the fundamental attribution error of colonial oppression and the coercion of foreign leadership and governance systems that derailed existing traditional (and thus functional) institutions. I am Indigenous, I am Syilx and a member of Westbank First Nation, one of the seven Syilx communities in Canada. In my lived experience, I have witnessed the effects of this derailment in Syilx communities, namely my own. When I was young (mid 1990's), I experienced the dysfunction of our community’s leadership first and second hand. Firstly (and firsthand), my family was wrongfully evicted from our rent-to-own house by Chief and Council. The act of colonial violence against a young family was a political ploy against my Dad. Within a week the court ordered the band to cease and desist in their efforts and we moved into our house for the second time. Unfortunately, these personal observations and experiences of a young Syilx boy 3 were not the first of their kind. Secondly (and second hand), I have seen leaders in our community (and other Syilx communities) make arguably onerous decisions: in 1988 there was the infamous “Hall Inquiry,” which looked at the questionable leadership decisions of then Chief Ron Derrickson and labeled him as a “tyrant” (Nickason, 1988, p.xi). The Hall Inquiry was followed by a string of questionable leadership actions which have garnered public attention: the secretive self-government negotiations which resulted in the takeover of the Lindley Building, the main government hub for WFN (Poulsen, 1998); the Oxbridge scandal where a fake company swindled millions from WFN (Jones & McDonald, 2015)1; the sale of a piece of land by a handful of WFN employees which resulted in the third party Bueller Report (2022). I (along with many others) have witnessed “the good, the bad, and the ugly,” and what was only seen by members of the Syilx community rather than what makes headlines or brings government attention. The events and experience I faced kindled a passion for research in Western and Syilx leadership. Perhaps better iterated, I wanted to know what we had collectively forgotten. Perhaps better put, these leadership predicaments have formed the “middle” (see chapter 5 Power) of this thesis. It seems, in our post-colonial walk, much like Coyote, Syilx leadership have forgotten their ‘why’ - that is, we are operating in what our culture pins as “awtmasqilxʷ,” or struggling in and through this post-colonial era in sqilxʷ skin (Derickson, 1990, p.3). Our current leadership walk, or lack therein, is no longer completely tied to the land and the ethics that are held in the philosophical structure therein, namely our captikʷɬ. Coyote’s “forgetfulness” was not necessarily a matter of ego which resulted in distraction and blindness to his present purpose. It 1 It should be noted that the cited news article was a political push from WFN members who situated and placed other members to comment as a means of destabilizing then leadership. This does not discount the facts, but further illustrates the need for a reattachment to Syilx leadership resident in captikʷɬ. 4 may have played a part, but the context of his circumstances (i.e. “foolish things…bright sunlight and the sweet smell of the air”) were also factors of his memory loss. Similarly, our forgetfulness in leadership as Syilx people comes from the various colonial mechanisms that have thrust us into our era of awtmasqilxʷ. These include but are not limited to the Indian Act, the forced implementation of English property law, and the Indian Residential School system. Indigenous leadership was dismantled and then replaced with (or resuscitated with) colonial traits of leadership and governance that do not emulate Syilx ethics found in captikʷɬ. Even in this era of reconciliation, these traits in leadership and government persist. The persistence, and not the origin, can be traced to our forgetfulness of our Syilx-based ‘why’ in and as much as Coyote’s ego of “thinking how great he was,” is resonant with ideas of power and dominance. Though ‘ego’ is not helpful in describing the initial ‘why’ of our lack of Syilx-based leadership in our communities, it does however speak to our current situated train of thought that tends to dismiss cultural practices in favor of Western-based leadership institutions and practices. These have their place in our world, yet, in the same way Coyote tamed Monster Horse and Dog, they need taming, or ‘Syilx-ifying.’ Regardless of the history of colonial impacts and their resulting (and ongoing) traumas, we as Syilx people remain centred on our land, and need to be reminded of our intellectual traditions rooted in our land. In the story, Coyote died or fell asleep, two perspectives that have their own meaning and purpose. The crux (for me) in this story is that he was resurrected (or woken) by his twin brother, Fox and carried on with his walk, remembering what he was supposed to do. We, as Syilx are presently tasked with being roused from our colonial slumber and carrying forward with who and what we are - that is, in walking in Syilx ways of being and knowing in leadership, we will create the space for resurgence in our communities where our forgetfulness has caused strife and hurt. 5 Literature Review The academic canon on leadership is vast and its full breadth is beyond the scope of this thesis. Joseph Rost’s (1993) meta-analysis of western leadership literature from its inception in the 1920’s notes the inconsistency in defining what leadership is or how leadership works. Therefore, I only provide a review of western literature as it relates to this thesis, together with review of Syilx literature to the extent that such literature exists. This is important in establishing my thesis as it relates to the current sqilxʷ canon. Western Leadership Literature Rost’s (1991) multi-thematic meta-analysis of all the available leadership literature from its inception in the 1920’s to when he wrote his book in 1991, clumps all leadership literature, both academic and non-academic, into one category: academic. His argument is that if there is research data to back up claims, then it should be termed as ‘academic.’ I will borrow Rost’s approach to the literature and morph it by calling this category of academic and mainstream literature as “dominant.” Firstly, Rost is correct in his description of the research-data literature. In my scan of “mainstream leadership literature,” (i.e. popular and accessible literature found at the local bookstore) I found that all2 the leadership books were watered-down, public-palatable versions of various collections of academic research on a given topic of leadership - that is, the leadership or quasi-leadership academic journal articles made up the index of the consumer- based leadership literature. It is therefore point-moot to try and differentiate the two into separate categories, despite their thematically based organization. Secondly, of all the popular leadership literature with which I interacted, none of it pertained to Indigenous or Syilx leadership, but 2 “All” being every book I could come across that was either labeled as exceptional (i.e., “best-seller,” or some other label of importance such as “Heather’s Pick,” for Indigo, or “staff favorites,” at the local bookstore, or a publishing house label of importance such as a grandiose byline). 6 focused on American-based corporations. Thirdly, of all the academic journal articles and books on leadership I interacted with, only a small handful pertained to Indigenous leadership, and of these texts only a few are heavily cited in the leadership realm. Sqilxʷ Leadership Literature Currently, the academic writing on the topic of captikʷɬ speaks to environmental ethics, conservation, water laws and education (Armstrong, 2009; Cohen, 2010; Sam, 2006, 2013). While these precedents contain aspects of leadership and speak to leadership-based ethics, there is no single text on Syilx leadership. Thus, there is a need to add to the academic conversation in the area of leadership based on captikʷɬ. Although there is a growing body of Indigenous leadership literature (Ambler, 1992; Antell, 1990; Benham & Murakami-Ramalho, 2010; Fitzgerald, 2003, 2006; Prindeville & Gomez, 1999; Jaimes, 1992; Jules, 1999; Johnson, 2000; Johnson, Benham & VanAlstine, 2003; Kenny & Fraser, 2012; ; Lynch & Charleston, 1990; Pidgeon, 2012; Stein & Eagleeye, 1993), I have and will use them sparingly in an effort to focus on Syilx leadership principles, free from any possible differences and misunderstandings that might emerge from conflation with other Indigenous cultures. However, as defined in Anastasio’s (1955) dissertation,3 in the vein of the interlocutory people-group of the Western Plateau, it is important to speak to sqilxʷ literature on leadership and literature from sqilxʷ leaders. The leadership literature authored by sqilxʷ is brief and is made up of two main categories of sqilxʷ leadership literature: literature from past and present politicians and from people who were recognized as leaders in community4. In the system lens of this thesis, these 3 This will be discussed in more depth later in chapter 5 surrounding the concept of power-sharing. 4 There is no Sqilxʷ academic who published research on Syilx leadership. Though many have mentioned it or spoke to it autoethnographically, to date, there is no qualitative, data-based research on the topic. 7 two categories can be interchangeable as some of the mentioned politicians were and are indeed community leaders. Clarence Louie (2020), long-time incumbent Chief of the Osoyoos Indian Band, in his book, Rez Rules, speaks about leadership as a Syilx leader but does not directly address Syilx leadership. For example, his chapter on leadership, “Be a Leader, Not a Politician,” reads like a series of axiom-like, thought-provoking narratives that are examples of the lived-experiences of a Syilx Chief under the Indian Act. His narratives illustrate the reality of Syilx leaders trying to better their communities while operating in a cultural leadership gap due to the onset of colonization. Louie does outline aspects of his leadership that resonate with Syilx ways of being, such as economic development in conjunction with land-care, though he does not directly connect it to Syilx captikʷɬ. Former Westbank First Nation Chief, Ron Derrickson, has published three texts connected to leadership: two were published with Indigenous rights activist, Art Manuel, and the other is his autobiography. Derrickson’s (2020) autobiography “Fight or Submit,” is a quasi- memoir of sorts that seems to serve as a personal account of the controversial issues that marred his leadership history as Chief. His book is less about what Syilx leadership is and more about what Syilx leadership seeks to transform. Derrickson’s co-authored books with Manuel, The Reconciliation Manifesto (2017) and Unsettling Canada (2015) have strong sentiments against the notion of “Reconciliation,” and have a leadership disposition towards resistance politics. The former book addresses reconciliation as a government ploy to subvert Indigenous legal title and rights to land and resources. They argue that “reconciliation,” popularized by the 2015 National Truth and Reconciliation commission, is a nice way of cementing stolen Indigenous land. The latter book reads like a historical account of Indigenous resistance against the Canadian state 8 while pushing for present change. Given the controversy that surrounds his time as Chief of WFN, it is difficult to know exactly how Derrickson lines up with the arguments against Reconciliation (Reconciliation Manifesto) and for decolonization (Unsettling Canada). By contrast, Art Manuel’s leadership history aligns with the writings in both texts - that is, as sqilxʷ, he stood up for the land and for the people. Battling against systemic, structural racism is no easy feat. Manuel was the son of legendary Indigenous leader, George Manuel, and served as Chief of the Neskonlith Indian Band and as chair of the Secwepemc Tribal Council. Though he had a season in elected politics, he was also a community leader. In a 2017 CBC interview for Unsettling Canada, Manuel stated "Self-determination is the international remedy for colonialization," (Paterson, 2017). His leadership can be summed up as active “resistance” against the colonial state. In every chapter of both texts, Manuel’s voice can be heard as a leader (i.e.-The Battle in the Forrest: The Trade for Indian Trees). His actions and example set precedents for Salishan people. Like Father, like son, George Manuel was a pivotal leader for Indigenous people. George’s efforts in the fight for the rights of Indigenous people resulted in the creation of the Union of BC Indian Chiefs, the organization of the “Constitution Express,” and countless efforts in pushing back against the minimization of Indigenous people in Canada. Despite his many published speeches and letters to provincial and federal governments, Manuel’s most important text, The Fourth World (1974), detailed the state of Indigenous people under the Indian Act. In it, he effectively explained the sub-third-world state of Canada’s reservations and called for self-determination via resource and land control within respective Indigenous territories. Manuel had crafted a detailed plan for a self-determining Salishan Government that would have served the people of the Western Plateau, 9 much like that of a multi-level governance model (see Peters & Pierre, 2001; Alcantara & Morden, 2019). While both Manuels called for change within the system, a member of the Syilx community, Okanagan Indian Band, Len Marchand, worked for change within the system as a Member of Parliament and as a Member of the Senate. Marchand’s (2000) autobiography Breaking Trail details his challenges, lessons, and lived experience working within the institution, mostly due to racial aggressions based in power structures. Lastly, Mourning Dove’s (1990) (a.k.a. Christine Quintasket) autobiography outlines her struggle to be seen and heard as an Indigenous woman in the era of “wild west” racial dynamics. Dove was labeled a “half-breed” in an era where being of mixed-descent was complex. She was not accepted by the non-Indigenous world because to them she was an Indian and thus unwanted and unvalued. On the other side of the racial fence, she was never fully accepted by her own people because of her white father. Though her text is not about leadership, she essentially outlines leadership on the frontier of a two-front landscape. Her works are almost a hundred years old and continue to influence Syilx and non-Syilx people5. Furthermore, her personal roots in the captikʷɬ, taught to her by her grandmother, not only guided her actions but is evidence of the continued influence of her works. She is the example of continued cultural resistance despite the efforts of colonization. Though these texts offer some insight into Syilx/sqilxʷ leadership, they, however, are not specific texts on leadership nor on the leadership insights found in captikʷɬ. For this reason, they will not be used extensively. By contrast, the texts on the history of Syilx people in the context of 5 Her biography was one of the texts in a class I recently audited. What struck me was how Indigenous, non- Indigenous, Syilx, non-Syilx alike were all impacted by her writings. Everyone was able to relate to feeling of being in the middle of two tensions. 10 leadership will be drawn upon to depict the history of colonization as it relates to leadership (see Spiers,1938; Ray, 1939; Carstens, 1991). Situating Research A challenge I faced in writing this dissertation is how to properly situate Syilx thought within the colonial legacy. Our ongoing efforts to (re)Indigenize and reproduce what Belanger (2013) calls Indigenous ways can and is being done but is not a formula. An attitude that may arise in Syilx community when confronted with our ways of being in regard to Syilx practices of leadership is that they are “in the past.” This idea that somehow our leadership practices are no longer applicable and are synonymous with the passée of animal-skin clothing only points to the depth of forgetfulness that the captikʷɬ forewarned. Therefore, I have chosen a core of four captikʷɬ as well as three others for reference; these speak to Syilx leadership practices and ask the question, “What are the leadership structures in the four captikʷɬ and in what ways can we glean ways of leading?” This work is an exploration of these leadership traditions in the context of contemporary politics with particular focus on their relation to and illustration of power, story, and empathy. I am drawing on Syilx thought and practices as a means of showing the autochthony of current leadership practices despite colonial intrusions through various mechanisms and outside influence. My approach, like that of Syilx thought more generally, takes a whole systems approach that considers all parts of a whole and the relationships therein. Throughout the dissertation creation process these efforts to re-Indigenize exist in tension within the practices, parameters, and expectations of the academy, but take Indigenous thought as primary (both in the sense of being first and most important). Over the course of the last two decades a great deal has been done by Indigenous scholars working both within and beyond the Academy to bring Indigenous thought into productive 11 dialogue. For example, Archibald (2008) has established the use of Indigenous story as both a medium and structure of expressing Indigenous constructs. Smith (2021) and Wilson (2008) have taken the lead on decolonizing academic structures as originating in the Euro-centric academy. They argue that Indigenous ways of being and knowing, existing for millennia, predate western academic structures. Theorists such as Taiaiake Alfred (2009), John Mohawk (2010) and Battiste & Henderson (2000) have established space for Indigenous theory that is resistance based against the colonial state. Within the Syilx academic space, Armstrong’s (2009) and Sam’s (2013) work in Syilx law and ethics, and Cohen’s (2010) educational lens on the captikʷɬ have all contributed to a growing canon of Syilx theoretical structures that stand opposed to their Western counterparts. A common element of all these works has been the re-inscription of place-based thinking in new formats. These are representations from Indigenous perspectives, not of or about Indigenous peoples as more typical of previous, western dominated, approaches. In other words, thinking through place (land) supersedes external representations of place (i.e., Wilson’s (2008) take on “dominant” structures), and valorizes the insights of Indigenous voices speaking from very particular traditions, as a result. Yet, there are very few texts about Syilx captikʷɬ and leadership. In the captikʷɬ recounted at the beginning of this chapter, because Coyote forgot his purpose, he died and was brought back to life when his twin-brother, Fox, stepped over him four times. The broad approach to reinvigorating or reviving the Coyote in our leadership is grand and broad and needs specificity and the engagement of many Syilx scholars. This is where this thesis is situated: what are the ‘four steps’ over Coyote, specifically in the context of Enowkinwixʷ and through the lens of Bitterroot, to restore Syilx leadership? The restoration of Syilx leadership will occur in our communities through the practice of Syilx leadership principles embedded in 12 our captikʷɬ. Though more recent mainstream leadership literature has a greater canon on which to draw for the purposes of data interpretation and research queries (see Yukl, 1999 ,“An Evaluative Essay on Current Conceptions of Effective Leadership”), it has yet to enter into the Indigenous space of traditional knowledge rooted in story - that is, there is little critically-based data on effective leadership and governance in Indigenous communities beyond “economic development” that has Indigenous orality at its base. While we can speak of Indigenous perspectives, Indigenous scholars insist on the specificity of those perspectives. Let us start, therefore, with Syilx. Captikʷɬ In this brief section, I will be establishing the importance of oral traditions in the Syilx context while pointing to important concepts that arise from our oral traditions. The importance of Indigenous oral tradition in the legal context and within academic literature has been established within the past 30 plus years (Cornell, 2002; Sam, 2013; Archibald, 2008; 1997 CanLII 302 (SCC) Delgamuukw v. British Columbia, 1997; Napoleon, 2005; 2014 SCC 44 CanLII Tsilhqot’in v. British Columbia, 2014; Eigenbrod & Hulan, 2008; Tonkin, 1992). These traditions are sets of stories that are specific to place, and thus must be maintained within the same spirit of revitalization. In that there is a legal context and weight to Indigenous orality, in Syilx orality there exists a leadership ethic and tradition that bears the same importance (see Sam, 2013). Syilx oral traditions are called captikʷɬ. I will move between referencing them as stories, reflecting the emphasis and role of “story” in this thesis, and captikʷɬ. Syilx scholar and xatus6, Jeannette Armstrong (2009, p.116) categorizes the captikʷɬ in the following genres: 6 Xatus- This Nsyilxcn word traditionally referred to the head person for hunting, fishing, and root and berry harvests. They had specific knowledge of the land and its seasonal changes. Their expertise in timing of harvest, allowing for regrowth and culls were specific to their function and role as a Chief of sorts. Today they are 13 1) World before humans 2) Here were people living 3) Coyote was traveling along 4) Sacred type This thesis deals with four captikʷɬ as a means of discussing leadership from a Syilx perspective. Three of the captikʷɬ come from Armstrong’s third category, “Coyote was traveling along:” Coyote, Porcupine, and the Flies; Coyote, Horse, and Dog; and How Coyote Got His Name and Powers. The fourth captikʷɬ comes from the first category “world before humans” category: The Four Food Chiefs.7 Stories from the second category, though just as rich in Syilx thought and practice, tend to focus on quite particularly place-based stories, and are not included in this dissertation. The fourth category is outside the realm of my knowledge; further, Syilx protocol forbids the discussion of such stories except within the confines of the keepers of sacred texts. The captikʷɬ in discussion will be engaged though a leadership lens that comes from The Four Food Chiefs. This lens will be applied when discussing the other three captikʷɬ. Leadership will also be discussed by defining it from our captikʷɬ and through the Nsyilxcn word for leader, yilmixʷm. This word is inextricably connected to the word Enowkinwixʷ, a Syilx ceremony and governance structure. The word contains many teachings that will be discussed in this thesis in correlation with the corresponding academic literature. Some of these texts make the connection between interconnectedness/systems theory and Enowkinwixʷ and mixʷ. From the meaning and categorized as Syilx people who embody Traditional Ecological Knowledge, though not directly connected to survival. 7 Syilx people may interpolate these titles in a different manner. However, my interpolation is based on ease of reading and writing, less about semantics, and nothing to do with taking authority over the captikʷɬ. 14 disposition of Enowkinwixʷ, I have fashioned a Syilx research paradigm that houses methodology, theory, and methods called the Enowkinwixʷ Research Paradigm, or ERP. Enowkinwixʷ is a Syilx practice, and the use and discussion of Syilx practice is important for one fundamental reason: because colonization effectively disturbed these practices, the reinstitution of these practices becomes a decolonizing/resurgent function. These Syilx leadership concepts of selflessness, empathy, and empowerment are antithetical to the models of leadership and governance that were forced upon Syilx people over the past century. This is why Enowkinwixʷ and Syilx leadership concepts must be practiced in a contemporary manner. Leaders were expected to act in the interest of all community members in a way that is consistent with the actions of The Four Food Chiefs in their exemplary model of Enowkinwixʷ. Armstrong (2009) affirms this wider connection: “The story provides insight into the leadership required that will ensure that the people-to-be will be part of the many strands spreading outward as strong life force, protected in their combined but unified movement forward”. (p.161). As was discussed in the 2023 UBC Indigenous Faculty Enowkinwixʷ, decolonization has an element of understanding the history of cultural derailment. In short, from the onset of 1858, when B.C. became a crown colony, intrusive colonial legislation was imposed on Indigenous people that effectively derailed traditional leadership structures. Part of this derailment involved the systemic subjugation of Syilx culture which included the captikʷɬ and the principles therein- that is, though the captikʷɬ lived on in the minds of Syilx people, our leadership institutions no longer carried their cultural weight in value due to colonial legislative impositions. This thesis explores what these Syilx leadership structures could look like in Syilx community. 15 Chapter Descriptions As I have used Enowkinwixʷ as a central component to this thesis, so have I allowed it to influence my writing process in reflecting its relational ebbs and flows as a living system. In line with Wilson’s (2008) concept of an Indigenous research paradigm being grounded first in place and secondly in thought, as a Syilx person, studying Syilx ways of knowing and being on Syilx territory, I have fashioned the ERP that reflects these ways. Its methods and methodology are autoethnographic in that it is deeply rooted in observance and lived experience, much like that of Bitterroot and Black Bear. It utilizes systems theory in that it considers every part in relation to the whole, much like the four voices in Enowkinwixʷ. Though I establish the theoretical and methodological models that closely align with Syilx thought, I maintain the integrity of the inclusive nature and holistic structure of my research paradigm based in Enowkinwixʷ as one of the captikʷɬ in discussion. In short, my methodology is leadership and governance informed as it originates from one of our stories that expresses aspects of leadership and governance. This thesis will outline a theoretical framework of effective principles and strategies of Syilx leadership by drawing on Syilx captikʷɬ, as well using a Syilx-based autoethnographic methodology as a means of illustrating the nature of Syilx leadership coupled with Syilx lived experiences in community and in relation to leadership. In the following chapters I will use the ERP to discuss Syilx leadership. In chapter 2, I ask the question, “what is a holistic research paradigm (Wilson, 2008) resident in Enowkinwixʷ. My research paradigm is Syilx and rooted in Enowkinwixʷ. In conjunction with Chang (2008), I provide arguments advocating for its use by addressing its possible pitfalls within the nature of Enowkinwixʷ and how the ERP deters them. I also discuss the systems lens in the context of Enowkinwixʷ process and research paradigm. 16 In chapter 3, I look at the research on story and its effect on the brain and connect it to Syilx captikʷɬ and leadership by asking "is there a connection between story/captikʷɬ and functional Syilx leadership and what does that look like today?” I also ask the question, “how would story have operated in a pre-colonial society and how can story be part of resurgence in Syilx communities?” I rely primarily on Black & Barnes (2013) and Kidd & Castano (2013) to establish the science of story and its effect on the brain. I also utilize Shamay-Tsoory et al. (2010) to establish Theory of Mind in connection to story’s influence on our brains. Using Houston et al, (2011) as a base, I establish that stories can help the listeners resonate in meaning in their own lives, and using Dal, Zanna & Fong (2004), I discuss how story can break down resistance to behavior change by immersion and character identification. I also point out the dark side of story by looking at Davis’s (2021) analysis of Silicon Valley’s “tech giants” and their affiliation and adoption of Ayn Rand’s classic, Atlas Shrugged. I then tie this into Syilx story/captikʷɬ and Syilx leadership by leaning on Armstrong (2009) and her existing work on captikʷɬ (Syilx story). I point to the role story plays in emotional development in general, how it would have operated in pre-colonial Syilx culture, and how it can be a part of resurgent Syilx leadership today. In chapter 4, I look at leadership and Syilx leadership in more depth. I discuss how Syilx leadership relates to contemporary leadership structures and practices by asking the following questions: “what are the impacts of colonialism on Syilx leadership? Was precolonial Syilx leadership functional? How is Syilx leadership expressed through the captikʷɬ? How do we Syilx-ify our leadership through the principles found in the four captikʷɬ of discussion?” Using mainly Cline et al. (1938) and Ray (1939), I note the functionality of Syilx leadership that existed prior to contact and even through the first half a century of contact. From here, I establish 17 the dysfunction that currently exists in Syilx communities through the accumulation and stagnation of power structures that do not benefit the ‘people-to-be.’ Though there is a strong landscape of Indigenous governance grey literature, there is much lacking in the field of academic Indigenous leadership literature. I also look at leadership theories that relate to Syilx ways of being as resonant with the captikʷɬ, and contrast this with the dominant Western practices of leadership. In chapter 5, I ask the question, “how is power expressed when looking through a Syilx lens?” I also ask, “how does power operate in Enowkinwixʷ?” In this chapter, in conjunction with research on power, I insert the data compiled from the Enowkinwixʷ in which I participated. Using Emerson (1962), I discuss power as it is experienced between parties, or as he calls them “actors.” I use Battilana & Casciaro (2021) as a base to discuss empathy, or ‘Theory of Mind,’ in relation to Enowkinwixʷ as a process originating from and operating in story. I argue that Enowkinwixʷ, in its process, structure, and principles, is rich with concepts of empowerment. This empowerment is deeply connected to ‘story,’ being that it originates from story, and because it is deeply connected to story, empathy, and empowerment. That is, the positive emotional concepts discussed in chapter 4 coincide in conjunction with Syilx concepts of empowerment/disempowering as observed in Enowkinwixʷ. After establishing the concept of power in Syilx ways of being, I discuss concepts of power as they relate to leadership principles found in the three captikʷɬ as well as from data from various Enowkinwixʷ: Coyote, Porcupine and the Flies, How Coyote Got His Name and Powers, and Coyote, Horse, and Dog. Coyote, Porcupine and the Flies shows us how to interact with parties when our own ‘power’ or skills is seemingly not enough. I also discuss power in relation 18 to resources using Coyote, Porcupine and the Flies. I discuss Syilx ways of leading through partnership and empowerment (Metcalf & Urwick’s (2003) concept of ‘power with’) along with the concept of self-care in leadership in Coyote, Horse, and Dog. By relying on several researchers (House & Howell, 1992; Roepke et al., 2018; Benoit et al., 2011; Bartels & Rips, 2010; Hershfield et al., 2011) as well as data from Enowkinwixʷ, I argue that visioning/planning, ceremony, and protecting one’s own personal space are vital to longevity and effectiveness as a leader. How Coyote Got His Name and Powers shows us the downside of dysfunctional leadership. Using House & Avolio (1992) and Clearfield & Tilcsik (2018), I discuss the negative effects of power on our brains and argue for Enowkinwixʷ, and the Syilx leadership therein, as a remedy to counteract power’s natural effect. In chapter 6, I conclude my thesis by relating back to the Enowkinwixʷ Research Paradigm in the systems approach to theorizing Syilx leadership and answering the main research question, “What is Syilx leadership from the lens of Bitterroot?” Beyond the requirements of the academy, my intent for this thesis is that Syilx communities and non-Syilx communities alike benefit from my arguments for and reflections on captikʷɬ. In an age of “reconciliation,” I advocate non-Syilx institutions to adopt whatever measures from this thesis are adequate and appropriate for their context. Syilx-ifying our leadership in community and Indigenizing the institutions on Syilx lands are important in reconciling our relationship to the land on which we move, live, and have our being. If there is anything the reader can gain from this thesis, it is a better understanding of Indigenous/Syilx structures as they relate to our ways of being. Let us therefore start with Syilx. 19 Chapter 2- Methodology, Theory and Method Which came first, the chicken or the egg? Trying to use this age-old axiom as a means of explaining my research process is the best-worst phrase that comes to mind. Yet, it truly is difficult to name which occurred first: was I studying captikʷɬ in the context of leadership before I was observing leadership practices in community and elsewhere, or was I participating in Enowkinwixʷ before I started to mull over the innate workings of systems theory within the structure of The Four Food Chiefs? Mulling in the metaphorical weeds of this conundrum (for the purposes of situating myself in my research) is dizzying and fruitless. However, what rises in importance in either scenario is that at some point my thinking turned to Syilx thought, and Syilx thought is the foundation of my methodology, methods and theory (and thesis). Wilson (2008) states that “if one starts from an Indigenous paradigm, then one can choose to use any tool from within that paradigm that may be effective” (p.39). Rather than attempt to figure out where I started in the grand process of leadership, captikʷɬ, decolonization, research, or how to decolonize a set of methodologies, theories, or methods, what is important is that I chose to start with a Syilx way of thinking that may lend itself to Syilx methodologies, theories, and methods. As Wilson (2008) asserts, the theory, methodology and methods should mirror the (Indigenous) lived experience. To carry the metaphor forward, which started the “reflection” first, the methodology or the theory? Did the theory of Enowkinwixʷ precede and inform the methodology, or was it more closely related to the grounded theory approach? Or perhaps, in the vein of a holistic approach, is there a difference between the theory and the methodology? This cyclical question inevitably points back to the systems nature of thinking that inhabits Syilx thought, Syilx research, and consequently, the research paradigm of this thesis. 20 In this chapter, I will lay out my Syilx research paradigm by establishing Enowkinwixʷ from the captikʷɬ of The Four Food Chiefs, explaining its systems nature, and how its methodology, methods and theory are inextricably linked. I will also speak to the “dominant” academic patterns of thinking that, as Wilson (2008) states, are effective in supporting my own research. These patterns include autoethnography for methodology and methods, and systems theory for theory. Captikʷɬ & Enowkinwixʷ Indigenous ontology is naturally relational. It trickles down in and through our ways of being and ways of knowing in community, the land and all living things. This includes not only our leadership structures, but also our ceremonies and, of course, our captikʷɬ. This relationality is important in discussing Enowkinwixʷ, The Four Food Chiefs, and my research paradigm, but for now, I will discuss its importance in the captikʷɬ. The captikʷɬ, as Syilx texts, are relational, to us and to themselves. They have a relationship unto themselves (i.e. each story) in that they are part of a canon of captikʷɬ, and cannot be separated into their own story without acknowledging their relationship to other stories and the land, on which the stories occurred, and all living things. Their relational nature is seen in their ebb and flow within their own micro- stories, within adjacent stories, and within their respective categories. One story will start where another seemingly left off and, in this transition, their micro stories emerge. The story discussed in the beginning of chapter one, Coyote and Chickadee, is an apt illustration. The story is about a competition between two entities, yet, in the middle we have the micro story of Coyote forgetting his quest in the competition and consequently dying. Still, there is an ‘intermission’ of sorts when he is dead for a time and Fox comes to revive him. In the bigger picture of captikʷɬ, this story is linked to a grander story of the animals ascending to the land in the sky. The 21 captikʷɬ’s relationship to us occurs through their instruction and their regeneration within us as people-to-be, and by consequence, in community. They speak to us in our circumstances and offer knowledge through their events. The instruction and regeneration are offered in philosophical and literal structures, paradigms and blueprints that provide aid for Syilx people and others. The story of The Four Foods Chiefs, one of our central captikʷɬ, holds such aid. The story of The Four Food Chiefs entails a process in which the Chiefs, representing all their respective animal sects, had to figure out how the “people-to-be” would survive. The Food Chiefs engaged in a Syilx structure called “Enowkinwixʷ” as a means of solving the challenge. The English phonetics of the word are as follows: ee-now-kin-wee(xw), with the last ‘xw’ being a rush of air near the back of the throat. The corresponding Nsyilxcn morphemes8 are as follows: Enow= “naʕʷ;” kin = “qn;” and wixw= “wixʷ.” Armstrong (2009) transliterates the word from these morphemes: “‘naʕʷ’-drip into, ‘qn-the head,’ and ‘wixʷ’ -reciprocally, provides clear symbolic imagery that the participants should fill each other‘s minds drop by drop, suggesting a gentle process of absorbing information without resistance” (p.178). Enowkinwixʷ (or naʕʷqnwixʷ) is a foundational way of Syilx knowing and of being, both in practice and in ceremony. It can be described as a deliberative, direct, proactive, democratic model of building consensus through gentleness, respect, and inclusivity. Therefore, in the story of The Four Food Chiefs, when the Chiefs engaged in dialogue, they carried out and modeled for us this process. Below is a Syilx authorized rendering of the story, “How Food Was Given,” from Kou- Skelowh/We Are the People: A Trilogy of Okanagan Legends (2017): 8 “Morphemes,” are the building blocks of a polysynthetic language. Some Indigenous languages are polysynthetic- while the English language has morphemes that make up the ending or beginning of words, it is not a polysynthetic language. The nature of Nsyilxcn being polysynthetic will be discussed in more depth in chapter 4 and 5. 22 Four Food Chiefs In the world before this world, before there were people, il tәmxʷulaxʷ cәʔxʔitms axa iʔ tәmxʷulaxʷ, ilutiʔ ɬaksqilxʷ and before things were like they are now, everyone was alive and walking around like we do. ‿mnimɬtәt. All creation talked about the coming changes to their world. They had been told that soon a new kind of people would be living on this earth. әlaxwilxax alaʔ il tәmxʷulaxʷ. Even they, the Animal and Plant people would be changed. Now they had to decide how the People-to-be would live lxʷ ikɬnxʷәlxʷәltans and what they would eat. The four Chiefs of all Creation are: iʔ kmusmәx iʔ yilyalmixʷms yaʕt iʔ tmixʷ axaʔәlx: Black Bear, Chief for all creatures on the land mxʷulaxʷ Spring Salmon, Chief for all creatures in the water Bitteroot, Chief for things under the ground Saskatoon Berry, Chie23 for things growing on land They held many meetings and talked for a long time about what the People-To-Be would need to live. All of the Chiefs thought and thought. yaʕt iʔ yilyalmixʷm әnʕawqnwixʷ ―What can we give to the People-To-Be to eat that is already here on earth?‖ they asked one another. ―stimʔ cakʷ iʔ ɬtm iʔ әlsqilxʷ tә ɬnsәlx iʔ acwayʔ alaʔ ? ‖ suˑnwixʷәlx. ―There seems to be no answer‖ ‿ ɬ ә ‖ Finally, the three other Chiefs said to skәmxist, ―You are the oldest and wisest among us. ‖ xuˑy uɬ, iʔ tkakaɬis iʔ yilyalmixʷm cusәlx skәmxist ―anwiʔ iʔ kʷ‿ ɬ iʔ kʷ‿ әnimɬtәt. You tell us what you are going to do.‖ anwiʔ mi kw‿cut kʷ‿sәxkinax.‖ skәmxist said, ―Since you have all placed your trust in me, I will have to do the best I can.‖ skәmxist cut, ‿tkʷilsmntәp, kn‿ әɬmistax mәɬ taliʔ kn‿kswitmist.‖ He thought for a long time and finally he said, ‿ әsapiʔ xʷuˑy uɬ cut, ―I will give myself, and all the animals that I am Chief over, to be food for the People-To-Be.‖ 24 Then he said to ntiʔtyix, ―What will you do?‖ ntiʔtyix answered, ―You are indeed the wisest among us. ntiʔtyix cut, ―anwiʔ tawnixʷ iʔ kʷ‿ әlminimɬtәt. I will also give myself and all the things that live in the water For food for the People-To-Be.‖ sp‘i m, who was Chief of all the roots under the ground said, ―I will do the same.‖ Siyaʔ was last. Siyaʔ said, ―I will do the same. All the good things growing above the ground will be food for the People-To-Be.‖ iyaʔ cut, ―inca nixʷ kn‿ ʕt iʔ ɬns iʔ әlsqilxʷ.‖ Chief skәmxist was happy because there would be enough food for the People-To-Be. skәmxist said, ―Now, I will lay my life down to make these things happen.‖ Because the great Chief skәmxist had given his life, all of Creation gathered and sang songs to bring him back to life. That was how they helped heal each other in that world. They all took turns singing, but skәmxist did not come back to life. Finally, Fly came along. He sang, ―You laid your body down. You laid your life down.‖ 25 His song was powerful. skәmxist came back to life Then Fly told the four Chiefs, ―When the People-To-Be are here and they take your body for food, they will sing this song. they will cry their thanks with this song.‖ cәm sc‘qʷaqʷ anlimtnsәlx axaʔ tә qʷәylm‖ Then skәmxist spoke for all the Chiefs, ―From now on when the People- To-Be come, everything will have its own song.‖ xiʔ skәmxist tqʷәlqʷәltiplas yaʕt iʔ yilyalmixʷm, ―tlaʕpnaʔ ɬә ―the People-to-Be will use these songs to help each other as you have helped me.‖ tamnimɬәmp iʔ kʷu‿knxitntәp.‖ That is how food was given to our people. That is how songs were given to our people. That is how giving and helping one another was and still is taught to our people. That is why we must respect even the smallest, weakest persons for what they can contribute. sәc‘ ɬә That is why we give thanks and honour to what is given to us. sәc‘ ‿kәclimtax uɬ kә ʔ ʔstim iʔ ә әt. 26 Enowkinwixʷ, mixʷ, yilmixʷm: Systems Thinking Enowkinwixʷ is metonymical in the context of the wider system (i.e., the land)- that is, in relation to the land, as a tool for dialogue about challenges that ultimately affect the land, community, and future generations; it is a consensus building tool, but it is also a form of dialogue, a way of thinking, and a way of reflecting and regenerating Syilx sociality each time it is practiced. The morphemes that make up the Nsyilxcn language are “word-pictures.” Armstrong (2009) interprets the Nsyilxcn morpheme “mixʷ,” as a picture of many strands coming from one source, much like a braid of hair partially undone or a piece of hide that has been, in part, frayed. There is a whole (person/braid, or one piece of animal skin) and many parts (strands of hair or strands of hide) that are interconnected and interdependent and cannot be considered without acknowledging their relationship to the whole. This morpheme’s conceptual framework points back to the inherent relationship between all living things. It signifies the connection that all living things have in their existence- that is, we as individuals are all connected to a “whole,” and therefore have and can have an impact9 on each other. Within this vein of Syilx thought it can be said that Enowkinwixʷ is many strands from one whole- it cannot be separated from its origin story with the Food Chiefs, from the plants and animals (timxw) whom they represent, and from us as sqilxʷ (the “people-to-be”). We are all connected. The idea of mixʷ can be further understood in the “systems theory” lens that is illustrated in the concept of the captikʷɬ, and by consequence in the model of Enowkinwixʷ as a Syilx structure found in captikʷɬ. That is, systems theory is akin to the mentioned Syilx way of thinking in that every part of a “thing” is connected to the whole (Wheatley, 2006). Enowkinwixʷ, as originating from 9 The nature of our “impact” wholly depends on the connection we have with each other and with the corresponding connections in family and community. I can impact a person with whom I have no connection by having an impact on a person of family with whom they are connected. 27 captikʷɬ, acknowledges the different relationships that exist in community in and through the four lenses represented by the Four Chiefs: Black Bear- Traditions, Salmon- Action, Saskatoon- Innovation, and Bitterroot- Relationships. When the lenses are brought together in consensus through functional relationship (i.e. Enowkinwixʷ), there is regeneration. Space, Place and Thought Syilx knowledge comes from and resides in community and our collective knowledge and experience. Perhaps better said, the relationship between space and thought matter. The Harvard Project (2003) points to Indigenous culturally situated leadership methods and practices as a determinant for community success. Dergousoff (2008) and Kearns (2013) outline the locality and context for Indigenous knowledge usage as land-specific, but not necessarily transferable or universal. Items can be borrowed or altered based on locale and context, but they are never duplicated. Archibald (2019) affirms the notion of place-based specificity in the context of Indigenous methodology as “cultures, identity, and knowledge systems, of which Indigenous stories are a core part” (p.17). Legault (2016) states that Indigenous knowledge “isn’t legitimated through the validation process of the scientific method, but rather is legitimated by the community that it comes from” (p.16). My research paradigm, which I will discuss in this chapter, is rooted in place as it is from Syilx captikʷɬ and contains principles and processes (Enowkinwixʷ) that are inherently Syilx. These items come from the land in that they are stories about our land that happened on our land, literally. For further clarity, Bitterroot is an Indigenous root that grows in the semi-arid climate of Syilx territory- it comes from our land and is a part of our canon of story. In the same way, our stories, and by consequence our leadership structures based on our stories, are not transportable outside of Syilx territory in as much as the stories of the Haudenosaunee cannot be made to thrive in the cultural climate of Syilx people. Though 28 principles can be transferable from culture to culture, the origin and root remains Syilx. The captikʷɬ researched and discussed in this thesis present lessons that were learned on the land thus making those lessons and knowledge autochthonous- that is, as the mentioned authors state, our knowledge is not defined by the outside, but rather define the outside by our own methods of research. Having established this context (space and thought i.e., land) for my research, I will briefly discuss protocols for language and word-use for the ease of the reader and writer. Firstly, I will borrow from Wilson’s (2008) label of “paradigm,” when referring to my specific Syilx research structure. My Indigenous research structure is the Enowkinwixʷ Research Paradigm, or ERP. Wilson (2008) describes these paradigms as situated in place, culturally, and borrowing from dominant research theories, methods, and methodologies as best suit the Indigenous research. I will discuss the dominant structures of systems theory and autoethnography later in this chapter as a means of describing the ERP’s relationship to existing academic structures. I will also interpolate one of our foundational captikʷɬ as “The Four Food Chiefs,” as opposed to its other titles or descriptions of “How Food Was Given,” or “The Story of How Food Was Given.” Relationality vs. reductionism The ERP, not unlike Syilx leadership, must be looked at through the lens of relationality. If I were to use one or even two or three leadership academic theories for this thesis, it wouldn’t be sufficient to address “the whole” from a Syilx leadership perspective. The myriad of leadership theories take account for the differing opinions and contexts for leadership expression. According to Wilson (2008) & Smith (2012) in their seminal texts on the use and craft of Indigenous theory and methodology, Indigenous research is relational and requires relational 29 accountability- that is the relationship between people and stories (i.e. people-people, people- stories, stories-stories), in their similarities and varying approaches matters when looking at the Enowkinwixʷ data, the four stories within this thesis, and my lived experience. Looking through this Syilx relational lens while using dominant structures without place-based thinking as context and foundation can cause world clashes in thought and practice. One of the dominant ontological theories that exists today to explain science, which can be the cause of clash among other things, is reductionism. Reductionism states that there are big things that can be broken down into smaller things, and those smaller things can be further broken down into smaller things and so on. Reductionism embraces and applies phenetics. Although this thesis is not equipped to discuss this theory at length, it is useful in this section to address this ontology as a means of refracting and contrasting it with the ERP. The challenge with relying solely on reductionism as a means of explaining ourselves in relation to our world is that it can silo the information which it seeks to understand, rendering the relational aspects null and void. For example, a table becomes a classification of a solid, a solid becomes molecules, molecules become atoms, the atoms become tightly packed, the atoms become quarks etc. I would argue that at each stage of reduction, less and less attention is given to the relationship of its predecessor. So, the table is no longer discussed as a table but as the material to which it is being reduced. When this approach is taken across the various disciplines of social sciences, it expresses itself in our thinking and how we approach our microcosms. When this ontology comes into contact within Indigenous ontologies there is a break in understanding that cannot be reconciled unless the prescriber eliminates the basic notion of Indigenous ontology, which is relational, or subsides to an Indigenous way of thinking and being. By contrast, Indigenous ontology examines the relationship between parts that make up a 30 whole, rather than the parts themselves by themselves. It is a relational way of thinking that sees the existing connections. The table is (assumingly) made of wood, and the wood came from a pine tree, and the pine tree grew in Syilx territory in the valley floor, and lived in a specific habitat etc. When we look at Syilx leadership through this lens, then our way of thinking acts out the definition of a leader in Nsyilxcn, which is contrary to reductionism. Enowkinwixʷ, Relationality and the ERP In this section, I will be discussing the ERP’s theory, methodology, methods, and protocols (ethics). Firstly, I’d like to briefly retell the story of The Four Food Chiefs and then describe Enowkinwixʷ as a ceremony and how I use its framework and concepts as a research paradigm. The captikʷɬ of The Four Food Chiefs depicts the Food Chiefs (Black Bear, Salmon, Saskatoon, and Bitterroot) dialoguing their way through a dilemma posed to them by the Creator: How will the people-to-be be provided for when they come to the earth? Their dialogue is drawn out only to seemingly end with no solution. Black Bear, as a means of solving the predicament, literally offers his life to solve the unsolvable; the other Food Chiefs commit the same. All the animals come together to give their best songs in hopes of resurrecting Black Bear, yet without success. Finally, fly comes and sings his grieving song and Black Bear is resurrected. The story ends. One of the functions of Enowkinwixʷ, among other things, is a consensus-building. In the story, the Food Chiefs engaged in Enowkinwixʷ as a means of solving a problem and achieving the end goal for how the people-to-be would be provided. The organization of this consensus- building is centered on the Food Chiefs and their inherent representations. The Food Chiefs, as leaders and representatives of their specific animal sects, modeled a form of dialogue that included the voices of various lenses of thought represented in their animal nature. These lenses 31 of organization are translated to Syilx community during an Enowkinwixʷ. They are reflective of community in their thinking and behavior, and contribute to addressing challenges in unique mediums10. This organizational anthropomorphism that directs Syilx ethics, principle, and organization is what Armstrong (2009) calls “ecomimicry” (p.315). For example, Salmon represents action in that he will go over and under and against any obstacle in his journey through water. Saskatoon represents innovation in that he is the embodiment of the future through its flesh and seed, i.e. that a seed is the future of a plant. Bitterroot represents relationship in two main ways: she is grounded (literally) and her “heart” is a red seed in the middle of her body- that is, relationships are grounded in characteristics that are reflective of the emotional seat of a person which is the heart i.e.- empathy, empowerment, selflessness. Black Bear, in his life expectancy, represents traditions. His years of roaming bring experience that surpasses his three contemporaries. Each Food Chief offers a different lens or perspective through their ecomimicry that resolved the existential problem of providing for the humans in the world to come. Not only did they solve how we would be provided for, but in their deliberation, they also gave us the ceremony of Enowkinwixʷ in model and practice. The process of Enowkinwixʷ entails several experiences for participants. In concert with the model first set by the Food Chiefs, when we as Syilx people practice Enowkinwixʷ, we engage in a generative process that addresses community-based challenges that would and do affect present and future generations. In its metonymical nature, Enowkinwixʷ is also an autochthonously Syilx ceremony (not to be confused with the overarching organizational structure of Enowkinwixʷ that is used in organizational and community practice). It is usually 10 “Community,” can be interpreted in a myriad of contexts from the seven Syilx communities, a smaller sect within the 7 communities and/or greater Syilx nation, in family or in shared workspace inhabited by Syilx and/or non-Syilx people. 32 facilitated by 4-5 people, trained in the ways of Enowkinwixʷ, and can last up to five days. Just as the Food Chiefs spoke from their respective lens, the facilitators are trained to recognize participants’ respective lenses as a means of clustering them into their Food Chief group to ensure productive, respectful dialogue. The process is a relationship-building praxis that requires patience and active listening11. As the ceremony progresses, the four groups must take the space and time to discuss whatever challenge is being addressed, first in their own groups, secondly in their dyads, and thirdly as a whole. Being that it is a generative ceremony (i.e.- solving a problem for future generations), it can be emotionally affective, thus moving participants to alter their perspectives in a positive manner. Over the course of the ceremony, in the journey to consensus, participants are exposed to other Food Chief perspectives in an empathetic fashion- that is, through its protocols, the process pushes participants to experience differing perspectives, as opposed to just hearing and dismissing. This shift in thinking can be a change in opinion or simply a slight alteration in how they see the challenge in the middle.12 The protocols provide somewhat of an invisible hand of facilitation. The Food Chief lenses (participants) engage in productive dialogue, ultimately to consensus, by creating the space for participants to experience each other’s perspective, by bringing every lens together through a facilitated and structured process. When consensus is reached, the experience is much like Black Bear’s regeneration- everyone brings their best “song,” the least of these being considered (i.e., Fly’s grieving song), and something new is created in its process. 11 The “active listening” will be important to the empathy aspect of Enowkinwixʷ which I will discuss in detail in later chapters. 12 The Food Chief lenses can be complementary (Salmon/action- Saskatoon/innovation and Black bear/traditions- Bitterroot/relationships) and (seemingly) oppositional (Salmon/action- Bitterroot/relationships and Black bear/traditions- Saskatoon/innovation). They will be discussed in detail later in this thesis. 33 Enowkinwixʷ is transliterated as “gently dropping thoughts like water into each other’s heads until they all fill-up” (Armstrong, 2009, p.178). The transliteration of Enowkinwixʷ from the Nsyilxcn into English is important for two reasons. The first is in its relation to a dominant system of dialogue known as deliberative democracy. Deliberative democracy is a way of building consensus that considers every viewpoint and comes to a solution to which every party agrees (Bohman, 1997; Dryzek, 2012). The Syilx praxis of Enowkinwixʷ has its own systematic, progressive structure that is designed to address an issue, consider every viewpoint, and arrive at a solution which all parties adopt. Unlike the dominant structure, Enowkinwixʷ brings in an element of the soul which can be hard to quantify in its process but can be felt at its conclusion. (This aspect will be addressed in depth in chapter 5.) The second is in relation to the protocols that are embedded in the morphemes that make up the word Enowkinwixʷ. The grand theme of respectful dialogue comes from the gentleness of water when “dropped” at a pace that allows for fulfillment. At the beginning of an Enowkinwixʷ ceremony these protocols are established in the group and serve as the ethical framework that ensures the process is carried out from beginning to end. These include, but are not limited to, respectful dialogue, active listening, not speaking until it is your turn to speak, honesty, a commitment to leave phones until breaks and to keeping the contents of the process confidential except that which the group agrees to make public. Like the morphemes and the word, Enowkinwixʷ and its protocols cannot be separated. Without these protocols the process becomes defunct, ineffective, and no more than a social gathering, if that. It is much like any activity with a ball: if the rules are not followed, the game is no longer plausible, nor effective to its end, and breaks down. The protocols are ensured by the facilitators in as much as participants are expected to self-regulate. They do this by acting as “droplets” in and of themselves towards participants. In the handful of Enowkinwixʷ I’ve attended there was 34 usually one to two people who thought they were above the protocols. Though it is rare for these types of individuals to be publicly reprimanded, they are nonetheless addressed in private and reminded of their positionality within the Enowkinwixʷ circle. Enowkinwixʷ as a ceremony is practiced as much as the structure and protocols are adopted in Syilx administrative structures, meetings, and unofficial function. The latter, however, is based on the reality of a ceremony that fulfills its function. As a means of providing further context to the ERP’s content and process, I will describe the process of the ceremony step by step. At a distant glance, the ceremony consists of small and big circles of dialogue. The big circles are for starting and concluding the ceremony, and for general processes and purposes. The small circles occur within Food Chief groups and Food Chief dyads and are meant to provide individual building blocks (if you will) that serve the greater consensus. The steps of Enowkinwixʷ are as follows: Big Circle Introduction to the ceremony and protocols, and to a live-telling of The Four Food Chiefs The group is seated in an inwards-facing circle and the facilitators introduce themselves and the reason for holding an Enowkinwixʷ. The seating is meant to reinforce the egalitarian nature of Syilx community, but also to remind participants that their positionality matters less than their personhood in the ceremony. Their inward-facing posture also serves as a constant reminder of the “middle,” or the ‘why’ for which they are assembled. A prayer and smudge are performed as a means of opening the circle. After the prayer, the middle of the circle is given a lit candle, a cup of water, or both. This is symbolic of metaphorically “lighting” the fire that is kept throughout the process. The fire is symbolic of the issue at the middle, and the water is symbolic of life. Both have metaphorical allusions to life, or the people-to-be. The story of The Four Food 35 Chiefs is then recounted and explained in relation to the ceremony. Within this live-telling context the protocols are then discussed and established in relation to the story and current Enowkinwixʷ. Situating Food Chief lenses/groups. In this portion the participants are placed in their respective quadrants according to their personal food chief disposition. Participant introductions and giving to the “middle.” Prior to the ceremony, participants are asked to bring an item of personal significance. One- by-one, participants introduce themselves (who they are, where they are from, and their relation to the current circle and “middle”), explain their item and why it holds personal value. When they are done, they place it in the middle of the circle, usually on a blanket, and state that they are committed to the protocols and the process. The “middle”13 is a symbol for the raison d’etre for holding an Enowkinwixʷ. Situating Food Chief groups. While the participants are introducing themselves, the facilitators, having been trained in Syilx-based empathy, situate them into their respective Food Chief group. When introductions are complete, they are sent into their groups for the first step of dialogue. Small Circle- What is the issue? In this first break-out into Food Chief groups, the participants are asked to define exactly what the issue is from their perspective. The facilitators take notes from everyone’s comments for everyone to see (either flipchart or computer) and for the “share-back” that occurs every time 13 In chapter 5 “Power,” I go into more theoretical detail and metaphorical meaning in what the “middle” entails. 36 everyone reassembles in the big circle. Participants are asked not to solve anything, nor to present the challenges, but to simply (from their Food Chief lens) establish what the issue is. Big Circle- What is the issue? Participants come back to the big circle and share their perspective on what the issue is. Although this seems like a habitual formation for any process, this is the first real point of Syilx- based empathetic contact that occurs for participants. They are exposed to another perspective on the same issue in which they also have a vested interest. This is a droplet of empathy that continues to “fill up” throughout the process. Small Circle: vision-casting for the “middle” in Food Chief groups (4 groups) . In this second break-out into Food Chief groups, participants are given the task of envisioning what the final solutions would be for the challenge at the middle. Challenges and/or roadblocks are not addressed, or “yeah but…” This step is meant for participants to envision what that vision would look like as if the challenge they face has been resolved. In some Food Chief groups, it is here where the least resistance is experienced, yet for others it is where the most resistance is experienced. This is usually due to the now established familiar and like- minded dialogue within their groups. Vision-casting for the “middle” in Food Chief-liaison groups (2 groups). The Food Chief groups are put into dyads with their complementary Food Chief group (i.e.- Salmon and Saskatoon & Black Bear and Bitterroot). The disposition between these two groups can be quite similar in thought and reasoning, thus the group cohesion is used as a good starting place for building consensus to a combined vision (usually on flipchart paper). This process is usually seamless and synergetic due to the similarities of the two corresponding lenses. 37 Exchanging visions with opposing Food Chief dyads (2 groups face 2 groups). The Food Chief dyads come to the middle of the circle and face each other. The (seemingly) opposing dyads, where much of the tension exists, ceremonially face each other, and say “We are entrusting you with our vision. We trust that you will do right for the people-to-be.” With each other’s vision now in the possession of opposing dyads, the group work is beset by the question “how can we overcome these barriers?”14 “What are the barriers to achieving this joined vision?” Here they go through the conjoined document point by point through their respective conjoined dyadic lens without altering, deleting, or changing their vision with which they’ve been entrusted. Big Circle: creating one vision. The dyads are brought back to the big circle for the final step towards consensus. Given the time and space and mutual empathy that has been built within the group, this step is usually productive with little resistance. With the help of the facilitators, all four Food Chief groups agree to a single vision based off the two edited visions produced from the dyads. Establishing the “how” (i.e., logistics). The last step of an Enowkinwixʷ is to produce reasonable timelines, responsibilities, and budgets for each point. Closing remarks, statements, and “standing up” the vision. The last action of an Enowkinwixʷ is where everyone commits to the vision, personally and organizationally. The closing of the circle is like the opening of the circle: each participant 14 Each question posed is poised to be answered from each Food Chief lenses or Food Chief dyads. This goes without saying. 38 makes their closing remarks, picks up their item of personal significance and walks around the circle once.15 ERP in the academic construct of theory, methodology, and methods. At this juncture, I feel it is best to begin by describing my ERP from a 10,000ft perspective of Syilx thinking and language, then dive deeper into the details of the captikʷɬ as it relates to this thesis: I will discuss the generality of being Syilx in our ways of knowing and being, then go into parts of our language that inform the ERP. This will provide clarity to the reader for understanding the Syilx approach to leadership. Secondly, I will discuss The Four Food Chiefs and their process of Enowkinwixʷ, looking at specific elements of story in Enowkinwixʷ, The Four Food Chiefs and how it informs the ERP. Thirdly, I will lay out the ERP in the academic construct of theory, methodology, and methods, showing that its ontology is relational that can often be seen in a feedback loop that occurs based in its captikʷɬ origin. Lastly, I will also discuss the possible pitfalls of the ERP, as outlined by Chang (2008), in relation to its autoethnographic nature. The “heart” of the ERP is best illustrated in the concept of the Nsyilxcn word for leader, yilmixʷm, both contextually and academically. Given that this thesis is about leadership from a Syilx perspective, it is only appropriate that the research paradigm should mirror the same. In the captikʷɬ, the Food Chiefs as “leaders” of their respective sects, are called yilmixʷm. It is a verb- based concept which pictures a person continuously spin/coiling together the strands of community in a way that ties them together as one without losing their individuality. yilmixʷm is a picture of a person who coils together community, resources, and living beings in a coordinated 15 The direction of these is determined by the season in which the Enowkinwixʷ is held- that is, in the winter season the walk is counter-clockwise and in the spring/summer season the walk is clockwise. 39 pattern of unity that is stronger together than in independence (Armstrong, 2009). In other words, when a Syilx leader makes decisions for future generations, they are actively “coiling” in community. A Syilx leader considers the whole as they intertwine the strands in a relational manner that does not isolate one over the other. This concept is time-exclusive- that is, it is a constant coiling that exists from leader to leader over seasons and over generations. This is a brave and arduous concept to aspire to as a leader, yet it is the Syilx way to think of leadership. In the same vein of thought, the published work of Syilx scholars that have come before me become strands that guide my thinking and, by consequence, the ERP, which brings the academic literature on leadership, Syilx captikʷɬ, and lived experience into one braid of thought (see Sam, 2013, p.7). Therefore, the Nsyilxcn word for leader not only informs the ERP but is also central to the research which takes place in this thesis. From a systems theory standpoint (i.e., many strands connected to the whole), the connection between leadership and Enowkinwixʷ cannot be overlooked. The “strands” can be explained from the morpheme, mixʷ, which forms part of the word, “Yil- “mixʷm.” The “many strands” from one source gives us the prompt of connection and relational ontology in reference to the office of a leader. The “coiling,” can be understood (in part) as decision making for future generations, which also is a function in Enowkinwixʷ. The decisions come from a deeply rooted observance in listening, and in being respectful and gentle. Enowkinwixʷ is an empowering process (via power-sharing, gentle) that is regenerative, and promotes the growth of empathy.16 It disseminates power from the parts to the whole, which then creates the space for regeneration vis-à-vis consensus building. In this space, leaders can grow in their capacity for empathy as an 16 This thesis is from the relational perspective of Bitterroot, and therefore does not negate nor address the other Food Chief or Fly’s perspectives. The character of Fly in the story is synonymous with a number of factors that deserve their own anthology, mostly, but not limited to, emotional turbulence and the act of grief. 40 individual and as a group which then lends itself to bettering their coiling skills. These are leadership qualities activated in this Syilx ceremony and embodied by Chief Bitterroot. Leaders who participate in an Enowkinwixʷ are exposed to these Syilx expectations and standards of leadership. They are exposed to this Syilx leadership and governance through the protocols of active listening and respectful dialogue. Not only does this produces consensus but also leadership qualities that are reflective of Bitterroot leadership qualities. Theory: Systems Lens and Enowkinwixʷ For the theory of the ERP to be inherently Syilx, the concepts, thoughts and premises must start with Syilx. Battiste (2000) states that Indigenous research seeks to “transform Eurocentric theory so that it will not only include and properly value Indigenous knowledge…but also develop a cooperative and dignified strategy that will invigorate and animate Indigenous language, cultures, knowledge, and vision in academic structures” (p.xxi). The “structures” to which Battiste refers are the theories, methods and methodologies that start in Indigenous ways of being and then explore the various terrain in search of theories that resonate with these ways. Archibald (2019) states that the act of decolonizing research should “encourage us as Indigenous researchers to connect research to our own worldviews and to theorize based on our own cultural notions” (p.6). In the thinking of Enowkinwixʷ, it is the relationship between the two approaches that creates sustainability. Linda Smith (2012) states “decolonization…does not mean and has not meant a total rejection of all theory or research or Western knowledge. Rather, it is about centering our concerns and world views and then coming to know and understand theory and research from our own perspective and for our own purposes” (p.39). Legault (2016) states that “Employing Western theories remains problematic, as they are often incompatible in terms of the underlying assumptions that are inherently present, such as varying 41 definitions of truth, personhood, reality, and time” (p.18). I would add to her statement that employing these theories in isolation to Indigenous (or in this case Syilx) theories renders them incompatible and further solidifies reductionism. The academic paradox of this thesis, at first glance, is as follows: in a thesis on leadership, I am not using a dominant leadership theory to express Syilx leadership. In short, my consideration of the dominant theories on leadership (of which there are many (see Yukl, 2013)) are empowerment theory, shared leadership theory, ambidextrous leadership theory, and situated leadership theory (Yukl, 2013). These theories, however, fall short of properly discussing Syilx leadership and do not encapsulate the Syilx approach. The reason is that they only address one aspect of the whole. Empowerment theory may indeed address the aspects of power sharing that occur in Syilx leadership but does not appreciate the relational ties to story that we have as Syilx people. Shared leadership, or having multiple responsibilities spread among various leadership roles, may work well with Coyote and Mole in their venture against monster horse and dog, but does not entail the building of empathy and self-care that is central to Syilx leadership teachings. Situated leadership theory, or acting leadership in a capacity that resonates with the given situation, may help address the lens of Bitterroot, but it does not fully appreciate the relational aspects of a leader intertwining future generations. The theories may express an aspect of Syilx leadership at differing standpoints, but do not capture the breadth of what Syilx leadership is expressing. Apart from leadership theories, the academic theory that most resonates with Syilx thinking is systems theory.17 Systems thinkers Capra & Luisi (2014) state that every part of the whole is related, interconnected, and cannot be separated. When The Four Food Chiefs engaged 17 Other theories hold some similarity to the ERP such as pattern theory (Alexander, 1999) and structural functionalism (Kingsbury & Scanzoni, 1993) but, for the scope of this thesis, will not be discussed. 42 in solving the middle, they used a systems approach. Their lens of inquiry looks to gain insight from the collective lived-experience of the Chiefs, and, by default, all the animals whom they represent. In the captikʷɬ, Chief Black Bear makes an inquiry to the other Chief representatives who represent differing perspectives on the same issue. The inquiry is made inside a Syilx circle of knowledge.18 The ERP’s (system) theory addresses the concerns of community by considering every voice and giving space to every voice so that a conclusion can be reached. Armstrong (2009) states that in Enowkinwixʷ there is a living system that is “constructed through the on- going…societal dialogue process formulated and demonstrated in the Four Chiefs story” (p.26). Armstrong & Cardinal (1991) outline Enowkinwixʷ as Syilx praxis which incorporates and encourages diverse theories and perspectives from mothers, fathers, youth, elders, male and female to build a solution to a given problem (p.70,102). Enowkinwixʷ stands as a systems approach to problem-solving and/or consensus building. The ERP being a system onto itself that contains methodology, theory, methods, as well as a praxis for writing reflective of the Enowkinwixʷ system structure. The Food Chiefs/Food Chief groups are reflective of the Syilx way of being in that they have their own “relationship” to each other. This connection can be illustrated by looking through the systems lens in the story in that each Food Chief holds their own lens consistent with their ecomimicry, which results in interdependent relationships of ebb and flow, give, and take. Just as there is mixʷ in yilmixʷm, the concept/morpheme is also present in Enowkinw-ixw: Saskatoon-youth(s), Black Bear-elder(s), Salmon-Men, Bitterroot-Women. Each entity is one part of the whole of community and cannot be considered without its relationship to the other three “strands,” i.e. Chiefs. Men and Women produce the people-to-be 18 It is not that other perspectives or theories cannot be incorporated into a Syilx approach- this would go against the very notion of Chief Siyaʔ discussed in the introduction. It’s much like Capra (2008) states about information in a living system- the need is for resources. 43 in the next generation through reproduction. Elders bestow wisdom and knowledge in the youth, while youth carry forth this wisdom into their future. This is what systems-theorist Fritjof Capra (1982) calls “a complex web of relationships” (p.266). “Complex,” being that the dynamics and layers of interaction of and in community are not predicable, but ebb and flow as the context allows. Systems theorist Margaret Wheatley (2006) describes this necessary relational aspect of systems thinking as the flow of new information that creates disruption in a state of stagnation and system isolation- that is, when one part (Food Chief lens in community or in ceremony) acts unilaterally as a means of self-preservation, entropy sets in and must be disrupted with new information as a means of creating regeneration (i.e.- how will the people-to-be be provided for). This is why leaders are so important to the structure and ceremony of Enowkinwixʷ. They serve as models and “coilers” that will take new information and coil it through decisions. Archibald (2019), in explaining the use of Indigenous story, states that “engaging in holistic meaning-making involves using the heart (emotions), mind (intellect), body (physical actions), and spirit (spirituality), as well as recognizing the relationships of these realms to oneself, family, community, land/environment, and wider society” (p.4). In that Enowkinwixʷ is a multi-faceted Syilx approach, structurally and socially, it is also a multi-faceted function that informs different aspects within the academic institution (Armstrong, 2009). It is a Syilx lens that looks at the whole picture and how each aspect has a relationship with the other. A good example of Syilx thinking outside of the Food Chiefs is expressed by Syilx scholar, Marlowe Sam (2013): “Delphine Derickson (2012) identifies beaver as serving two roles: first, being the keeper and manager of the water and second, the holder of laws. These responsibilities are based within beaver’s ability and role of being a manager of water that reflects and entails intricate knowledge of a whole systems management regime that has beneficial outcomes 44 for all life forms that depend on this resource. According to Derickson (2012) the water laws of beaver are embedded within the captikʷɬ and stunx (Syilx name for Beaver) like the Syilx are dependent on the water systems within the territory. Beaver manages the water systems in the Syilx territory while the Syilx are responsible to preserve the ecological integrity of these water systems by concurrently protecting the land and water systems” (p.181). The beaver, the water, the land, and the people all participate in an exchange that affects and is dependent on the other. If one party were to divert its responsibility, then the system breaks down and is stalled or becomes something dysfunctional. Therefore, ERP theory is connected holistically to the challenge that considers the whole and the relationships that exist within that whole. Methodology and Enowkinwixʷ Process vs Product: Enowkinwixʷ & Coyote and Bone Needle Tuhiwai-Smith (1999), in her text on Indigenous methodology, discusses the Indigenous research process as being of more importance than the end research product. It is necessary here to refer to another captikʷɬ not included in the canon of this thesis but is nonetheless helpful in understanding the ERP: Coyote and the Bone Needle. In brief, Jo-ann Archibald (2008)19 references this captikʷɬ in her discussion of Indigenous methodology. She calls him “Old Man Coyote,” or “OMC.” OMC, after a long (word and emphasis are mine) day of walking, sits down and discovers his moccasins need mending. His second realization begets his first: he is missing 19 Archibald is not Syilx, but her Coyote story is relevant for Syilx research. Coyote is the trickster figure of Syilx captikʷɬ and as other Syilx scholars have noted, the stories of neighboring nations that contain the animal characters are fair material for story analysis. In short, as the land overlaps in its climate and geography and thus the animals and plants that reside therein, the traditional stories of neighboring nations often have the same effect of overlap. 45 his bone-needle and thus cannot mend his moccasins. OMC, in an almost trance-like fashion, circles around the light of a fire looking for his bone-needle without success. He looks and looks and looks around the campfire to no avail, until Owl, who had been observing the situation, flies down from a neighboring branch. In their brief exchange, Owl responds to Coyote’s predicament in a simple yet profound way: “Why are you looking around the fire where it is warm and bright?” Wilson (2008) states that research is ceremony in its (Indigenous) protocol-based inquiry for a resolution of sorts. In Archibald’s (2008) words, this symbolizes the journey of Indigenous research “finding pathways founded in Indigenous methodologies, such as Indigenous storywork” (p.3). Coyote had to embark on a journey of discovery that would enrich him, as opposed to immediately finding the bone-needle around what was comfortable or familiar, such as dominant theories or methodologies. His eventual solution was to embark on a journey outside of these comfortable mediums. In the same vein, Enowkinwixʷ is a process that reaches a “bone- needle,” outside of the fire. It is a process of discovery that enriches the people and the process in a way that can outweigh the solution to the middle. The same is true for the ERP in its process and as it relates to my writing. Had Coyote found the bone needle immediately, he would have satisfied his quest but would have missed out on the personal growth that comes out of a journey of discovery. As a ceremony, Enowkinwixʷ provides enrichment for the participants in the journey of consensus building outside the metaphorical warmth and light of the fire. As a methodology, it has enriched my research and me as the researcher in my search of a bone needle. Perhaps better put, a Syilx person wrote a Syilx thesis from a Syilx perspective in a Syilx manner that was true to its nature and form of Enowkinwixʷ. 46 Wilson (2008) states that when he was writing Research is Ceremony, his process was not linear but “rather a more cyclical pattern that introduces ideas of themes, then returns to them at intervals with different levels of understanding” (p.42). His statement resonates with the ERP as well as my own process of writing this thesis- that is, from a Syilx perspective, much like the rhythms of the land, it was cyclical in nature. I would write, let my thoughts and spirit grow and percolate, come back to the section I was working on, and then research and repeat. Even in the final editing portion of writing, this cyclical form of writing was constant. The story of The Four Food Chiefs, like most captikʷɬ, follows its characters in their own journey of how the people-to- be would be provided for. For the context of this chapter, the “challenge” I faced was twofold: how can aspects of Syilx leadership be identified in the pre- and post-colonial eras and applied in a current context, and how to write about it. From the epistemology and ontology of this research, which by default informed and directed the structure, theory, methodology, and methods, also came the writing of the thesis. In the same way, the structure of the Enowkinwixʷ research paradigm (much like the ceremony itself) contains a leadership protocol (i.e., Four Food Chiefs) that acknowledges the concept of perpetual development of community and leadership- that is, you often come back to the “middle” and address the next challenge that is before you. This process is a refining process to the leader in as much as it is to the challenge that faces community. Methodology The methodology employed in this thesis is based in and originates from Syilx traditional story/captikʷɬ, which contains the praxis of Enowkinwixʷ. Enowkinwixʷ served (and does so in the praxis of this thesis) as the metaphorical “wind” for the methodological sails 47 during the research and for the writing of this thesis.20 For example, my chapter on “Power” can be expressed and observed in many captikʷɬ that offer a different take on similar ideas. This, in turn, allowed me to place and position the four captikʷɬ of study and their findings next to the literature as well as lived experience. From the dominant perspective in methodology, my research medium could be characterized as “autoethnographic.” In this section, I will unpack and discuss what this Syilx methodology means and how it is related to the autoethnography. I will also discuss the possible pitfalls that exist in a Syilx research paradigm by using some of Chang’s (2008) possible “pitfalls.” Indigeneity has proven ways of being and knowing that are timeless. Because our ways are since time immemorial, when we activate these ways of being, I have observed a tendency for Indigenous people to dismiss the use of critical thought in our processes, which can result in a Coyote-like blindness (i.e., in Coyote’s foolishness, he juggles his eyes and ends up losing his vision for a season). Chang’s work is much like any other structure of which I borrow or use in some fashion as a means of explaining the ERP. Therefore, I do not rely on Chang, but use his work much like an imperfect mirror to discuss and expound the ERP. Though there are other texts on autoethnography, which I use in part, I will not be going into great depth on the literature, but instead will use a highly cited source (Chang) as a means of staying academically sound. Autoethnography Historically, Indigenous peoples have been the subjects of research rather than being consulted on our own ways of being. Now that the research in Indigenous studies continues, we are now being recognized as the experts. Similarly, autoethnography can be defined as being the 20 Enowkinwixʷ, in its systems approach, includes the other three Food Chief perspectives. In the research, I situate myself from the Bitterroot lens of relationality. However, to expound on the other Food Chief lenses would be a multi-volume work and be far beyond the scope of this thesis. 48 expert on/in your own lot of research as opposed to drawing on the experts in your field. You, as the researcher, are the expert in your field based on your own expertise and lived experience. It is a unique position of research methodology that resonates with Indigeneity. According to Chang (2008), the breadth of autoethnography and what it can cover can be quite broad with its own genres and sub genres. I will not go into autoethnography’s kaleidoscope, but, in line with Wilson, Smith and Archibald’s concept of incorporating and borrowing, will discuss two sub- genres that best align with the ERP. Reed-Danahay (1997) references three labels of autoethnography that address this gap in understanding, two of which resonate with the ERP: “native anthropology” & “ethnic autobiography” (p.2). Lived experience in community Reed-Danahay (1997) states that native anthropology is where peoples of previously studied cultural groups become the experts. In the past ethnographers such as Boaz, Spier, Turner, and others studied Syilx people. Currently, we as Syilx people through our own means of research have become recognized as the experts in our own ways. Chang (2008) calls it “ethnographies conducted by ethnographers about their own people” (p.44). Ellis and Bochner (2000) refer to this as “lived experience” (p.740). The captikʷɬ genre of Coyote Was Traveling illustrates the lived experience that Syilx people are to emulate. This genre almost always begins with Coyote encountering a challenge (in most cases a monster that must be subdued) on his wanderings and then through the education of trial and error (living and learning), transforming the beast with his magic and wits. This is the Syilx picture of “lived experience”. When we encounter problems that affect us on a community scale, we gather what resources we can to solve that problem for us and the people around us, or, in the language of The Four Food Chiefs, the “people-to-be.” Black Bear’s years of roaming, watching, learning, and observing developed 49 and accumulated wisdom and lived experience in community. The joys, the triumphs and the challenges that are experienced in daily living become a repertoire of observational data that, when in concert with the four voices of community, create a Syilx methodology. Chang (2008) states, “It’s about being aware of yourself as you are situated within the greater community context” (p.49). Shah (2017) describes participant observation as “a long-term intimate engagement with a group of people that were once strangers to us in order to know and experience the world through their perspectives and actions in as holistic a way as possible” (p.51). Through a process of “living with and being a part of other people’s lives as fully as possible,” participant observation “ensures that we explore all aspects of the lives of the people we are working with, [and] recognize their interconnections” (Shah 2017, 47). Being in community creates the learning experience as a Syilx person, and being aware of our surroundings heightens that learning. Autoethnography and Story The second autoethnographic label that relates to my Syilx paradigm (ERP) is “ethnic autobiography,” or where personal stories are written by peoples of ethnic minority groups. Chang (2008) states that autoethnography “shares the storytelling feature with other genres of self-narrative but transcends mere narration of self to engage in cultural analysis and interpretation” (p.43). The ERP comes from story and inhabits story in its methods and methodology. In my attempt to further the research in Syilx leadership, I engage in the captikʷɬ (story) for leadership data, I use a research paradigm based on captikʷɬ (story), I tell the story of my own lived experience with and in leadership (story), I use data from Enowkinwixʷ ceremonies (based on story) (which, though not necessarily always were with our elected community leaders and managerial leaders from outside organizations), and I tell the story of 50 how leadership unfolded in those sessions. Within all these layers of story are the stories of Syilx and non-Syilx people who participated in Enowkinwixʷ. ERP Protocols and the Possible Pitfalls of Autoethnography Before discussing the possible pitfalls of an autoethnographic methodology, it is important to understand the concept of “protocol” in the Syilx way of thinking. Indigenous research paradigms come with their own set of protocols that originate from the culture they are derived. Archibald (2019) lists seven “principles” for an Indigenous methodology that she calls “storywork”: respect, responsibility, reverence, reciprocity, holism, interrelatedness, and synergy. Her principles are a good example of these timeless protocols that transcend time and space. According to Armstrong (2009), Syilx protocols at their core contain an ethic of deep respect for people. Without convoluting the idea, specifically, the Syilx methodology in the ERP comes from the captikʷɬ of The Four Food Chiefs, and the protocols for engagement come from Enowkinwixʷ. The word-pictures in the word Enowkinwixʷ of “gently,” “respectfully,” as well as “slowly,” create the protocols of respecting people and all living things in the process of research. In the ceremony, the protocols are crucial in ensuring its process is achieved. The protocols also speak to other generative aspects of the ceremony, and by consequence, the ERP. When an Enowkinwixʷ is completed, the middle is addressed, but there are other things within the circle that are transformed. I’ve heard some of our knowledge keepers refer to this process as “magic” when describing the mysterious generative process that takes place. The process, much like the search for the bone needle, is rewarding to the participants on a personal scale all while consensus is reached in an otherwise irreconcilable space. The protocols create the boundaries and (moral) structures to which the ceremony is facilitated. These protocols protect the researcher and the participants on a community scale in that they create the space for ongoing 51 relationship. In the same way, these protocols directed my research process both when I sat in Enowkinwixʷ and when I researched the leadership practices resident in the captikʷɬ. These methodological protocols are not dissimilar to ethics in Syilx traditional leadership practices. They are “traditions,” in that they have historically worked and continue to work. For example, Cline et al. (1938) notes that a Syilx Village Chief was to listen intently (as opposed to hastily casting judgement or talking over the speaker) to everyone who came to him with a predicament. Furthermore, in community meetings, Village Chiefs took on a quiet and reflective disposition in their addresses by whispering their message to a helper of sorts, who would then reiterate the message loudly and publicly. Presently, we have examples of this tradition. Armstrong (2017) recounted the band meetings of her youth where the Chief would organize the room into men, women, elders, and youth when discussing a challenge and then listen intently to every group’s summarized discussions. In the same way, the Enowkinwixʷ protocol of active listening ensures every voice is brought into the fold of solving the middle. Therefore, the protocol of active listening is a Syilx leadership practice from a Syilx tradition that works and thus is repeated in our current context. For greater clarity, for traditions to continue to “work,” it must go through reiterations of itself. These reiterations come from revaluation over time as the context pushes for necessary change. This is what keeps a tradition a tradition i.e., it continues to work. Wheatley (2017) states that living systems go through information overhaul to survive and thrive lest they become closed and stagnant. The information overall to which Wheatley refers is what happens in the reiteration of a tradition. In short, the ERP is based on a living system (Enowkinwixʷ) which cannot stay functional unless it is subject to new information in the form of ceremonial practice, which creates regeneration. That is, it cannot unilaterally be ars magna. Another way to understand this concept is to know that Enowkinwixʷ is a generative process, 52 and the working of traditions is also generative. In this thought, it is important to discuss possible pitfalls of the ERP in its autoethnographic lens. Possible Pitfalls Chang (2008) identifies five critiques and/or pitfalls of autoethnography: (1) excessive focus on self in isolation from others; (2) overemphasis on narration rather than analysis and cultural interpretation; (3) exclusive reliance on personal memory and recalling as a data source; (4) negligence of ethical standards regarding others in self-narratives; and (5) inappropriate application of the label ‘autoethnography’” (p.57). The 5th critique is a moot point as it deals with definitions already discussed. However, Chang’s other pitfalls are not without merit and must be relayed back to the ERP and its protocols. Food Chief Lenses: (1) excessive focus on self in isolation from others; (4) negligence of ethical standards regarding others in self-narratives Chang (2008) discusses the “forces” that influence the researcher’s concept of self and identifies them as “nationality, religion, gender, education, ethnicity, socioeconomic class, and geography” (p.52). In the framework of Enowkinwixʷ each participant comes into their Food Chief lens because of these variables. As researchers and participants in Enowkinwixʷ, our situated space in life (i.e., Chang’s “forces”) either push us into or creates in us our specific Food Chief lens, sometimes without us even knowing how or why. With each lens comes strengths and potential weaknesses. In Enowkinwixʷ some of those weaknesses exist within (not part of) the tensions that are between the dyadic Food Chief lenses. There are two main planes of tension that arise from the seemingly opposing Food Chief lenses in the Enowkinwixʷ research 53 paradigm: one between Salmon and Bitterroot and another between Black Bear and Saskatoon.21 Thus, in concert with Chang’s possible pitfalls #1 and #4, these lenses have the potential to focus excessively on self in isolation and neglect the ethical standards of the other Food Chief lenses in self-narratives. In the context of my research, I have the potential to speak from the Bitterroot lens without giving any future room for the Food Chiefs to comment on the topic of leadership, or to isolate my findings as the only possible Bitterroot observation. The remedy for these pitfalls is the constant application of the Enowkinwixʷ/ERP protocols. Local protocols, Food Chief lenses, and Pitfalls The protocols of the ERP are not dissimilar to an Enowkinwixʷ: they keep the researcher and research subjects in respectful spaces in the middle of tensions without negating or ridding them. Above and beyond the community protocols that exist in Enowkinwixʷ, such as respectful dialogue, not talking over others, active listening, appropriate language, and commitment to the middle, etc., there are the ‘local’ protocols that exist for each Food Chief group. Each Food Chief has their own protocols that are directly related to their lens’s possible pitfalls in which they can naturally fall prey. Why would a Salmon-person not want to accomplish the goal at all costs? Why would a Saskatoon-person not want to innovate without measure? Yet these very endeavours would aptly wreck the process by overhauling and overreaching the other Food Chiefs groups. The researcher must be mindful of their own lens in relation to the protocols and remember they are not above them, even as facilitators or writers. The researcher must show a measure of meekness in adherence to the personal protocols. If the protocols aren’t followed, then the autoethnographic nature of the paradigm becomes self-inflicting and the research may 21 It should be noted that when the complementary lenses (i.e., Saskatoon and Salmon, and Black Bear and Bitterroot) come together there is potential for tribal factions to develop against the other complementary dyad if the protocols are not observed.) 54 breach ethical standards. In this scenario, the Food Chiefs then become inevitably isolated in their process and thinking. Wheatley (2017) calls this isolation a “closed system” in which entropy sets in and the systems spends more energy than can be produced. As a means of expanding on this possible pitfall, I will use the Salmon-Bitterroot tension to illustrate this point of tension in relation to Chang’s excessive focus on self and negligence of ethical standards regarding others in self-narratives. Salmon’s lens and process is action-oriented. In their natural disposition, they run forward and accomplish as much as possible. The challenge within this disposition is that ‘enough’ can become a never-ending journey of accomplishments that is all-consuming in the number of tasks that need attention. Without their personal protocols, they will “run over” the other Food Chiefs and cancel out the relational aspects that they may deem as unnecessary in accomplishing the given task. Thus, their local protocol is to be mindful of this tendency and to be relationally respectful of others in their goal-orientated disposition. By contrast, Bitterroot’s lens is relationally orientated. In Bitterroot’s natural disposition, they want to meet every relational need and make sure everyone feels safe and heard. The challenge with this disposition is that it is rare to have everyone feel satisfied in their need to be seen and heard due to the variables beyond the control or ability of one or two people (i.e., facilitators or researchers). It is not necessarily improbable to care for everyone in an Enowkinwixʷ or when using an Enowkinwixʷ structure, however, it is impossible for everyone to know they are cared for due to their own internal dialogue. The desire to meet everyone’s need for safety can become a never- ending pursuit. Thus, Bitterroot’s local protocol is to know that their best efforts in a daily cycle are enough, and that it does not rest solely on them to care for people. If their protocol is not followed, the Enowkinwixʷ process can be frustrated and stalled. In each case, there is the 55 potential to think they are the saviors of the process and pursue a goal that will never be satisfied in isolation and bleed into the realm of post-structuralism. 22 Haraway (1988) talks about these post structural lenses that resemble a ‘god-like’ perspective which puts the researcher in a position of moral and structural superiority, a so-called “unbiased” approach, which belittles the research subjects. An unbridled Food Chief lens becomes oppressive and ends up belittling their seemingly opposing Food Chief group, not to mention the rest of the groups and the process itself that is, their own “goal” (actions or relationships) may be reached, but at great cost that may deem the goal as net-sum zero gain. The protocols are in place to keep all groups/lenses from overemphasizing their own lenses and sabotaging the collective processes for a desired end. On this plane of tension, all Food Chief groups must use their local protocols as a means of upholding the wider protocols so that the system functions. The tensions in Enowkinwixʷ will remain, however, they are not used as weapons but as a reminder to be mindful of the collective. It is on this plane that each interaction in the research process has its own give and take- that is, when there must be more action and when there is a need to slow things down and listen to people, both which are equally important to the ERP. As researcher, even in my focus on the relational lens of Bitterroot, I cannot be ignorant of the other Food Chief lenses, but rather submit my observations for this lens to the greater system of Enowkinwixʷ i.e., further research, community voice etc. 22 The irony is that in the context of community and the four lenses therein, safety is built continually through the protocols, and goals are met as people feel safe, seen and heard. 56 Empathy: (1) excessive focus on self in isolation from others; (4) negligence of ethical standards regarding others in self-narratives. Another aspect of Enowkinwixʷ that arises from the protocol of active listening, which addresses Chang’s #1, and #4 possible pitfalls, is empathy. Empathy, among other things, can be induced via reflection. As the Enowkinwixʷ ceremony progresses and participants engage the protocol of active listening, they are eased into reflection. An example of this is during the breakout sessions where participants reflect on a driving-question that is designed to address the middle. The ERP process mirrors the same notion. In my data-collection, I was tasked with reflecting unbiasedly on what people were saying or not saying in the ceremonies. Furthermore, the act of defending this thesis works as a reflective medium to ensure I am not acting unilaterally and neglecting other voices. According to Battilana & Casciaro (2021) empathy is an antidote to the abuse of power. I would argue that Chang’s #1 and #4 pitfalls involve an overuse of power. When an individual focuses on themselves in isolation from others, there is a power imbalance. When ethical standards are willfully neglected there is usually a power structure that thinks itself above rules or protocols. In concert with Battilana & Casciaro (2021), the individual in these pitfalls doesn’t think about their impact on others and is thus not operating in empathy. Empathy requires thought and reflection as a person puts themselves in the lives of others to better understand their situated space. This is Syilx ways of being in research, and consequently in autoethnography. Chang (2008) states that autoethnography is a “vehicle through which researchers come to understand themselves and others,” (p.52), or “self-transformation through self- understanding” (p.57). Chang (2008) goes on to state that autoethnographic research can provoke reflection and thought in others. In the Syilx way of thinking, we call this pax, or to contemplate 57 on a perplexing thought that requires attention and a possible solution. Armstrong (2009), in addressing the tmixʷ and their relational observance from the human perspective, speaks to the Syilx concept of conscious thought, or k’ɬpax̌ . The suffix “pax” refers to the striking of flint or rock thus creating sparks for illumination. When a Syilx person or leader meditates and reflects on the captikʷɬ, they experience pax, or illumination, that provides the perspective they seek. Chang (2008) states that “autoethnographers enter the research field with a familiar topic (self), whereas ethnographers begin their investigation with an unfamiliar topic (others)” (p.50). As I researched and wrote this thesis using the Enowkinwixʷ protocols, I inevitably reflected upon my own process, my own lens of thinking and how I perceived community and leadership. I then had to take this to my committee, Syilx academics, and personal reflection and prayer. Reflection, adhering to the local protocols, and acknowledging the needed tensions that exist in Enowkinwixʷ/ERP promote an outward perspective and prevent a breach of ethical standards in research. The Syilx paradigm that has driven this thesis and the “goal,” or bone needle, was never designed to be absolute. It should serve exactly as Chang states, and that is to provoke thought and reflection in the reader, which should in turn cause further pragmatic exploration in Syilx leadership, and, of course, empathy. Rigor and Perspective: (2) overemphasis on narration rather than analysis and cultural interpretation. In this pitfall, Chang (2008) states that unless “autoethnographers stay focused on their research purpose, they can be tempted to settle for elaborate narratives with underdeveloped cultural analysis and interpretation” (p.55). I would argue that when ‘research’ is engaged in without protocols (or ethics) then Chang’s “narration” sets the tone and analysis, and cultural interpretation (or critical thought) is neglected. Archibald (2019) states that her concept of 58 “storywork” is for listeners to “engage with Indigenous stories for meaningful education and research” (p.1). Archibald, as an academic, mentions ‘research’ as engaging with stories. Her concept of storywork is of course accompanied with her principles and thus qualifies the research in process and product, ethically speaking. This is akin to the captikʷɬ of Coyote and the Berry Bush: One day, coyote was walking, and he came across a berry bush. He started to eat the berries and found they were delicious. He kept on picking, and picking, and picking the berries. He went around and around and around the Berry Bush picking berries. He lost track of time and what he was doing. He was so enthralled with the berries as he kept going around further down, and further down, and further down. He was so enthralled with the berry bush. He kept eating going lower and lower around the bush, going around and around until he saw berries in little piles on the ground. He said to himself, “Ohh, these look good,” and started to eat them. Raven sees what Coyote is doing and yells “Look, look, Coyote is eating his own shit!” All the animals laughed! Coyote immediately became embarrassed and realized what he had been doing and said, “Ahhh lut tiʔ sәcsumәm- aww no I was just smelling it.” (Syilx community, n.d.) In this captikʷɬ Coyote comes across a berry bush in which he engages. As he becomes over focused on the berry bush, his critical thought wanes, his ability to properly analyze fades and his interpretation of his research becomes nil. His ability to rationalize and discern what is good and what is not good fades and he develops an “elaborate narrative” that justifies or rationalizes his consuming of his own excrement. The Syilx protocols of only taking what you need and not gluttonizing in resources are ignored and he enters over-indulged self-narration. 59 The academic ‘research’ purpose must be, in Chang’s words, “focused” as a means of keeping the narration in check. That is, the research focus is not in isolation but in realization of the surrounding captikʷɬ. In the Enowkinwixʷ ceremony, there is a protocol that one must not interrupt other participants. There is a lot that goes without saying, however, one of the functions of this protocol is so that people feel safe in expressing their thoughts, and the space for the mind to percolate its thoughts without interruption. There is also a protocol of equal importance: be respectful of other people’s time and space. In other words, don’t narrate for an hour when the whole group only has an hour to speak. In the ERP, this protocol translates to academic rigor via the writing and research. In the data collection, it meant not just looking at a story and making it say what I wanted through a berry bush narration in my head, but allowing it to speak for itself in relation to other texts. Syilx knowledge is Syilx knowledge because it has been validated as true by others, and not because one individual has dubbed it truth. According to Archibald (2019) “No matter how much knowledge (or qualifications) a person accumulates, if the knowledge, research, or stories do not reach the collective consciousness of the wider group, then the person is failing to act in an Indigenous manner” (p.7). In the same way, the data and arguments contained in this thesis should pass the knowledge test of community musings (much like Coyote’s pipe-smoking musings) to create a helpful reality- that is, the analysis and interpretation of the stories should continue to permeate the wider community intellect beyond this document. Furthermore, the data which is discussed in this thesis cannot be separated from previous Syilx research, Syilx community-based knowledge outside of this thesis, or from future Syilx research on these or any captikʷɬ, or on Syilx leadership. That is, my findings are from my perspective as a Syilx person resident in community and may stand in and of themselves as well 60 as in conversation to other musings. In the coming chapters, I discuss and relate the captikʷɬ to other leadership texts and draw upon Syilx scholars as well as other Indigenous scholars, such as Jo-ann Archibald and Shawn Wilson. Self-Reflexivity: (3) exclusive reliance on personal memory and recalling as a data source Overreliance on personal memory is an outgrowth of a hyperfocus in Food Chief lens. Enowkinwixʷ protocols ensure that an individual memory does not supersede the group’s process to solution/consensus- that is, one person cannot override the consensus of the group. In the captikʷɬ of The Four Food Chiefs, the Food Chiefs committed to the process and solved the conundrum presented by the Creator. The Food Chiefs did not hold to their own ecomimicry- based perspective, but continued in seeing other perspectives and engaging in a shared vision. The Nsyilxcn language insinuates that the dialogue permitted the varying perspectives held by each chief. An overarching protocol of Enowkinwixʷ is that the participants commit to seeing the process completed. Part of this commitment involves ceremonially entrusting the creation of a shared vision to the opposing Food Chief dyad (i.e., Salmon/Saskatoon to and from Black bear/Bitterroot) in the big circle. It is an emotional moment of exchange by seemingly opposing lenses and speaks to the commitment of the participants to the process. They step outside of their own personal space of creation and memory and give way to outside influence. This protocol of commitment ensures that a group or person does not emulate dysfunctional leadership by unilaterally creating and implementing ideas in isolation, or, in the research context, relying solely on personal data collection. Committing to the process means developing your vision in relation to the visions of each Food Chief group. Though this thesis is from the Bitterroot lens, this is addressed in the ERP by offering the full perspectives of other Food Chief groups where appropriate ( i.e. the official report for the CEC Enowkinwixʷ), and allowing my supervisory 61 committee, some of whom attended the (plural) Enowkinwixʷ, to speak to the accuracy of my claims. Furthermore, having a Syilx knowledge keeper and scholar (Dr. Armstrong) on my supervisory committee allows for critical feedback from a Syilx standpoint. These elements are essential to consensus building when everyone is looking at the same issue from differing perspectives. Chang (2008) argues that “autoethnography should be ethnographic in its methodological orientation, cultural in its interpretive orientation, and autobiographical in its content orientation (p.48)”. In other words, there should be a balance in its subjective-objective approach. Chang’s four critiques/pitfalls of autoethnography can be summed up within this objectivity vs subjectivity mental framework. Chang (2008) states that objectivity produces a scientific approach to data collection, analysis, and interpretation, which is then validated or argued against by other researchers. Subjectivity, by contrast, gives space for the researcher to insert their personal interpretation into the research process. Salzman (2002) argues that the postmodern obsession with self-reflexivity and with ethnographer subjectivity can stall the research process. Essentially, his statement is a critique of this objectivity vs. subjectivity thought structure and, I would argue, a continuity of Wheatley’s (2017) idea of closed systems. The ERP’s protocols allow for an approach that steers the researcher away from overreliance on personal data dissemination by following Enowkinwixʷ ceremonial rigor of relating back to ‘others,’ be it the other Food Chief lenses, or academic texts. Methods Wilson (2008) & McIvor (2010) both state that the methods used in Indigenous research paradigms vary according to the needs presented to the researcher. Wilson (2008) argues that if there is resonance with the ontology, epistemology, and axiology of the Indigenous research 62 paradigm, they (the methods) can be borrowed. According to Wilson (2008) traditional “Indigenous research emphasizes learning by watching and doing” (p.40). The research methods employed in this research were watching leadership in community, leadership in Enowkinwixʷ ceremonies, and leadership in the captikʷɬ texts. Where the methodology is deliberated and disseminated through the lens of story in an autoethnographic manner of observance, or “watching,” this inherently involved learning and acting upon that learning. Where the literature and the captikʷɬ express an idea, I provide examples that are given through my lived experience of witnessing and living leadership in community. The former denotes leadership, both embodied and principled within people, that reflects Syilx leadership as laid out in the captikʷɬ. The latter are mostly negative examples of Syilx people in acts of leadership, which are still illustrated in the captikʷɬ.23 Enowkinwixʷ observance and participation My observations from the Enowkinwixʷ in which I facilitated or observed, both formal and informal, are listed in this thesis. The observations that I made were synthesized with my knowledge of captikʷɬ and of Syilx ways of being and knowing. In every Enowkinwixʷ I participated, my role as researcher was made clear. Permission was consistently asked in each ceremony and, to date, there has not been any objection. At no point did I have influence over the middle. My third-party distance gave the ethical space to avoid any conflict of interest. Unlike the participants of an Enowkinwixʷ, I could not contribute to nor influence any 23 More specifically, the examples portray what some would label as “colonial,” or what the leadership literature would label as “unethical” (House & Avolio, 1992), or “personalized” (House & Howell, 1992), and what Syilx ways of thinking would label as “Coyote-like,” or “people-eater-like.” For example, Clarence Louie, the long- standing Chief of the Osoyoos Indian Band, recently produced a memoir of sorts, in which he has two chapters that speak to the idea of leadership. His “Corpus Meum,” of lived experience is Syilx leadership in that the ideas and concepts are Syilx leadership as they align with the captikʷɬ. However, not all acts of leadership by Syilx people are homogenously categorized into what I define as Syilx leadership as expressed by the captikʷɬ. His “lived experience” are derived from four baskets of experience: participation in ceremony/Enowkinwixʷ, being a leader in community, witnessing leadership in community, and a blend of all the above. 63 discussions. For my own data collection, I made notes in my iPad or in a physical notebook that was with me during the whole ceremony. These observations were relevant to the captikʷɬ knowledge I had gained during my initial phase of study and made no reference to personal details of participants. The only official reports produced from the number of Enowkinwixʷ in which I observed was the 2020 Chiefs Executive Council (CEC) Enowkinwixʷ official report detailing the final vision and objectives, and the UBC Enowkinwixʷ whose report is still being finalized. Analysis of captikʷɬ The captikʷɬ which I use in detail and the captikʷɬ which serve as passing references for contextualizing Syilx thought have both been analyzed through various mediums and mechanisms. The analysis involves understanding the characters in the stories based on their ecomimicry, understanding the metaphors that are presented in the stories, as well as allowing for reflection based on Nsyilxcn words. The synthesis of these items is then situated in their respective categories of research within this thesis in relation to Syilx leadership. Lived Experience Lived experience is something that is inherent to a Syilx ways of being. Chief Black Bear, by nature of his ecomimicry, had wisdom that came from years of wanderings. As the story states, Black Bear was the “oldest and wisest” among the Food Chiefs (Okanagan Nation Alliance, 2018, p.14). The autoethnographic nature of the ERP mirrors the lived experience that Black Bear illustrates- that is, I am not an elder nor a knowledge keeper, however, as a Syilx person living in community, and as an academic, (like Black Bear) I have a measure of lived experience. For greater clarity, I have intentionally witnessed leadership in and outside of my community, have acted in the capacity of a leader in and outside of my community, and have 64 seen and learned leadership through texts (literary, media, podcast, captikʷɬ etc.). In the thought of a venn diagram, the analysis captikʷɬ has a relationality to the literature in what the autoethnographic texts calls “lived experience.” Goal & Use of Research Steinhauer (2002) states that Indigenous research is “something that you are building for yourself and for your community” (p. 73). Archibald (2019), Legault (2016), Wilson (2008), and Hermes (1998), in their methodological texts, all affirm this notion that research must meet a community need, and that research for research sake is a non-starter. Similarly, in the stories of Coyote taming the monsters, his goal, in line with the Syilx definition of leadership, was to subdue the people-eaters for the people-to-be. His “research” was not for the sake of his ego, (though he certainly half-intended this most of the time), but for the people-to-be. The texts contain within them knowledge that benefits Syilx people. With the taming of the monsters also came the creation of medicines, cultural practices, and blueprints for future Syilx people to follow in addressing the challenges that come in life. Coyote would pronounce a law after taming the monsters which contained “a something” that would benefit the people-to-be. In this vein the goal of my research is two-fold: Firstly, it is to inform our own people of research-backed ways of leading that create and uphold Syilx ways of being and knowing as defined by the captikʷɬ. Syilx people practicing Syilx ways of being and knowing is what famous Harvard Project calls a “cultural match,” which is predeterminant to community success (Cornell, 2002). Secondly, it is to educate the greater public on Syilx ways of being that can be (carefully) considered in their efforts to decolonize. This thesis, however, is not geared towards satisfying the latter goal. It may turn out to be a possible by-product in that the publicly available contents serve as a resource for non-indigenous people to decolonize personally, professionally, and institutionally. 65 Wilson (2008) states that “knowledge is seen as belonging to the cosmos of which we are a part and where researchers are only the interpreters of this knowledge. This distinction in the ownership of knowledge is one major difference between the dominant and Indigenous paradigms” (p. 38). There are three types of “knowledge” that are discussed in this thesis: the knowledge from captikʷɬ, the data from Enowkinwixʷ and lived experience, and the knowledge from dominant literature. The knowledge from captikʷɬ that is discussed or revealed (not discovered) in this thesis reflects what has already existed in the cosmos of Syilx Traditional Ecological Knowledge. The leadership principles that are discussed in the dominant literature and within the Syilx lens through our captikʷɬ are simply reflections (albeit at times poor) of what has always existed in the cosmos. Therefore, in the Syilx way of being, how can an institution or a person own this knowledge? I have done my best to articulate it and, hopefully, disseminate it within the institutional framework and processes, but I do not own it. There is also knowledge from the many Enowkinwixʷ which I attended that has not been published in its entirety beyond the ethical framework outlined in this thesis. Being that it is a Syilx ceremony, the contents are never published beyond the ceremony except what the participants agree to release to the public. Therefore, what I do reference or cite has been made public, or I have been given permission to refer to that knowledge except for personal details. In the scenarios of “publicizing” Syilx content, there are levels of publication: Syilx community (varies depending on who needs knowing), Syilx Nation, and general public. As discussed in my chapter on story, the publication of knowledge resulting from an Enowkinwixʷ mirrors the publication of captikʷɬ knowledge. The knowledge released from ceremonies on paper was done so by consensus from the group. 66 In Syilx ways of being, knowledge is constructed in three folds: in two Nsyilxcn words smymay, smipnwiɬn, and in captikʷɬ. Smymay may refer to a personal, oral remembrance of an event that though is from a person, is the result of many tellers and many recounts. Smipnwiɬn refers to a collective remembrance of an event that has been verified over and over. Captikʷɬ, by contrast, are different constructs of knowledge that come from story-based narratives that have layers of understanding from familiar contexts. Though there is overlap in all three as distinct constructs, they are different. What is important for this thesis is that the knowledge itself does not belong to any individual. To use Wilson’s (2008) iteration of knowledge belonging to the cosmos, I would alter the phrase to say that Syilx knowledge belongs to the land itself and therefore cannot be owned. Permission Though I am Syilx person, residing on unceded Syilx lands, performing research on unceded Syilx lands, I am not absolved from the observation of Syilx protocol, nor from the University of British Columbia’s ethics process. Permission to conduct the mentioned research on Syilx lands was sought and obtained from the Syilx Nation Chiefs, both verbally and in written form. This was submitted as part of my application to the UBC Board of Ethics and was subsequently approved. The research data in this thesis, i.e. lived experience, captikʷɬ and all constructs of knowledge belongs to the Syilx-Okanagan Nation- that is, the University of British Columbia cannot own the rights to nor the rights of Syilx Okanagan research. Final Thoughts The captikʷɬ of The Four Food Chiefs is always told at the beginning of an Enowkinwixʷ ceremony. This is followed by outlining the structure of the ceremony in terms of the benchmarks in the story in relation to consensus building. Being that the ceremony’s origins are 67 from Syilx story, the ceremony is speckled with story, references to story, and is a reference to the stories of participants. Similarly, the aspects of story surround, are a part of, and live in between the spaces of the ERP. In concert with the findings discussed in this thesis, the literary texts, which include captikʷɬ, build empathy, and Syilx leadership, as per The Four Food Chiefs being central to the ERP, promotes a process that is empathetic.24 For greater clarity, the ERP creates the space for the growth of empathy in and as much as does the story and ceremony. During the process of writing and researching this dissertation, my empathy grew in tandem with a shift in my thinking as a direct result of the Enowkinwixʷ-based paradigm. In my daily exposure to the story as my mental cogs working to create a research paradigm, I was meditating on the praxis and content of Enowkinwixʷ as a means of creating this dissertation. In this, my thinking changed, and I started to think more with a systems lens, considering every part of a whole in my daily life. My observance of Enowkinwixʷ ceremonies and the growth of participants’ empathy also contributed to these emotional and mental shifts. Beyond the overall goal of research for this thesis, noting the empathy-leadership link in the methodology is important for two reasons: One, it differentiates the ERP as a research paradigm from dominant structures. The ceremony, and by consequence the research paradigm, is a Syilx process and contains principles of Syilx leadership that are not expressed in dominant 24 Research has shown that long-term exposure to story (award-wining literary fiction, and less regular fiction, award-winning TV shows, and less mainstream TV shows, movies, and any type of literary text) promotes Theory of Mind, or empathy. Theory of Mind (clinical term for empathy) is the ability to read another person’s emotional state and act accordingly for that person’s interest. Syilx ways of knowing and being have been to build leadership via semi-hereditary process which involved choosing young children who would be groomed for leadership (Cline et al., 1938). In this grooming process, and in the seasonal habits of community, captikʷɬ would have been told and recited and recounted and discussed. Captikʷɬ, as literary text, would have promoted Theory of Mind, or empathy, in Syilx people, and especially in potential leaders. Early ethnographer of Syilx people, Verne Ray (1939) observed that our leaders were expected (among other things) to have sound judgment and be skilled in arbitration. This wisdom would have been drawn mainly from the captikʷɬ as a means of applying insight. This would have required them to be fluent in the stories, and in this practice, Syilx leaders would have been empathetic as people and in their leadership. 68 methodologies. The deliberative democratic process or basic autoethnography, as far I have seen in the literature, does not consider the holistic nature that comes from Enowkinwixʷ and thus cannot evoke the same change in emotional and mental patterns- that is, the dominant processes lack the criteria that creates the context for empathy-building which is resident in the ERP i.e., its ethics and structure, and its relational-based ontology. These principles, i.e., power-sharing, empathy-building, are the focus of this thesis. Secondly, in borrowing from Yukl’s (2013) tri-hub leadership definition, the methodology promotes the leadership skills of building people by consequence of empathy-building via exposure to story. Essentially, this is the difference for place-based thinking and structures- their relational ontological premises create the space for the cross-section of their medicinal properties from one context to another. Wilson (2008) states “If the ontology is that various realities exist, then you will choose ways of examining one of these realities (methodology) that will take into account your point of view as a researcher to come up with a better understanding (epistemology)” (p.34). Multiple perspectives, which often differ, make up our reality and thus a multi-perspective approach (Enowkinwixʷ) is needed. 69 Chapter 3- Story What’s the story? It’s a phrase I have frequently used when texting loved ones, seeking to know how they are doing or how their day is going. I want to know the story of how things are going in their lives (albeit, if they are willing to share), and not just “I’m good,” or “I’m not good.” I want to know the story of “them and us”- that is, how are we going to connect as friends in this moment, or how are you doing in relation to how I’m doing about this thing that has recently connected us, be it a trip or a work event, or a shared passion. Brene Brown (2012) in her book Daring Greatly, states that people want to be connected in meaningful relationship. Brown (2012) goes on to say that vulnerability is key in being connected with others. Vulnerability means being open and honest (as the context safely allows) about what is happening in our lives- or perhaps better put, being open about our story. Hence when I inquire into a person’s story, I am wanting to be connected with them in relationship. If I assume that I understand their current space in life, I run the risk of doing what Raibmon (2003) alludes to in describing settler views of Indigenous people: “stories they told themselves about themselves; stories they told themselves about others” (p.10). Though she borrowed the phrase from Geertz (1973), she morphs it into a current colonial view of us as Indigenous people that needs decolonizing. Better worded, our stories need to be decolonized in our everyday lives. In the context of this thesis, the story of Syilx leadership needs to be decolonized. The medium, I contest, is through the understanding and application of our traditional Syilx stories. In this chapter I will be building a foundation to launch into the analysis of captikʷɬ in the context of leadership principles, which inevitably have to do with the mental and emotional health of Syilx leaders in the context and application of Syilx leadership principles resident in captikʷɬ, i.e., the quality and health of our story and lens. Firstly, I will outline the influence story 70 can have on our brains on a biological level. Secondly, I will describe the influence story can have on people and on culture. Thirdly, I will describe the story from a Syilx worldview, both in how we approach story and from our traditional stories called captikʷɬ. Fourthly, I will outline the capacity of story (literary, visual, live-telling, and other forms) to build what research calls “Theory of Mind.” Lastly, I will connect the captikʷɬ to these concepts as they relate to leadership in the Syilx context. Story’s Influence on our brains There is emerging research that suggests that stories can help the listeners make meaning out of their own lives when they engage in a story, see themselves in that story and picture themselves carrying out the actions of the story (Houston et al., 2011, p.77). The research on stories has shown that when we engage with a story, we are presented with an opportunity to be enlightened in some fashion, whether it’s having a shift in thinking, or simply being educated. For example, according to Dal, Zanna & Fong (2004), narrative communication (or story telling) can break down cognitive resistance to behavior-change messages in two ways: by immersion in story which leads to bringing down metaphorical walls of cognitive resistance and by character identification. Firstly, in the scenario that a person’s mind is stubborn in their toxic belief system, a story can reduce counter arguing by overcoming biased processing. Slater & Rouner (2002) argue that storytelling can create change in individual’s attitudes and behaviors by reducing cognitive resistance. This type of storytelling that has the intent of changing attitude and behavior can be effective if the listeners become submersed in the world of the characters and in the narrative content. Green (2000; 2004) confirms Slater & Rouner’s argument, that in this scenario positive behavior change can occur. Secondly, by character identification, the stubborn mind finds perceived similarities with the character which creates a malleability of sorts in the 71 brain, and then leads to behavior and attitude change. The character identification in which the listener engages produces a homophily of sorts, or perceived kinship to the characters, which can lead to behavior change (Kreuter et al., 2008). Both story immersion and character identification can bring down walls in the person or group in which cognitive resistance resides. Green and Brock (2000) termed this phenomenon ‘transportation’: "a convergent process, where all mental systems and capacities become focused on events in the narrative" (p. 701). That is, when we become immersed in the story, we respond emotionally to the characters and events, and we picture these events as they unfold as we listen and/or watch. Story’s influence is also not limited to a specific text. In a recent study on brain mapping, participants were asked to listen to a podcast, The Moth, which features live storytelling, while laying down in an MRI machine (Huth et al.,2016). What researchers found was that live story telling activates both cerebral hemispheres to perform what was described by one of the researchers in an interview as “fireworks” in the brain (Dubner, 2016). This finding was consistent with all participants. Similarly, David Rubin (1995) in his work on memory and oral tradition, spoke to the effect of oral story telling imagery as “a movie created in the head” in the minds of the listeners (p.41). Story and Storytelling Storytelling, as opposed to the concept of a story, is an interesting and telling medium of information transfer. Storytelling, or narrative communication, may offer a unique opportunity in culturally-connected contexts to promote evidence-based choices (McAdams, 1993; Bruner, 1990; Slater & Rouner, 2002). That is, when a story is appropriately culturally situated amongst a group, then those stories offer a potential to promote positive choices in that group, as opposed to stories that are not culturally appropriate. For example, in a health study researchers found a positive connection between participants’ health decisions and personal stories drawn from the 72 community of participants (Houston et al., 2011). The community was low-income, inner-city African Americans, and the medium was an innovative storytelling intervention. The storytelling featured videos of community members sharing their own stories of making sound health-related decisions and the positive outcomes that arose from those decisions. The researchers found a positive correlation between culturally appropriate storytelling and improved health and health related decisions. Their conceptual model of “stories drawn from the community and told in patients’ natural voices” did in fact “inform and inspire positive health behavior change” (Houston et al., 2011, p.78). The primary outcome was found in blood pressure taken immediately before the study, at 3 months and at 6 months. While these “stories” were personal narratives of real people- that is, they were videos of people telling their own stories- there is merit to the idea of the influence of culturally-based stories. The research noted describes, at least in part, our captikʷɬ. Armstrong (2009) points out the live-telling schema of captikʷɬ that has been characteristic of when Syilx stories are shared. That is, though the stories are contemplated and researched in personal and corporate spaces among Syilx people, their default is always the live-telling schema. Armstrong (2009) also notes that depending on the captikʷɬ genre, the live-telling may warrant different audiences. For example, while the Coyote Was Traveling genre is readily shared with Syilx people (and sometimes the public at large), the sacred texts genre is only shared amongst keepers of the sacred texts. Furthermore, when the Coyote Was Traveling genre is shared with the general public, whether by being published or in a live-telling schema, certain aspects of the stories are usually omitted for protocol purposes. Despite story’s influence on our brains and behaviors in interesting and positive manners, stories can take on a toxic form when they become quantifiers of unethical behavior. 73 Story’s Darkside- Negative Influence and its Repercussions In APTN’s mystery series, Red Earth Uncovered (2021), there is a portion of the show where well-known Indigenous T.V. personality, Tom Jackson states, “I love me a good story.” Stories can be heart-warming, romantic, horrific, comedic or a mix of all the mentioned. Stories, like leadership, are benign structures in and of themselves (see Padilla, 2007)25. As I will discuss in this chapter, regardless of their content, stories have the power to transform26. This transformation can be towards a positive path to bettering ourselves, or it can be down a dark path that confirms our negative bias and toxic behavior. The praxis of story can become a downward spiral of toxic feedback when we tell stories about ourselves to ourselves about ourselves. In the Syilx way of thinking, we need to be mindful of contexts, behaviors, substances, and situations which are one-way relationships that consume us (i.e. әnәɬnasqilxʷtn or “people-eaters”). Thus, when stories are regenerative to our beings in and outside of community, much like The Four Food Chiefs, we become selfless, giving, and mindful of the people-to-be. Not contrarian, when stories cause degeneration in us and move us towards isolation (i.e., “system breakdown”), then our path becomes dark. The captikʷɬ offer us an apt story that illustrates this concept well in the story of Coyote and the Berry Bush. 25 For clarity and ease of reference to Padilla’s (2007) leadership example that nicely mirrors the same concept in story, it is important to see that the mechanisms of story (like leadership as Padilla points out) are benign structures in and of themselves. It is when those mechanisms, namely persuasion and influence, are crafted in a way that achieve a certain end that a moral ethic, or lack thereof, is revealed. For example, in the story of colonisalism, mechanisms of story were crafted as such: the North American continent is terra-nulius and inhabited by “savages,” and is thus ripe for the conquering. Such was the Euro-centric premise of land-clearing as a means of inhabitiong and having “dominion” over the land. This story told a narrative in which trees and people were seen as one and the same: objects to be cut-down. As this thesis explains, the Syilx (and Indigenous) worldview tells a very different story land-care, care for people, and all living things, and had the colonizers adhered to the mechanisms of our story, the process and outcome of settlement would have been very different. 26 The irony behind this published research of story’s transformative properties is that Coyote, while inhabiting story and creating story, transformed the monsters into something worthwhile for the people-to-be. 74 A dominant cultural example of the negative side of story on an individual or group is found in the current tech industry. Almost every major influencer in the Western tech industry has been influenced by Ayn Rand’s classic novel Atlas Shrugged. Rand’s book entails a grim dystopian U.S.-based future where titans of business hold up the world by creating inventions and value through innovation but are constantly threatened by looters and scroungers who want to steal or regulate what they have created (Davis, 2021). In her novel, these titans are attributed with super-human vision, abilities, and intellect that the vast populace lack. Sound familiar? Rand’s work, specifically Atlas Shrugged, has been read, passed around and adopted in an almost religious fashion by tech founders and influencers such as Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, Coinbase founder Brian Armstrong, and Tesla and Twitter owner Elon Musk (Davis, 2021). The venture capitalists who finance tech start-ups, some of whom are themselves founders, are also among those who attribute Rand’s fictional corporate governance structure to their own success. This “structure” is more like an ethos for the tech giants and has now been widely dubbed as “myth of the founder.” The myth is simple: only the founder has the vision, charisma, and smarts to do what is right for the success of the company. These tech giants, among other elitists, have historically advocated for the concept of laissez-faire economic policy (see Klein (2014) this changes everything). The ruling attitude among these elites, influenced by Rand’s work, is that there is a “threat” from the outside, sometimes in the form of specific regulation, and at times elusive in the form of “cancel culture,” or “woke culture27.” 27 The current terminology that refers to people who advocate for equal treatment of individuals based on personal or group interpellation and/or cultural references is “woke,” “wokeness,” or “woke culture.” “Cancel Culture,” while having some overlap (vis a vis Venn diagram) with “wokeness” refers to people who are “woke” and who en-masse “cancel” an individual’s public platform through online platforms where the celebrity in question suffers financial loss. 75 The irony is that their own founding story is crafted to fit into Rand’s myth of the founder. The story is that Michael Dell and Zuckerberg birthed their companies in their dorm rooms, Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak built the first Apple computer in their garage, and Bill Hewlett and David Packard, Hewlett-Packard-founders, did the same. The reality is that these tech founders did some of their initial work in a garage, and some was parceled out to factory locations. The origin stories are not always accurate and are meant to fit nicely into Rand’s myth (Davis, 2021). From their inception, like in Rand’s story, the story that is told by the tech captains is that they are faced with trials and tests that leave them no option but to protect their work at all costs from the looters and moochers. The governance structures they produce are a means of protecting/mirroring the ethos portrayed in Atlas Shrugged28. I do not have to cite far, nor is it in the scope of this thesis to delve into the details, other than to note that Rand’s story has played a part in the destabilization of U.S. and Western democracy (Davis, 2021). The point I am arguing is that story can have an influence on our paths, whether personally or collectively, and that influence can be positive or negative. In the case of a classic novel turned capitalistic canon, the negative influence of a story can steer people in positions of power to make decisions that negatively affect society. What is important for the scope of this thesis is the influence and power of story! 28 According to Davis (2021), in a typical dual-class structure, the company usually sells one class of shares to the public (class A shares), while key individuals such as founders, executives, retain the majority of the remaining shares (class B shares) for voting power and majority control, like deciding who is on the company’s board. In theory, this dual-class structure insulates the company from investor pressure and allows the controllers to make the challenging strategic changes, even in the face of short-term share price declines. Businesses which are family- controlled often view this as a way to preserve their legacy, such as the Ford family. In reality, this structure effectively makes a company immune from hostile takeovers and from activist investors” (Davis, 2021, p.2). 76 Indigenous Story and Captikʷɬ Colonization had effectively derailed (though temporarily) traditional stories from Indigenous and Syilx peoples, and consequently derailed the institutions within those stories. Western culture has changed Syilx life and pushed us into the Syilx evolutionary stage of awtmasqilxʷ. The context of awtmasqilxʷ, as outlined by Derickson (1994), explains the reasoning not only for the change in tradition, but also the atmosphere of decolonization we currently inhabit. The stories were pushed away in the forms of the Indian Residential School system, and colonial legislation, such as the Gradual Civilization Act and the consolidation of the previous mentioned act among others into the Indian Act (Okanagan Nation Alliance, 2018). As we decolonize our context and our minds as Syilx people, the captikʷɬ, as well as language and cultural practices, are being recovered. Currently, the captikʷɬ are told at any given time of the year. Prior to colonization, captikʷɬ were only told during the winter months when activity was limited, and people communed in their winter homes. The winter months were used (in part) as a means of rehearsing, being educated by, and reflecting on the captikʷɬ. Part of this cultural structural reasoning was the demand the summer months presented in animal and plant harvesting and processing, and family and community responsibilities (Sam, 2006, 2013). The fire provided warmth and light in a mostly dim environment in the shortest days of the Syilx calendar. In this space the captikʷɬ were told, recounted, laughed over and at, reflected upon, and taken into the hearts of the hearers. It was the incubation point for stories in Syilx people. Appropriately, our captikʷɬ (along with the language and the land) house our knowledge similar to how our traditional houses housed our captikʷɬ. 77 Indigenous people’s traditional stories are a core part of their identity and culture. Those stories house their traditional knowledge about everything from political governance, land-care, economics, family protocols and personal responsibility in community (See Armstrong, 2009; Archibald, 2008; Cohen, 2010; Sam, 2008, 2013). The stories are imbedded and laced with meaning and teachings. The late Syilx elder Harry Robinson (2005) states that the captikʷɬ are holders of the laws that bestow rights to Syilx people via the Creator. The actions of humanoid- like plants and animals, as well as “super-powered” humanoids such as the Trickster along with other monsters and giants, illustrate and capture these teachings. According to Armstrong (2009), they are also texts for empirical study, thematical/textual analysis that relate to Syilx protocol, governance, and entertainment. In the Syilx worldview, the captikʷɬ carry the influence of “good government” which Delphine Derickson mentions. Though every genre of captikʷɬ and every captikʷɬ carry influence, specifically, the genre of Coyote Was Traveling has an influence in tempering social behavior among Syilx people. Armstrong (2009) states that the blunders and successes of Coyote in this genre create space for the listener to reflect on their own actions: “The action of any individual doing something similar instantly triggers social recognition of the action as an imitator type of action. The reminder acts to mediate social behavior through a predictable social response and consequence” (p.97). The idea is that we too are “Coyotes,” traveling in our lives, making blunders, achieving success, and learning all the way as he did. Delphine Derickson described this infusion of captikʷɬ as “good government which meant ―that we carry the laws inside of us...that we know how to live and act right without someone having to force us” (Armstrong 2009, p.98). The advantage we have as sqilxʷ is that we get a canonical text of instruction and reflection that can influence us, as story does, to learn, grow and change. 78 In the words of my cousin, “I learned what to do and what not to do by watching my older brother.” The late Mary Anne Eli (Syilx elder, fluent language speaker, member of Westbank First Nation, personal communication), a Syilx elder and language speaker, once said in a language forum that “the stories are always funnier in Indian.” As a Syilx person, I would argue Indigenous language and Indigenous story are inseparable. That is, the stories cannot be fully understood or appreciated unless they are told, listened to, and understood in their original language. Each language will carry its own subtleties and nuances that express the story as it was originally meant to be heard. An aspect of Nsyilxcn that illustrates this is the phoneme xw. In the Syilx way of thinking, this phoneme can be a metaphor to illustrate the relationship of one “story” to another. Philosophically, xw is a way of expressing a point in time or space that has resulted from numerous events and cross-events (Armstrong, 2009). Artistically, xw can be pictured as a dot with two emerging lines fanning out in a triangle shape. The dot can represent an event while the emerging lines represent precursing events that led up to or produced the dot. To add another layer of conceptualizing xw, picture all the events within the given emerging lines as being their own dot and having their own set of events within their own emerging lines. This greater construct then falls into another greater construct and so on. This is illustrated in Figure 1. In the context of story, there are many stories that are the dots of our lives, both individually and collectively, all with their own corresponding dots and emerging lines. This is the nature of story in the Syilx way of thinking, both as our lived experience and in the captikʷɬ. Both concepts could be characterized by their own xw, with corresponding dots and lines, both interacting with each other depending on who and what are in our lives. This is how Armstrong (2009) describes traditional Syilx stories as ones that “overlap and move from one genre to 79 another seamlessly” (p.35). Through xw our smymay and smipnwiɬn, our lives tell the stories we have experienced, and arguably the many stories we are currently inhabiting. Figure 3.1 xw as an abstract concept of understanding time and space Note. The complexity or simplicity of understanding an “event(s)” is the same in the Syilx way of thinking. In the following section, I will unpack the psychological term “Theory of Mind,” discuss the literary texts that reflect on Theory of Mind, then segue to a discussion of captikʷɬ as literary Event 80 texts, and finally connect leadership in the Syilx worldview to Theory of Mind through the interaction of captikʷɬ as literary text. Theory of Mind If you’ve ever had an encounter with an exuberant person and felt their excitement, witnessed someone crying and felt their pain, or saw a friend become enraged by an injustice and could feel their resentment in your own cheeks despite none of these events happening directly to you, then you’ve experienced a form of empathy, or “Theory of Mind.” Premack & Woodruff (1978) define Theory of Mind as “the ability to attribute mental states to oneself or another person or to make inferences regarding others’ mental states: their knowledge, needs, intentions and beliefs” (p.248). Morton, Frith & Leslie (1991) refer to theory of mind as “‘mentalizing’ - our ability to predict and explain the behaviour of other humans in terms of their mental states” (p.434). Whiten (1991) calls it “mind reading,” while Baron-Cohen et al. (1997) dub it “social sensitivity or mind-reading” and state it starts with the term empathy but goes beyond in its description (p.242). Black & Barnes (2015) state that Theory of Mind “refers to the awareness of and the ability to interpret the mental states and emotions of others” (p.423). In essence, it is a robust form of empathy that relates to interpersonal relationships. According to Shamay-Tsoory & Aharon-Peretz (2007), Theory of Mind can be identified in two ways: Cognitive Theory of Mind, which refers to the ability to infer other people’s beliefs, while Affective Theory of Mind refers to the ability to infer others’ emotions. Empathy, according to Shamay-Tsoory & Aharon- Peretz (2007), lies in the understanding and practice of Affective Theory of Mind and emotional contagion, or feeling others’ pain or stress (see Figure 2). 81 Figure 3.2 A model of the relationship between empathy and ToM (Shamay-Tsoory et al., 2010, p.669) Theory of Mind is essential in building, navigating, and maintaining relationships with other persons, be it animal or human. Deficits in Theory of Mind are marked with interpersonal challenges and can be associated with psychopathologies (Baron-Cohen et al., 2001; Shamay- Tsoory et al., 2010; Shamay-Tsoory & Aharon-Peretz, 2007). In one study, adult psychopaths were shown to have impaired performance in tasks that involved reversal learning, or the ability to practice self-control in reward related scenarios (Newman et al., 1987; Mitchell et al.,2002)- that is, the inability to practice reversal learning is a well-established measure of orbitofrontal cortex dysfunction, and thus in its deficit, interpersonal relationships suffer (Rolls, 1996). The orbitofrontal cortex in the brain “mediates affective information, emotional stimuli, and social behavior (Shamay-Tsoory et al., 2010). When the ability is present in an individual but is not engaged, there is “the breakdown of positive interpersonal and intergroup relationships (Deaux & Snyder, 2018). Therefore, orbital frontal cortex dysfunction would result in a split between 82 representations of mental states and their affective value, leading to intact cognitive Theory of Mind on one hand and impaired affective Theory of Mind on the other hand (p.676). Throughout this chapter and thesis, I will borrow from Black & Barnes’ (2015) abbreviation and use “ToM” when referring to Theory of Mind. Theory of Mind, Fiction and Visual Media Kidd & Castano (2013) argue that the inference made through character development and multiple perspectives of the world in literary fiction mimic those of ToM. That is, by interacting with literary fiction the reader’s empathy, or ability to understand others, is boosted to better understand personal/social inference that is applicable to relationships beyond story. Multiple studies have shown participants performed better on a psychological test called the Reading of the Mind Eyes Test after reading fiction. The test, which is neither new nor novel but well established in empathy research, has participants look intently at pictures of a person’s eyes and then discern their emotion based on several possible responses (see Djikic, Oatley, & Moldoveanu, 2013; Mar, Oatley, Hirsh, de la Paz, & Peterson, 2006; Mar, Oatley, & Peterson, 2009). Mar & Oatley (2008) argue that when readers engage in fiction, the stories can serve as social simulation that allows readers to practice attributing mental states mentally and literally to others. Originally, Kidd & Castano (2013) had proposed that popular fiction is too predictable to boost ToM as characters are internally consistent, which results in low to no activation of theory of mind (p.378). This limited the effect to literary fiction, but further research has proven that literary fiction isn’t the only text-medium that can improve ToM. More recently, the scope of texts has expanded to include award-winning TV shows and children’s movies. Black & Barnes (2015) performed a study in the same vein methodologically, but instead of books the 83 researchers had participants view award-winning television dramas. The researchers sought to expand the ToM envelope by focusing on whether the aspects of story mattered more than the medium through which they were delivered- that is, the complexity of narrative and of characters and relationships within the medium rather than just the medium itself. Participants were grouped into two viewing categories: fiction (award-winning dramas i.e., Mad Men, The West Wing, The Good Wife, or Lost) and non-fiction (TV documentary series i.e., Shark Week or How the Universe Works). Though the participants in both groups watched the shows together, they were instructed not to speak to each other. Black & Barnes (2015) inferred that the group-watch effect “may encourage participants to track the mental states and emotions of not only the characters in Mad Men or Lost, for example, but also their fellow participants” (p.428). The results for the study were as follows: Participant scores on the RMET were higher after watching award-winning dramas than after watching documentaries, even after controlling for both gender and reading experience. Although there was only a small to medium effect (Cohen, 1988), it is notable that its size is almost identical to that reported by Kidd and Castano (2013) for the comparison between literary fiction and nonfiction” (p.428). Mar, Tackett, & Moore (2010) found that exposure to children’s movies, and not necessarily children’s TV shows, predicted children’s performance on ToM tasks in an equal manner to the exposure to children’s books. Zunshine (2008), in her analysis of the British version of the American Emmy winning show, The Office, argued that the show was effective in stimulating ToM. The catalyst for this effect resides in how the producers focused on the feelings and thoughts of the characters, both when the characters are overt in their emotion and when they are seeking to hide their emotions. The audience can see and experience things that the fictional 84 characters in their fictional world do not. The result is that the audience will draw meaning from these scenes and interpret characters’ emotions in a way that may require, and consequently produce, layers of understanding of the characters’ mental states and relationships, which is the elevation of ToM. A connection to the inhibition of ToM, story and interpersonal relationships has to do with people on the autism spectrum. It is the well-established notion that people with autism have a deficit in ToM and/or empathy. Studies have shown that individuals on the autism spectrum will show preference for nonfiction over fiction in written form, and when watching movies, pay less attention to the characters, and more attention to the plot (Barnes, 2012; Klin, Jones, Schultz, Volkmar, & Cohen, 2002). Therefore, the distinction between the preference for non-fiction (the non-stimulating text for ToM) by people on the autism spectrum and the growth of ToM when exposed to quality fiction affirms the metaphorical fertilizer of fictional text. Captikʷɬ as a Literary Text and Theory of Mind In this section I argue that in the same vein as the mentioned research on literary fiction and visual media, listening, studying, and rehearsing the captikʷɬ can lead to greater empathy. Armstrong (2009) states that captikʷɬ are a “literary method of transfer for knowledge essential to the Syilx environmental ethic” (p.108). That is, the relevant research that resonates with Syilx knowledge and practices for the dissemination of such knowledge in and among Syilx people, affirms (as opposed to validates) what our ways of being and knowing have always taught us. Having stated this, I will now articulate as to how the ToM-literary connection is relevant for the argument of this thesis in regard to these knowledge systems resident in our literary texts, captikʷɬ. 85 The New York Book Editors (2018) define literary fiction as “novels that do not fit neatly into an established genre…or, otherwise, refers to novels that are character-driven rather than plot-driven, examine the human condition, use language in an experimental or poetic fashion.” This type of literary genre was what Kidd & Castano (2013) argued was necessary to evoke and develop the reader’s empathy through “mind reading and character construction” (p.377). Kidd & Castano (2013) did point to the growing body research that was needed, and subsequently occurred: “further research will focus on other forms of art, such as plays and movies, that involve identifying and interpreting the subjective experiences of others” (p.380). The ToM text- envelope has since expanded beyond just literary fiction, or just fiction for that matter. Black & Barnes (2015) state that “if the difference between our fiction and nonfiction conditions was due, in part or whole, to the presence of conflict, multiple characters with divergent beliefs, emotions, and desires and the inclusion of story arcs with a defined narrative structure, then it is possible that watching popular, as well as award-winning, TV dramas may lead to increase theory of mind performance. (p.428). Black and Barnes (2015) also note that it is unclear whether the study involving other genres of TV would yield the same results as the drama-genre study-that is, there is ample room to assume that Indigenous oral traditions can be quantifiably documented as producing theory of mind. In both written and visual fictional narratives, the audience is put in a place to understand the feelings and intentions of the characters. Black & Barnes (2015) argue that “without knowing what the people in a story are thinking, it is difficult, if not impossible, to follow the plot” (p.428). Thus, by way of multiple characters being developed through the listening and rehearsal of several captikʷɬ over time (much like watching a TV or Movie series), it is within reason to argue that captikʷɬ indeed promote ToM through their literary constructs. 86 Armstrong (2009) argues that captikʷɬ meet the criteria of literary text and thus end up being their own category (not to be confused with “genre”) which she calls “oraliture” (p.106). captikʷɬ, as a category of literature, can be used as texts in the same way ToM-literary studies refer to print literary fiction etc. as boosters of ToM. Armstrong (2009, p.95) states that there are four genres of captikʷɬ: World-Before-Humans, Coyote-Was-Traveling, There-Were-People- Living, and Sacred Text. In keeping the Syilx concept of mixʷ in mind, she goes on to say that each genre serves its own purpose and can spill over into other genres depending on the content and intent of the story. Armstrong (2009) states that “Syilx oraliture, as with any literature, contains subject and content related to all aspects of the lived experience of the Syilx Okanagan” (p.108). In this capacity the texts behave much like any other text that is readily available through film or print. Yet, the stories are multi-faceted storehouses: they are literary texts, instructions for protocol, and as our knowledge keepers and elders have stated, the stories themselves are alive. The definition of the word captikʷɬ means “a slice (of reality) which provides the spark of knowledge” (p.132). If they are indeed alive, then as they provide sparks, they can speak to us, instruct us, guide us, and talk back to us. They do. Armstrong (2009) stated the following at an Indigenous writer’s conference called “Returning the Gift Conference”: “Syilx medicine man and elder, John Kruger … said, ―We have made a mistake in saying these stories (captikʷɬ) are coming from the past. We are the stories. What the story does is speak in the present and bring the past forward, so we can have a future” (p,95). Thus, Armstrong’s “environmental ethic” in the captikʷɬ is one of many “ethics,” and principles that are contained within the social ethical framework of the captikʷɬ. They speak to us through character development, story arc and plot twists. 87 According to Armstrong (2009) the kʷәliwtiʔsqilxʷ, or World Before Humans stories, are “characterized by captikʷɬ features which situate the characters as timeless and have a stereotypical quality rather than rounded or developed characters” (p.100).29 In contrast, the Coyote Was Traveling genre features complex storylines that do not present a classic hero or villain, but as Armstrong (2009) puts it “the double-sided complexity and seemingly contradictory nature of his [Coyote] character will lead to confusing and problematic cultural interpretations” (p.118). From this important connection, I am now going to venture into the research on literary fiction, award-winning television and ToM and tie it back the importance of empathy and caring as it is observed in captikʷɬ within the context of Syilx leadership. Not unlike Syilx ways of thinking and being, captikʷɬ are multi-faceted literary texts, both in content, in story, in genre, in characters- by nature of what Armstrong (2009) calls “ecomimicry” (p.314)- and in intent, or what the story looks to transmit. Therefore, the genre of captikʷɬ, Coyote was traveling, arguably meets the mentioned criteria for “literary fiction,” and thus has the capacity and potential to increase ToM. However, given the growth of the research envelope on what qualifies as appropriate texts to increase ToM, we are within safe parameters to state that Syilx captikʷɬ can and do promote ToM. In my lived-experience in Syilx community and in the ceremonies of Enowkinwixʷ, I have personally experienced the increase ToM in myself and in others. 29 In later chapters, I discuss the boosting of empathy in Enowkinwixʷ, which originates from the World Before Humans genre. Being that literary fiction and this captikʷɬ genre seem to be at odds, it must be noted it is the hidden meaning in the story and praxis of Enowkinwixʷ that is responsible for boosting ToM. 88 Captikʷɬ and Theory of Mind Imagery Black & Barnes (2015) state that imagination in the interaction with a text medium is key in the development of ToM. In fictional written texts many specifics are not immediately apparent and may be implied or omitted. These spaces in between cause the reader to exercise their imaginations to paint a visual picture of the characters and story setting. The authors argue that it could be that this imaginative activity plays a key role in the development of ToM. This inference occurs when interacting with the captikʷɬ in layers relating to this imagery. Rubin (1995) discusses the nature of oral traditions in how they produce and use imagery of the mind as the story progresses. Armstrong (2009) takes this one step further by noting the added layer of spoken Nsyilxcn in its polysynthetic nature in storytelling. If Rubin’s (1995) statement about oral traditions creates a “movie in the head” (p.41), then the added layer of Nsyilxcn in storytelling would be the 3D glasses with Imax sound. If you have ever heard a captikʷɬ, then you have used your imagination to produce a movie of the mind, i.e., how the story will unfold, the demeanor of the characters, and the physical details of setting. If you are familiar with the Syilx territory- that is, all captikʷɬ occur on Syilx territory and a number the captikʷɬ have physical land-markers that act as mnemonic devices among other things (Armstrong, 2009, p.134). - then you’ve added to the production quality of your story-interaction. Another layer is applied via the narrator. Even if a person has heard the captikʷɬ before, every “teller” has a unique voice (physical and in community), that carries the story forward in a unique way. For example, when I chose the three Coyote Stories for this thesis, I had the choice of different versions that originated from various Syilx tellers. Armstrong (2009) states that though the core of the story remains, this variance speaks to geographical locale and teller-dynamics. As a Syilx person encounters different 89 versions of the same captikʷɬ, they encounter twists and details that add imagery and meaning. Thus, in the aspects of imagery produced by the captikʷɬ, the Syilx leader who listened intently entered into what Black & Barnes (2015) describe as ToM development, in part, due to imagination in the hearers. Armstrong (2009) points out that Syilx children were groomed by instruction via the repetitive telling of certain captikʷɬ (p.101). Children, by nature, pretend and play as learning. Leslie (1987) describes the importance of pretend play in the development of ToM in young children: “And indeed it is this that also links the ability to pretend and understand pretense in others to the employment of theory of mind. Pretend play is thus one of the earliest manifestations of the ability to characterize and manipulate one's own and others' cognitive relations to information. This ability, which is central to common sense theory of mind, will eventually include characterizing relations such as believing, expecting, and hoping, and manipulating these relations in others, for example, getting someone to expect that something will happen by promising” (p.422). Thus, Syilx leaders, in their imagery and imaginations, would have developed ToM, which would have expanded their Bitterroot lens of leadership. Group-Listen Black & Barnes (2015) found that there is a possible boost in ToM learning when individuals group-watch TV dramas rather than watching alone. In this case study, even though the participants were instructed not to talk to each other, the researcher’s noted that the group- watch setting aided in facilitating theory of mind. In the Syilx way of being, captikʷɬ are often 90 told among groups, whether in a public space, among knowledge keepers or at community events such as dinners or school functions, and specialized functions aimed at thematical studies of the stories. Though it is a practice to personally reflect on the captikʷɬ, their main engagement occurs in groups. According to the authors this would further promote the development of ToM among Syilx people. Black & Barnes (2015) go on to say that when it comes to visual media, it is possible that simply viewing human-interaction and behavior will result in participants performing better than they otherwise would when reading the facial expressions of others. In any of the mentioned Syilx community functions, there is always a constant-mixed interaction between all ages, families, and walks of life. Elders and youth, formally and non-formally educated, etc. As a child, I constantly watched these interactions at band meetings, community dinners, funerals, and the like. Band meetings were especially emotional: anger, sadness, feelings of injustice. Christmas dinners had pleasantries and laughter. More so at the former than the latter, there would be a faction of people who had guarded conversations with layered facial expressions that would be a research well for the reading of the mind eyes test. I would argue that this added layer represents another opportunity for the development of ToM in Syilx communities and leaders. Reflection One of the mechanisms through which the captikʷɬ have always instructed Syilx people and Syilx leaders is in the practice of reflection, which is thoughtful repetition and meditation. Early ethnographers to the Syilx territory rightly pointed out that traditionally, leadership in Syilx communities were mostly semi-hereditary in their leadership/governance structures and relied upon multiple potential leadership candidates, both in their rearing and grooming (Ray, 1938; Cline et al., 1938). From our own oral history, we know that these potential leaders were 91 instructed in (among other things) the captikʷɬ. What we as Syilx people did and still do is engage in pax in relation to the land and the captikʷɬ that we may find illumination to our challenges. Armstrong (2009), in her analysis of Coyote’s character and leadership methodology, both in text and in practice (i.e. “we are Coyote” Sam (2014) personal correspondence), states the following: “Snk’lip is always to be resuscitated by his good twin, admonished and sent on to pursue the monster armed with knowledge of the nature of that particular evil, as well as the knowledge of his own areas of weakness which could thwart success” (p.99). In the captikʷɬ, Coyote’s success almost always involved failure proceeded by resuscitation by Fox and personal reflection or pax. Another way to put it is that Coyote habituated a self-reflective, self- educational process when dealing with the people-eaters. His practice sought clarity and perspective. Yukl (2013) points out that effective leadership requires a level of personal reflection- that is, by assessing one’s own actions and results gives room for potential improvement in meeting followers needs and achieving the collective goal. Captikʷɬ give space for pax or reflection upon one’s own challenges, be it personal or corporate. When perspective is reached through pax and through story, there can be what researchers call “moral elevation” (Haidt, 2003). According to Algoe & Haidt (2009), moral elevation is a unique emotional process that is characterised by admiration, gratitude, pro-social feelings, altruistic motivation, and triggers maternal nurturing behavior. Moral elevation can occur during engagement with literary texts and narrative digital media (Passon, 2019; Kuiken & Jacobs, 2021). A pop-cultural example is in the animated Pixar film “Up,” in the scene where one of the protagonists, Carl, an elderly man who values his house as much as his now-passed wife, in a battle in the sky, sacrifices his literal 92 house for a young boy who needs rescuing, not to mention a father-figure. At this moment, most movie-goers experience moral elevation and are inspired to “do good” in the world and sacrifice for their own loved ones. Piper, Saslow, & Saturn (2015) in their research of the PFC and moral elevation stated that there is connection between empathy or ToM and the experience of moral elevation- that is, in the process of an empathy boost during story, moral elevation occurs or vice-versa. The connection between elevation, story, and an increase in empathy is that it can increase positive human behaviors such as compassion and altruism (Piper et al., 2015). Piper et al., (2015) found that the Parasympathetic Nervous System (PNS), the body’s self-soothing system, and the Sympathetic Nervous System (SNS), the body’s “fight or flight” system, are both activated during moral elevation in response to story. When the hard part of a story occurs, the reader or watcher becomes “stressed.” via their mirror neurons in the brain (see Ramachandran, 2012). We see the character in a stressful situation, and we get stressed (SNS)- this is one part to the empathy growth that occurs during story. When we see the character overcome their challenge, we experience relief and calm (PNS). What is important to note is that in the study, no one was exempt to this process. It is in this process that empathy is built in the individual who has undergone transportation in the story. As Syilx people and leaders heard and reflected on the captikʷɬ they would have undergone this process of moral elevation and developed ToM. For example, in the captikʷɬ of Owl Woman and Chickadee, the listener experiences this stress (SNS) and relief (PNS). They become stressed when Chickadee is pursued by the predator, Owl Woman, and when she is caught and has her heart taken from her. They experience relief, not to mention moral elevation, when she is revived with love by her grandmother who puts “a heart” back in her in the form of a Saskatoon berry. This is just one 93 captikʷɬ in which Syilx leaders would have been (and can presently be) exposed to and thus would have developed ToM in their leadership. Characters Slater & Rouner (2002) suggests that stories “may be one of the only strategies available for influencing the beliefs of those who are predisposed to disagree with the position espoused in the persuasive message" (p. 175) This is no different than when captikʷɬ are told, listened to, or read and the engager finds resonance with the characters. According to Dal, Zanna & Fong (2004), character resonance in story is important in narrative persuasion. Specifically, narrative persuasion is the ability of a story to shape our thinking or change our minds in a specific area. Dal et al. (2004) state that as we resonate with the characters of a story the cognitive barriers that exist against “something,” are weakened and we become primed for persuasion. Some of the captikʷɬ can be character driven, specifically the ones that explore human behavior through the ecomimicry of the animals. Armstrong’s (2009) concept of ecomimicry states that the animals in the captikʷɬ are presented as mimicking their natural world characteristics, but as humanoid constructs of their respective animal identity. Through this concept, the characters, such as Coyote, act out their nature and instruct us through their character development. When we hear a captikʷɬ, we resonate in varying degrees with the characters in the story. When we hear about Coyote’s laziness (i.e., scavenger) in the captikʷɬ, this creates resonance in our minds, and we are reminded of moments where we were lazy or of people, we know who can be lazy. Black Bears live a long time (comparatively) and in the captikʷɬ he is seen as the elder with much wisdom that comes with a long life. We listen to the story of The Four Food Chiefs and hear about Black Bear and his wisdom and life, and we are reminded of the sage we know and emulate. We hear about Turtle feeling less than in his capacity and unworthy of the calling that was bestowed upon 94 him and are reminded of our own short comings and the expectations put on us to perform. In his triumph we are reminded that we too can fulfill our calling. We hear about Salmon swimming even to their life’s end for the next generation and are encouraged to “keep swimming” in the “to do” lists for our loved ones. It is appropriate to tie in the characters in captikʷɬ to our own complex character- that is, through the engagement of this specific captikʷɬ genre, ToM is developed as we are faced to contemplate Coyote’s (among others’) actions and come to the conclusions that there is a “Coyote” in us all. When Syilx leaders are acutely aware of the leadership function bestowed on them (whether by job or organic community acknowledgement), they have the opportunity to reflect on their leadership endeavours/actions by resonating with characters in the captikʷɬ, which enable them to see their own faults and strengths and address them accordingly. Kidd & Castano (2013) propose that literary fiction provides the trigger point(s) for activating ToM by prompting the readers “to take an active writerly role to form representations of characters’ subjective states” (p.380). Captikʷɬ may have predictable characters based on the concept of ecomimicry, but still hold aspects of complexity that cause the reader to infer and ponder the meanings and character intent. For example, when I first read the captikʷɬ of Coyote, Horse, and Dog (see Appendix A), I was truly unaware of the outcome. How would he tame this beast? Seeing Coyote in mind taking the monster-dog and horse head-on and ending in apparent failure gave me a sense of wonder and unpredictability. What was Coyote saying and doing while he smoked his pipe and rested? In each scenario in the captikʷɬ he ended up taking a different approach to each monster to tame them that was unorthodox and unconventional. For further thought, consider that in some captikʷɬ, Coyote is dense, callous, and self-serving. Yet, in other captikʷɬ he fulfills his role as a Syilx leader and operates from a place of courage and 95 empathy serving justice to the oppressed (see the captikʷɬ Owl Woman). In concert with Kidd & Castano (2013), the captikʷɬ provide trigger points for activating ToM by causing the audience (and Syilx leaders) to infer upon a character’s subjective states. The learner of Syilx captikʷɬ must still be the active hearer/reader and do just as the authors state in reading into the story. By account of the mentioned research on the role of story in developing and improving ToM, it is within the parameters of this chapter to state that story, and in this context our captikʷɬ, not only is a content holder of leadership principles and theories but also as their role in leadership development, is key to developing ToM. Literary fiction produces theory of mind. Captikʷɬ can be categorized as a type of literary fiction. Therefore, the grooming of Syilx leaders, both as children of the community and children groomed for leadership, would have produced empathetic leaders capable of reading the emotions of their community members. Empathy, or ToM, is a central point for Syilx leadership. Armstrong’s (2009) “ethic” via Syilx culture and captikʷɬ would have involved Syilx leadership. In the systems way of thinking, Syilx ethics are intertwined and, not unlike captikʷɬ, ebb and flow in between each other. Part of the leadership ethic was the boosting of empathy in Syilx leaders as they learned and engaged with the captikʷɬ. Battilana & Casciaro (2021) state in their research on power that empathy and humility are the antidotes to the abuse of power, of which is common in leadership. Their data confirms early ethnographers’ observance of Syilx leadership in that it was non-dictatorial- that is, in this vein of research we would have had a cultural embeddedness of empathy/ToM via the captikʷɬ that would have produced a leadership culture that ran counter-narrative to the abuse of power (see Turtle and Eagle). The teachings of captikʷɬ did and do promote the nature of servant leadership which directly opposes dictatorial systems of leadership, and thus further affirms Syilx leadership and ToM being intertwined. 96 Story can and does influence how we interact with our surroundings. It influences how we see ourselves and others. To borrow again from Raibmon (2003), we tell ourselves stories about ourselves and about others. Specifically, story has the ability to change the way we think, boost our empathy, and shapes our realties. Brown (2012) states that “we are hard on others because we’re hard on ourselves. Paraphrasing Brown from p.98-99, when our stories are filled with shame or trauma, then our lens will be bent towards acting out that trauma and traumatizing the people around us through that trauma. If our stories are filled with positive stories (i.e., hope and love) then our lens will act out that positivity and pour out that positivity on those in our lives. Therefore, let us listen intently, be mindful of self-narration, and allow story to instruct us through its characters, through its imagery and our reflections. In doing so the stories will help us build empathy/ToM (and humility) in us so that we may use our leadership to empower others.30 In the next chapter, I will discuss Syilx leadership historically, I will discuss leadership in the academic and mainstream literature and begin to discuss Syilx leadership in the captikʷɬ. 30 In “Chapter 5: Power,” I will discuss the connection of story/captikʷɬ to Enowkinwixʷ and the “middle.” 97 Chapter 4- Leadership Change is (sometimes) a tedious process. There are moments where things shift suddenly and there are moments where change seems to take a long time. In my limited experience, I have witnessed lasting change in the latter. When I started to work on this thesis, I had Salmon ideologies of leadership (i.e., resilience, task orientation, achievement, “strength”). As I was exposed to Enowkinwixʷ ceremonies, information was presented to the living system of Syilx leadership in my mind (rooted in captikʷɬ) which resulted in a shift to a Bitterroot lens. When looking at the captikʷɬ of The Four Food Chiefs as an organizational tool, there is clear self- organization in the dialogue of The Four Food Chiefs through their lenses of ecomimicry in the praxis of Enowkinwixʷ. Within this organization exists dyads which naturally cooperate and dyads which naturally oppose. In the Food Chief dyad of Salmon and Bitterroot, there is a living tension between action-orientated leadership and relational-orientated leadership. One end of this leadership spectrum pulls on the other end simultaneously. They are complementary and interdependent, but apart from the systems lens, they create extremes, or what Wheatley (2017) calls a “closed system” (p.28). Armstrong (2009) references our captikʷɬ as being seen with this systems lens in their method of self-organization. Syilx leadership, not unlike Syilx thought and captikʷɬ, is systems orientated in its approach and in its content. As The Four Food Chiefs/leaders operate in a self-organizing structure that considers every part of the whole, Syilx leadership operates in a systems framework that considers every person in community as well as the land and all living things. Wheatley (2006) calls entities that self-organize, and change based on the information that is presented to them “living systems” (p.80). The Salmon in me has not been extinguished but has allowed for more tension in the living system of leadership. Furthermore, this thesis does not dismiss the qualities of Salmon- it sheds light towards the lesser 98 appreciated and discussed (and just as valid) leadership characteristics of Bitterroot, i.e., relationship, empathy, emotional capacity. In and as much as my personal leadership has shifted, so has the academic literature shifted in the past 50 years. Rost (1991) in his discussion of the history of leadership research notes that from its inception in the 1920’s, the focus of discussion centered around Strong Man leadership theory, or the personal characteristics of dominance that were attributed to the concept of leadership. Consequently, men in leadership positions of politics or war were the focus of discussion. Over the years the body of leadership research developed and evolved to include seemingly antecedent theories to the strong man theory. These “new” theories included but were not limited to empowerment theory, shared leadership theory, flexible leadership, and situated leadership theory (Yukl, 2013). I put the quotations around ‘new’ because these theories that proceeded Strong Man theory were only newly observed in modern expressions of Western leadership- that is, in Indigenous contexts, and perhaps in other areas of the world, these decentralizing leadership theories have been in practice for millennia. This thesis will discuss aspects of leadership from the lens of Bitterroot, and, in this chapter, I will establish a historical and current contextual foundation in the discussion of leadership. I ask the questions “what are the impacts of colonialism on Syilx leadership? Was precolonial Syilx leadership functional? How is Syilx leadership expressed through the captikʷɬ? And lastly, how do we Syilx-ify our leadership through the principles found in the four captikʷɬ of discussion? 99 Pre/Post Leadership Colonial History in the Okanagan Valley Early ethnographers to the Western Plateau (modern day B.C. and Washington state and Syilx territory) agree that prior to colonization, the Indigenous nations of this area experienced years of stability and functionality (Ray, 1939; Cline et al., 1938; Boas & Teit, 1985; Thomson, 1985). Vern Ray (1939) in his observation of Western Plateau people noted the unity that existed through means of shared “customs, values, religion and language” (p.9). Armstrong (2009) affirms this cultural commonality, noting its roots in one ancestral culture and language. One of these cultural groups is the Syilx people who resided and prospered for more than 12,000 years within the mentioned geographical locale (Sam, 2008; Armstrong, 2009; Thomson, 1985; Boas, Franz; Teit, 1985). Armstrong (2009) states that the Syilx people had a “stable, distributed system of economy and authority” (p.51). Armstrong uses the word ‘authority’ in correlation with community stability, which I would translate to mean leadership and governance. Syilx leadership and governance was effective to the point of bringing about a peaceful and prosperous existence among Western Plateau Nations. Though foreign trade items were the first to be introduced in the way of European contact, sustained contact began in 1811 via the fur trade through the establishment of the Hudson’s Bay Company’s Fort Okanagan at the junction of the Okanagan and Columbia rivers (Okanagan Historical Society, 1959; Thomson, 1985). The arrival of European settlers in the Okanagan Valley, along with a new type of economy that began to emerge in the mid 1800s, played a central role in the development of surrounding settlements. At this time, as Thomson (1994) notes, both Syilx and non-Syilx people participated in these two economies (traditional Syilx resources and the new agricultural industry) and namely the newly introduced agricultural 100 economy as equals. Since the Okanagan region was not rich (by comparison) in fur-bearing animals, the Hudson’s Bay Company mainly traded with Syilx people for horses, potatoes, guiding and packing services. Syilx (and Syilx structures), and settler coexisted over a period of 50 years without disruption to Syilx people and culture. Colonization, by contrast, began through the establishment of B.C. as a crown colony in 1858. B.C.’s entrance into confederation in 1871, which was preceded and prompted by the Fraser and Caribou Gold Rush which brought about an influx of settlers, set the stage for Canada to exert their “sea-to-sea” colonial policy that heavily favored settler expansion, and not coincidentally Indigenous People’s displacement. The policy not only unilaterally dismissed Indigenous people (and Syilx people) and their concerns but also effectively took control over the land and its resources. This was done via a series of Acts, including the Gradual Civilization Act of 1857, which sought to control Indigenous people and provided the basis for the (faulty) numbered Treaty process which would take place in the 1870s throughout much of Canada with the exception of B.C.31 As both Kayseas (2015) and Thomson (1985) point out, the Indian Act of 1876, a consolidation of existing colonial legislation pertaining to Indigenous people, forced a colonial model of governance and leadership on Indigenous people and derailed existing leadership and governance systems that had sustained the Indigenous people of the Western Plateau, including Syilx, for millennia. In short, the Act established a democratically elected Chief and Council by popular vote, who was and is accountable to the crown (Ottawa) and not necessarily to their own people.32 This runs counter to Syilx leadership and the expectations that 31 This goes without noting Treaty 8 which covered a portion of modern-day B.C. 32 According to the Government of Canada (2022), under the Indian Act, an elected official may “cease to hold office” if they resign, die, or are convicted of an indictable offense. The Minister of Indigenous Services “may remove” an elected official from office for corruption in regards to an election or for missing three consecutive Council meetings without authorization from Council- “Council,” refers to Councillors and to Chief. Under the First Nations Elections Act (an act developed in 2015 that allows for more latitude in Indigenous community elections) an elected official “ceases to hold office” when they resign, die, are convicted of an indictable offense 101 are set out in Nsyilxcn and in the captikʷɬ. Though there are contemporary examples of Syilx people resisting this form of coercive leadership (see Hall Inquiry, 1988; see Bueller, 2022), resistance to these colonial structures began with the Laurier Memorial in 1910. In 1910, with the aid of ethnographer James Teit, the Chiefs of the Shuswap, Okanagan, and Thompson tribes (interior B.C.) penned a letter of protest to then Prime Minister Wilfred Laurier. In their letter they described the “heaping up” (p.1) of injustice on the interior Salish nations. The chiefs noted the minimization of (Syilx) Salish people under Canadian law as “one way for the rich white man, and yet another or the Indian” (p.2). They bluntly stated that the newly enforced colonial governments “have broken down our old laws and customs (no matter how good) by which we have regulated ourselves” (p.3). They spoke of their people being “fined and imprisoned” (p.4) for traditional practices such as hunting, fishing, and root digging. These passages make it very clear that Salishan leaders were very much aware and concerned by colonial actions and governance, and that, specifically, Syilx traditional leadership was being eroded. Syilx Processes Though the colonial model of governance (along with said injustices) still exists today, Syilx ways of knowing and being are still practiced. Armstrong (2009) states that in “contemporary Syilx community, now formally structured under democratically elected Chief and Council leadership the four segment voices continue to influence informally the process of decision-making in addition to the revival of engaging formal Enowkinwixʷ dialogue” (p.189). Throughout my graduate studies, I have had the privilege of participating in and learning from with a prison sentence greater than 30 days. Unlike its “kissing cousin,” the Minister has no power in removal process. Under Syilx law, a chief could be removed from their post at any point the community deemed it so. 102 Enowkinwixʷ. Dr. Armstrong has mentored me through the observance of her lived experience, a directed studies course, and one-on-one mentorship in Syilx ways of knowing and being. I have facilitated or observed Enowkinwixʷ three times with the city of Kelowna, twice with the Penticton Indian Band Chief and Council (PIB Enowkinwixʷ), once with the Upper Nicola Indian Band Chief and Council, once with the Chief and Councils from all seven Syilx communities (CEC Enowkinwixʷ), once with UBC Indigenous Faculty (UBC Indigenous Faculty Enowkinwixʷ). Enowkinwixʷ can be held as ceremony or used in its structure which still holds the ceremonial fashion- that is, the ceremonies held are different than the numerous workshops collaborations and conferences I facilitated using the Enowkinwixʷ structure. Though each Enowkinwixʷ is unique in its content and participants, each group of leaders had a challenge they wanted to overcome for the people-to-be. Like the captikʷɬ , there was much dialogue that included every voice which was guided towards consensus.33 In the CEC Enowkinwixʷ, the Sylix nation leadership considered how to “Syilx-ify” the current governance and leadership structures- that is, not just to influence, but, like Black Bear, to become a resurgent structure (apart from the Indian Act) that has its own “walk” after it is brought to life by Enowkinwixʷ. This dissertation is thus a product of reflections on these Syilx processes, using Syilx forms of knowledge, and Syilx experience, in Enowkinwixʷ and in community. It is firstly autochthonously Syilx; its structure, protocols and theory reside in the systems lens of Enowkinwixʷ. Secondly, it is autoethnographical; the data mobilized, and the insights offered come from lived experience as a Syilx person, living on Syilx lands, as well as from the Enowkinwixʷ ceremonies which I attended and facilitated. 33 90% of the Enowkinwixʷ I was a part of were with Dr. Armstrong. In these it was established by Dr. Armstrong that I was a graduate student and that these were a part of my studies in and as much as they were a part of my mentorship as a Syilx person. 103 The history of Salishan people of the Western Plateau (southern interior of current day British Columbia and northern Washington state) is rich with ethnographical data (see Cline et al., 1938; Teit & Boas, 1927; Carstens, 1991). This thesis focuses on the current application of Syilx leadership principles that would have been present in precolonial community. Understanding the history of colonization in Syilx territory (north of the 49th parallel) and the fact that it derailed Syilx leadership is important to know how our ways of being and knowing can operate within these colonial structures. For further clarity, an in-depth discussion of the anthropological historical narrative in Syilx communities to what Shils (1971) references as “pastness” in tradition is beyond the scope of this paper (p.128). In this historical vein, as it relates to the leadership, I will be establishing two things: One, Syilx people practiced a modality of leadership that was “effective” in principle as it related to context) and intact for millennia, of which the literature is mostly in agreement (Armstrong, 2009; Carstens, 1991; Kroeber, 1981; Ray, 1939; Cline et al., 1938; Thomson, 1985; Thomson, 1994; Teit & Boas, 1927). That is, as the linguistic history of the region suggests, the leadership observed by ethnographers and known to Syilx people in our cultural knowledge was such that contributed to the growth of the Interior Salish people. Two, as Thomson (1994) points out, and is illustrated in the captikʷɬ of Coyote, Horse and Dog, when contact (not colonization) was made, Syilx people entered the new economic structures with ease while maintaining their cultural identity and their leadership structures34- that is, the change in context that contact brought via economic modality, culture and resources, did not derail the structures, but the structures adapted. In the same way, what will be explored in this thesis is how those Syilx 34 Contact (and not colonization) brought a new form of economics via the fur trade that overlapped over existing trade routes. Colonization (and not contact) via political and religious structures forced Indigenous people to abandon their ways of knowing and being. Because of the tie between church and state among colonizers, the gap between contact and colonization was often minimal. 104 leadership and governance structures can be expressed in a post-colonial age through the lens of Bitterroot. The Okanagan Valley has been home to the Syilx people for more than 12,000 years (Armstrong, 2009; Sam, 2008;; Thomson, 1985; Teit & Boaz, 1930). As Armstrong (2009) argues, in those 12,000 years, based on the language family of the interior Salish Indigenous people, it is within safe parameters to conclude that effective leadership and governance systems were in place that allowed for population growth via resource management. Ray (1939) in his observation of Western Plateau people noted the bonds that existed through means of shared “customs, values, religion and language” (p.9). Armstrong (2009) states the people of the Western Plateau may have had one of the “largest known peacefully structured political units of cooperation, encompassing over twenty-five Salishan language groups covering a vast geographic area” (p.54). Cline et al. (1938) stated that differing plateau groups were held together in peaceful unity through “that of blood relationship, and that “constant intermarriage” created a complex and greater familial tie (p.84). Within this vein of cultural commonality among the Western Plateau nations, with hundreds of documented years of stability and functionality, it is safe to argue that the Indigenous people of the Western Plateau, and by consequence the Syilx people of the Okanagan region, had stable and effective leadership and governance. These structures were not unique by any means but were local in their cultural connection in Syilx ethics. Ray (1939) states of the Syilx people of Sanpoil that the (semi) hereditary system of leadership chieftainship operated by selecting eligible leaders in the criteria of honesty, sound judgment, meek, and skillful in arbitration. Cline et al. (1938) noted that at the passing of a chief, the next potential leader was selected from close family, i.e., “a son, brother or near relative of 105 the deceased” (p.97). Though Ray (1939) and Cline et al. (1938) agree that nowhere in their observations was the variable of wealth a predetermining factor in choosing a leader, Thomson (1994) does note that Syilx chiefs/leaders were expected to hold the economic skills of resource procuring and distribution in and for community. This was largely due to the community leader being the highest level of responsibility as a means of local resource control and sustainability which translate to better relations with neighboring villages and tribes (Armstrong, 2009). Armstrong (2009) states that the Syilx people had a “stable, distributed system of economy and authority” (p.51). Armstrong uses the word ‘authority’ in correlation with community stability, which, based on her argument of Syilx environmental ethics, I would translate to mean leadership and governance. These ethnographical accounts push back against colonial tropes that Indigenous people (in this case, Syilx people) were the human version of terra nullius and had no functional leadership systems. Post Contact Functional Leadership Contact occurred in 1811 via the fur trade through the establishment of Fort Okanagan at the junction of the Okanagan and Columbia rivers (Thomson, 1985). The arrival of European settlers in the Okanagan Valley, and a new type of economy that began to emerge beginning in the mid 1800s, played a central role in the development of surrounding settlements. At this time, both Syilx and non-Syilx people participated in these two economies as equals. Since the Okanagan region was not rich (by comparison to other fur trading regions such as the Athabasca region) in fur-bearing animals, the Hudson’s Bay Company mainly traded with Syilx people for horses, potatoes, guiding and packing services (Thomson, 1994). It was not until colonization occurred through the establishment of B.C. as a crown colony in 1858 that systematic discrimination occurred. In part, the gold rush prompted the ‘sudden’ shift in displacement of 106 Indigenous people. The Fraser and Caribou Gold Rush brought about an influx of settlers, which prompted (in part) the invasion of colonial authorities and powers and subsequently, B.C.’s entrance into confederation in 1871. Prior to B.C.’s entrance was the creation of other racist legislation, most notably Gradual Civilization Act of 1870, to deal with the “Indian Problem,” as it was seen, as well as the consolidation of all existing colonial legislation pertaining to Indigenous people under the Indian Act of 1876, which resulted in a series of coercions upon Indigenous people. One of the coercions of the Indian Act was the imposition of the Band Council system of leadership and governance. The western democratic model of a Band-Council system is a form of governance in which there is one Chief and several Councillors (mostly)35 based on population (1 per 100). These leaders are “democratically” placed in their roles by means of 50% +1 voting system. This system places people in positions of influence who are legally (though not socially) accountable to Ottawa and not to their own people. According to Belanger (2018) this is contrary to Indigenous ways of knowing and being. Alfred (2018) states that the Indian Act structure creates a system of dependency among Indigenous communities in which there is no way to become sovereign without giving up their Indigeniety. This system is dysfunctional and has always needed repair (see Hawthorn Report, 1966), and has been fundamental in the reactionary creation of Indigenous resistance movements in Canada. The issues and challenges that Indigenous people in Canada face are a result of colonization. A big piece of colonization has always been the Indian Act governance structures that have impacted the ability of communities to create capacity and create economic opportunities. One of the means in which the Crown has sought to 35 According to Sec 42 of the First Nations Election Act, an Indigenous community (“band”) may have their own election code providing it is approved via secret ballot in the community and is approved by the minister. This may change the length of a term of office, number of councillors, etc. Apart from the FNEA, communities may hold elections under their own customs which may also affect number of councillors. 107 address this problem as well as curbing the growing dissatisfaction among Canada’s Indigenous people has been the push for modern treaties. The Crown has always attempted to have “agreements,” which end up being means to absolving the legal burden of unceded land. Alongside resistance has been a growing movement of “resurgence.” Resistance and resurgence are best pictured as being two points on a spectrum, much like in the context of Enowkinwixʷ systems thinking between opposing Food Chiefs. On the theoretical level, while the two are most distinguishable on their extremes, they are less distinguishable as they merge towards the center. In their simplest forms they are as follows: resistance is defining yourself in opposition to what you are opposing; resurgence, by contrast, is defining yourself by your own values. Both seek to “build” something- the former has divided efforts while the latter is focused. In practice, labeling Indigenous attempts at reworking their leadership and governance structures as either/or is just as challenging if not problematic. Both are essential- that is in the context of post-colonial leadership, I think there must be a period of resistance (be it informal or formal) before there is resurgence. Moreover, they are not categories of moral excellence. Rather, they occur as best practices for appropriate seasons. The application of these ideas is directly linked to community resurgence (renewed social, economic, and physical wellness), which in turn fosters the opportunity to create sustainable communities, by creating functional leadership and functional governance systems that resonate best practices from a localized perspective (Calliou & Wesley-Esquimaux, 2015; Kenny & Fraser, 2012). To reiterate my point, except at their extremes, it is difficult to point to where one begins, and one ends. Much research has been done on the resurgence of Indigenous governance for Indigenous communities, which includes Syilx governance structures (Alfred, 2009; Armstrong 2009; 108 Corntassel, 2009; Coulthard, 2014; National Centre for First Nations Governance, 2009; Cornell, 2002; Quesnel, 2012; Raybould,1994; Wilson-Raybould, 2014). Although there is a broad cross- disciplinary literature on the resurgence of traditional governance, there is far less work done specifically on the resurgence of Indigenous leadership. The two concepts are often merged and blurred in the governance literature. In the Syilx context, the literature is sparse on contemporary/traditional Syilx leadership and governance structures based in oral tradition. There is a need to establish a practical framework for both, and an increasing recognition of the need to re-traditionalize systems of leadership though as Armstrong (2009) notes, the Four voices of community continue to influence this democratic model. For example, Westbank First Nation and the Penticton Indian Band (two of seven Syilx communities) have built and implemented their consultative community plans based on The Four Food Chiefs (Westbank, 2020). For this thesis, my argument deals with the resurgence of Syilx leadership and governance in a contemporary era. The resurgence of Syilx leadership does not mean that it has not already occurred. What it does mean, however, is that it must be rooted in Syilx ways of knowing and being, which are in our language and captikʷɬ. Throughout this thesis I will be discussing Syilx principles of leadership as they relate to and are housed in the captikʷɬ and how the leadership literature interreacts and intersects with the said principles. Leadership Dominant Leadership While the dominant literature is not without merit, it lacks the holism that is reflected in the systems lens of Syilx leadership. The dominant literature is mostly in agreement in the 109 definitions of leadership is and is not.36 Baker (2014) asserts and defines leadership as "the process of persuasion or example by which an individual or team induces a group to act," and governance as the strategic execution of policies and/or programs that reflect an overarching vision (2014, p.356). Yukl (1999; 2008) states that leadership resides within personal or organizational identity, while governance is an extension of leadership in systems, structures, and policy37. Rost (1990) in his metanalysis of leadership texts found that most definitions had the commonality of “influence.” Yukl (2013) confirms that this is still the consensus among most leadership scholars. Though there is validity to this analysis of this data, western leadership literature has not considered Indigenous (or Syilx) definitions of leadership except when it is isolated to its own genre of governance (see Governance Best Practices Report, 2009). Syilx leadership differs in content, specifically in theory and methodology to the dominant structures. While this leadership definition cannot be ignored, along with the leadership theories may relate to or even explain well aspects of Syilx leadership, they only capture in part what Syilx leadership is. The underlining difference between Syilx and dominant leadership lies in the perspective towards and the handling of power and resources.38 36 Rost’s (1993) conclusion was that of the 587 leadership texts he researched, only 221 offered a definition, and over half of the definitions involved influence. Rost (1993) appropriately condemns, in his exhaustive meta-analysis of academic and non-academic leadership texts, by stating, “when every interaction becomes leadership, then the definition loses its validity” (p.58). Though his text is not current, nor have I come across a similar text, his work is seminal in the academic realm. 37 While it is nearly impossible to separate leadership and governance, I included the “governance” definitions as a means of differentiating and allowing for the reader to understand the “blur” that can occur when attempting to separate the two terms. 38 The leadership literature has two arguments in the definition of leadership that should be noted but is not discussed in this thesis: There are perspectives in leadership research that attributes leadership to positive influence, and as a result give the term “leader” an altruistic association. This promulgates the term leadership as a puritanical process that is excogitated by well-meaning individuals with good intentions (Burns, 2003; Howell & Avolio, 1992; Kellerman, 2004; Kenny, 2012). In other words, if it is not positive or pure then, in the view of these authors, it is not leadership. The other vein of research elucidates the opposite conclusion that leadership is an amoral process, free from a moralistic good or bad (Hogan, 2006: Padilla et al.,2007). Assigning leadership as a utilitarian/altruistic endeavour can be problematic on two levels: firstly, when assuming the definition of leadership exudes aspects of “influence,” the leaders who have influenced unmentionable, immoral acts comes into question (i.e. the despots of history). Secondly, even when leaders and followers agree that leadership should have ethical features, there is 110 Western leadership literature can be limited in its approach to leadership theory and methodology, mostly because it lacks holism and tends to be defined and illustrated in its own silos of explanation and content. For instance, in the realm of leadership theory, according to Yukl (2013), situated leadership theory posits the leader as being able to shift their approach depending on the context, culture, and persons. It leaves much to be explored in the mental and emotional territory and does not address the relationship to the land and people. In the realm of leadership methodology, Yukl (2013) defines “effective leadership” as being able to accomplish a given task while making sure your team is valued all while promoting change. This three- pronged approach leaves out aspects that Syilx leadership addresses in the context of the Enowkinwixʷ and the Four Food Chief lenses. Accomplishing a task = Salmon39, valuing people = bitterroot, promoting change = Saskatoon; what is missing is the cultural element of Black bear which keeps us grounded to our traditions and values as Syilx people. While this three-pronged approach is backed by years of data and does well to align with the leadership of action and innovation in Salmon and Saskatoon, it fails to incorporate the emotional aspect of leadership that is embodied in Black Bear and Bitterroot. In the dominant leadership literature, the definition of effective leadership is widely accepted as being successful on a tri-hub: goals, change and building people (Yukl, 2013). The paradox I found during my research is that the number of leadership texts on goal setting, goal-achieving, and change-orientation, far outweighs the leadership texts on building-up/valuing people. constant debate as to the “higher moral ground” (Rost, 1993, p.163). To further this, I reiterate Rost’s (1993) assessment of the morality debate: “Rule ethics is not very helpful because many leaders and followers will not agree on the moral standards, do not interpret the standards uniformly, and often reach different conclusions when a moral standard is applied to a specific change proposal” (p.173). From the Syilx perspective, Eagle is an immoral or unethical dictatorial leader without any moral attribution, while Turtle is the benevolent, selfless, ethical leader. As mentioned previously, there are other examples within captikʷɬ of characters who exude an unethical leadership, specifically Coyote in some instances and Fox in most instances (Armstrong, 2009; Cohen, 2009). 39 As a brief note, “productivity” is not Syilx. In fact, productivity can be embodied within the leadership lens of Salmon. Yet, if Salmon is isolated in its leadership, system breakdown occurs. 111 Some of the dominant practices of leadership are what I am labeling as “negative,” or destructive to people, the land and all living things. in business and government, including some Indigenous governments, is motivated by influence from, and parallel to, what Daly (1996) calls a growth economy. According to Daly (1996) a growth economy refers to “an increase in the physical scale of the matter/energy throughput that sustains the economic activities of production and consumption of commodities” (p.31). That is, it is not based on what the land needs to replenish or regrow, but on the wants and desires of businesses and corporations. This economic basis takes precedent over the environmental needs which directly relate to what people need. The accumulation of resources in a growth economy creates a power structure which is where, according to Emerson (1962), Actor(s) A has a resource that Actor(s) B needs. This creates a system of dependence, which according to Battilana & Casciaro (2021), is where power operates dysfunctionally. Because a large portion of government and business leadership have to do with throughput and resources, the leadership practices can’t help but be driven by this economic model. Thus, power based on resources and the control of those resources is the basis of dominant leadership. In this power structure future needs, which are always land-based, are sacrificed for present market wants (see Klein, 2014, This changes everything). By contrast, Syilx leadership is based on the care for the land and all living things, or resources, and considers the future sustainability over present wants. Syilx leadership and dominant leadership practices differ on the foundation of resource/land care. Syilx Leadership Armstrong (2009) argues there is an environmental “ethic” resident in the captikʷɬ that promotes sustainability for the land and the people. In this vein of established thought, I argue there is a leadership ethic that is holistic in that it works from Syilx traditions, brings about 112 effective change in community and people, innovates, and adapts in the present all while valuing people. The Syilx definition of leadership is whole systems-based in its content and its approach and is found in two areas: the captikʷɬ and in Nsyilxcn. What I am referring to specifically is the fact that the ethic for Syilx leadership is in the same sphere of practice as the definition. In the captikʷɬ of How Coyote Got His Name and Powers, the Creator bestows on Coyote his life mission, along with accompanying powers and wits to accomplish his task as a leader, which was to overcome the monsters that would harm the people-to-be. What is present in this part of the story is an overarching leadership ethic that should guide Syilx leadership in whatever capacity. I would argue that this is also the definition of Syilx leadership. That is, the ethic of leadership, which influences leadership and governance practices and principles, is also part of the definition. According to Armstrong (2009) these ethics “moves essential specific environmental knowledge to each new generation through its role as an oral information documentation method” (p.40). The ethic, definitions and principles of leadership don’t change, but the methodology based on context can and does change. Before Coyote began exercising his leadership, he was given his task (definition) and powers (execution) by the Creator. This definition is then affirmed in the leadership “data,” that besets the ethic and definition in the captikʷɬ. The data has been accumulated through the lived experiences of the tmixʷ in the stories. 40 We have access to this data of what works, and we label it “tradition.” What “worked” is seen in Coyote’s walk abouts: his trying-failing-assessing- 40 As a means of noting the literature and data, the famous Harvard Project (2015) outlines four determinants that precede economic prosperity in Indigenous communities: Sovereignty, Good Governance, Effective Leadership, and Cultural Connection- that is, good governance, effective leadership and cultural connection are within the scope of this thesis in discussing Syilx leadership resident in captikʷɬ. While our effective systems of leadership and governance predate the Harvard Project, this data set affirms our ways of being. 113 succeeding. The “data” in all consequential and related captikʷɬ backs up the definition of leadership as found in the captikʷɬ of How Coyote Got his Name and Powers. This definition is care for the people-to-be, the land and all living things. The concept of leadership is given further perspective in the Nsyilxcn word for leader, which is yilmixʷm. Pre-colonial leadership among Syilx people must be understood in the thought of carrying/coiling forward community and people. The word, yilmixʷm, is a picture for a leader is of a person who coils and brings things together continuously. One of the word’s root morphemes, mixʷ, depicts an image of frayed strands connected to a single source, as would be with hair undone from a braid or strands of hide from a single source. 41 According to Armstrong (2009, p.87) in the construct of the word yilmixʷm, there is an instruction to would-be leaders (similar to Coyote’s divine endowment) of a prescribed ethic and expectation in their office of responsibility to unify and make sense of the strands of opportunity, relationships, trauma, cycles in nature, and the stories that bind us together as Syilx. As Armstrong (2009) puts it, “they represent a role-in being duty-bound to twining/coiling the many strands. They are meeting to find a collectively agreed-upon way for the ‘people-to-be’ to survive and at the same time to maintain the grand imperative of twining/coiling the many strands into a unity of direction and existence” (p.158). Thus, a Syilx leader is someone who works things together for the good of the land, people, and all living things. This definition is affirmed through ethnographical as well as Syilx community oraliture which stated that Syilx leaders mostly operated on a community/village level, were held accountable at the community/village, and were expected to actively work in a forward direction that brought the strands of community together through 41 The same morpheme relates to the word “Syilx,” as Armstrong (2009) rightly puts is, we were the “ones who coil (something) continuously (p.87). Hemp rope was an economic trade item that was built from the fibre of a plant. (Armstrong, 2009). 114 economic provision, sound decision-making and community approval (Thomson, 1994) 42. This evokes a conception of an office that is active and not passive. It requires that the “strands” accept of the leader’s coiling, or what pop-culture leadership author John Maxwell (1999) calls “buy-in.” This is parallel to the Food Chiefs acknowledging Black Bear’s leadership and sacrifice, by nature of who he was and what he represented, by stating “we can do no less.”43 Upon consideration of the diversity that has always existed within Syilx communities, this is no simple feat. As Syilx leadership reflects systems thinking, one aspect of Syilx leadership cannot be fully separated from other aspects lest there be system breakdown which results in a leadership that is no longer Syilx- that is, it becomes a reflection of mentioned dominant structures. In the dominant leadership literature, the research is mostly in the field of capitalism and is geared towards getting more product out of follower efforts, i.e. Daly’s (1996) “growth economy,” (p.31). Practicing this leadership approach, as a Syilx person, risks creating a neo-colonial leadership model as there is no anchoring to Syilx values or culture. Furthermore, there is always a cost to isolated leadership that negatively affects people. Syilx leadership research seeks to know how people-to-be, the land and all living things can be cared for in a better way. It is what Tapsell & Woods (2010) call “social enterprise,” or the creation of something that benefits the social bonds of community. Although there are similarities between Syilx leadership and western/dominant leadership, the two cannot be mashed-up into one and the same. The reason is that dominant leadership structures mirror the anti-social behaviors that captikʷɬ seek to address. 42 Teit (1930) notes that a village leader could be male, or female based on the pool of groomed leaders. 43 When reading this definition in sequence with key captikʷɬ that exemplify leadership, I must note, in accordance with ethnographic and autoethnographic texts, that as per Turtle’s story, dictatorial systems do not exist within Syilx leadership. 115 The differences are important to note as they will provide a contextual approach to understanding the nature of this thesis. Table 4.1 Dysfunctional Leadership vs Syilx Leadership Hoards Power Shares Power Controls Resources Protects and Shares Resources Considers the Present and Ignores the Future Considers the Future Based on the Present Cares for Monetary Growth Cares for land and all living things Note: The “Dysfunctional” side is adapted from Padilla, Hogan & Kaiser (2007), House & Howell (1992), and House & Avolio (1992). This is discussed in more detail in Chapter 5, Power. Leadership in Captikʷɬ In the captikʷɬ of The Four Food Chiefs, the Chiefs, were representatives of their own quadrant of animals and/or living beings. The specific word for their leadership capacity in the story is yilyalmixʷm, not to be made synonymous with yilmixʷm. The former refers to their own roles and responsibilities in their chieftainships, while the latter is accepted translation for Chief or leader (Armstrong, 2009, p.153). Syilx representations of leaders and leadership are inherent to the Enowkinwixʷ as is modeled and illustrated in the story of The Four Food Chiefs, both in concept, structure and in ceremony. The ceremony of Enowkinwixʷ (discussed in detail in chapter 5) when practiced among Syilx leaders, ensures the authenticity and integrity of decolonization.44 44 The Harvard Project (2002) has confirmed this established connection of autochthony and decolonization. Their four main determinants for social and economic development among Indigenous nations and communities: sovereignty, institutional development, cultural context, and leadership. The leadership determinant (not being limited to an elected position but includes leaders from a spiritual or community background) emphasized the 116 According to Armstrong (2009), “Leadership for the Syilx is to set example, to lead through a willingness to give up personal bias and to find a way for others to act responsibly through setting the example to follow. The result is to self-adjust and thereby compel others to self-adjust by decreasing oppositional force to them and making possible their offerings until the goal of mutual resolve is reached and interdependence is re-established to all in the circle.” (p.185). The idea in this concept of “self-adjusting,” or leading by giving up “personal bias,” is modeled in the first Enowkinwixʷ of The Four Food Chiefs. It illustrates the leadership principle of empowerment, empathy, and selflessness from the lens of Bitterroot. These Syilx leadership principles as seen in Enowkinwixʷ as modeled by The Four Food Chiefs, will be discussed in the captikʷɬ of Coyote, Horse and Dog, Coyote and Porcupine, and How Coyote Got His Name. In appreciating the nature of Syilx leadership, the other three Food Chief lenses will not be neglected but will not be discussed at length. How Coyote Got His Name and Powers This captikʷɬ begins with the Creator calling all animals to receive their name, and all that is inherent to their name. In a laughable and arrogant effort to be first and obtain the best name, Coyote encamps near the location of the naming ceremony. As he attempts to fend off his drowsiness, he puts sticks in between his eyelids, hoping to stay awake all night. His efforts come to nothing, and he ends up sleeping through the naming ceremony. Upon waking, and realizing he slept-in, he races to the Creator to get his name. None of the names he wanted are available and so the Creator gives him the option of kʷilstn (Sweathouse), or Snk’lip (Coyote). importance of sound leadership situated in local Indigenous culture, and has since been documented in practice (Governance, 2009; Graham & Mitchell, 2009). 117 Ironically, though he chooses the latter, the Creator told him his name was pre-determined and that none of his antics made a difference. Coyote’s initial antics expresses the insecurity of a leader, wanting to be the first in every situation, thinking of their own ego and power. When the Creator named Coyote, he bestowed the powers and responsibilities in the capacity of yilyalmixʷm, (a leader with responsibilities for the protection of the land and for all living beings – more specifically through the transformation of people-eaters). The captikʷɬ of How Coyote Got his Name and Powers expresses the definition and central scope of a Syilx leader as perpetual protector and carer for all living things. In the context of captikʷɬ chronology, this story contains a precedent that effectively defines the role and responsibility of a leader in Syilx society, which is mirrored in subsequent captikʷɬ. In the following stories, Coyote’s initial arrogance is transcended through specific research and knowledge. Coyote’s monster-transformations are preceded by him studying the monster’s ways of being, thus increasing his knowledge about the nature of people-eaters and the art of subduing them. In the same vein, a Syilx leader must yield to the journey of learning and changing so that future generations the land and all living things therein are protected. This concept ties in with the Syilx notion of a leader in the intergenerational coiling. The leader’s “journey” requires a patience that brings much reward, and an endurance which stands out as a powerful tool to outlast opposition. We are patient in our journey of learning; we readdress the challenge/monster in front of us after study and prayer; we come out with endurance, patience, and a tamed monster. Coyote acts within the paradigm of yilyalmixʷm, by sustainably taming people-eaters via with a corresponding tool and medium. What began as a selfish endeavour ended up being a journey to realize his calling was a selfless one. 118 Porcupine and the Flies This captikʷɬ begins with Coyote seeking the Sundance from Flies, who have kept it only for themselves. As he dances around the pole, the flies lay their eggs on him, which consume and kill him. Fox, Coyote’s brother, revives him, and Coyote continues to pursue his goal of obtaining the Sundance for all living beings. After learning he could not obtain the dance by his own means, he seeks out Porcupine to dance in his stead. As Porcupine dances, the Flies lay their eggs on him but to a different outcome: Porcupine shakes off the eggs and they die on the tip of his quills. This is repeated with the same outcome. The result is that Coyote makes a law and states the flies will never again be able to lay their eggs on living creatures, and that the Sundance is available for all the animals. The leadership principle in this story is when a leader recognizes their shortcoming or insufficiency in a particular context, and astutely discerns the needed sufficiency in another, and then addresses both to achieve a desired goal. More precisely, Syilx leaders must be willing to give up power. The “sacrifice” of Black Bear and the other Food Chiefs establishes this concept of giving up power and it is repeated here in Coyote’s leadership. Coyote’s realization of his inability to obtain the Sundance gave the opportunity for another leader, Porcupine, to fill the gap. Coyote was educated by his failure to obtain the dance, and then death, and consequently his knowledge to the situation was heightened. He recognized Porcupine had what he did not and coordinated his entry into the dance. Part of the paradox of this story is that the dance was not needed by the animals and people-to-be as a means for survival. Rather, it was something that would enrich their lives. Leaders must be willing to give up power to others for those enriching opportunities or resources. This Syilx leadership concept of selflessness is not inherent- that is, 119 selflessness requires discipline or repetition or perhaps better put, training. Much like a physical workout program, is a muscle that requires consistency and wains with lack of attention. Coyote, Horse, and Dog This captikʷɬ describes two encounters between Coyote and people-eaters/monsters: the untamed, raw form of a horse and a dog. In the story, Coyote transforms the two monsters through different mediums: one through discipline and the other through strategy, each preceded by an educational component. In Coyote’s fight with monster-horse, he runs to and from four trees, each time being bested by the monster, until he comes to the Red Willow tree where he sits, smokes his pipe, and contemplates his course of action. From the Red Willow Tree, Coyote creates a whip, which he then uses to discipline the monster-horse into submission. His fight with monster-dog was methodologically different than his approach with monster-horse. After repeated failures and then reflection, and only through the aid of his wife, Mole, did Coyote transform the dog-monster. Mole digs holes all over the landscape in an effort to facilitate Coyote’s escape and re-entry into the battle with the dog-monster. As he pops up from a hole, he throws rocks at the monster, and as it pursues him, he escapes down another hole, causing the monster to slam into the ground. After each monster is subdued, Coyote makes a law, stating that they shall be tools for the people, rather than destroyers of the people. This captikʷɬ illustrates the Syilx leadership principle of self-care. Coyote’s thought and prayer (possibly ceremony) in both monster situations is representative of his consistent self-care before subduing any monster. His transformation of the monster was for the future generations, but also for the land itself, without which future generations will not exist. Coyote’s tool for the horse-monster was the “medicine switch,” which is discipline. Just as the horse was only made useful to all living people through consistent discipline, so a leader must be consistent in their 120 endeavours by not overexerting themselves. Can a leader say “no?” Beyond the philosophical nature of this rhetorical question, the answer has bewildered every sincere leader wanting to help their communities. The monster-dog, however, was methodologically approached differently than the monster-horse. It was only through the strategic partnership, or shared leadership, with his wife, Mole, that Coyote was successful in subduing the monster-dog. A leader must realize that partnership is not weakness. Sharing power with the right people is important in leadership longevity. A leader must be disciplined with boundaries and margins for their lives so that they can continue to act in their capacity as leaders. Shared leadership can be expressed through a spouse (as in the case of Coyote), or through other complementary leadership mediums, such as an organization, a mentor, or a friend. Coyote was able to quickly pop up out of hole and strike the dog with rocks and disappear into another hole just as quickly. A Syilx leader must understand and discern when and how to craft action that will subdue current people-eaters, whether an organization, person, or idea. Just as the relentless pounding of the monster’s head on the ground coupled with the constant pummeling of rocks brought the monster into submission, and Coyote’s relentless whipping of the horse brought it into submission, so it is important to note that consistency and commitment to rest are just as important as skill and strategy in leadership. Had it not been for the commitment and consistency with both monsters, they would not have been made useful for the land and for the people. Syilx leadership is defined by our captikʷɬ and our language. The expectation for leaders is to act selfless, empower others, and care for themselves so that they can protect and provide for the people-to-be and all living things. These concepts all root back to the idea of “power.” Selflessness, empowerment, self-care all require giving power away. In the following chapter, I will discuss power as a resource and as a concept in the leadership and in the captikʷɬ. 121 Chapter 5- Power Referred pain is personal. In 2015, on a sunny Sunday in August at 11am in a 50km/h speed-zone, a drunk driver ran a stop sign and totaled our car. Since that summer day, I’ve been at the behest of medical professionals seeking to correct what the drunk driver set into motion on my neck and back. A member of my health team noted in a recent session that the pain I felt was nowhere near the tight, aggravated muscle group that was causing the muscle tension. This is known as “referred pain,” or pain perceived at a location other than the actual site of stimulus. This “pain” is the result of a network of interconnecting nerves across many tissues. As my health practitioners say, “it’s all connected.” When one part of that system experiences “pain” or isolation of sorts, it can influence a completely (seemingly) separate part of that same system. Physicist Fritjof Capra (1982) states that we engage in a systems lens when we realize the relationships and interconnectedness of an organization rather than just isolating its pieces. He relates this concept to a wilderness being not just trees, but a complexity of living organisms that are interdependent. Capra (1982) goes on to state that the separation of these parts of the system renders them defunct- that is, there is system breakdown. The story of The Four Food Chiefs and the ERP act in a similar system of interconnectedness. Each Chief represents a unique aspect of thinking and seeing the world. The lenses are parts of a system that make-up the Syilx community, which can be local bands, nationhood, or both. In the same way as Capra described, when a Food Chief is isolated, there is system breakdown. The Syilx antidote to system breakdown in Enowkinwixʷ is the dissemination of power in community and ceremony. The three other captikʷɬ, Coyote Horse and Dog and Coyote and Porcupine, and How Coyote Got His Name and Powers illustrate Syilx leadership principles that relate to power. Though every captikʷɬ is rich in insights and 122 principles, I will limit my use of the stories by drawing on specific aspects to make my arguments. I will go through these power principles in the captikʷɬ and then use the current literature on power to address where they may intersect. Systems and Enowkinwixʷ Syilx people are all interconnected with each other and with the land on which we reside. Armstrong (2017) states “The tmixʷ are understood to be many strands which are continuously being bound with each other to form one strong thread coiling year after year always creating a living future” (p.3). In community events or ceremonies, you will often be asked “who’s your dad?” or “who’s your grandma?” These questions seek to situate our place in community and point back to our interconnectedness. The pragmatic aspect of situatedness is that it had functioned as an extension of traditional governance through kinship. You’ll also hear the statement that the animals are our “brothers and sisters.” Though the interpretation of such as statement can be a little perplexing, as Armstrong states, there is a coiling that exists within the land that, at its base, has an understanding rooted in Syilx ways of being. This connectedness is illustrated in the Syilx phoneme mixʷ, which translates ‘many strands originating from a single source.’ It is the invisibility of a connected quantity that cannot be quantified. As Armstrong (2009) rightly points out, the captikʷɬ (or “oral traditions”) must be viewed through this same “systems view” (p.30). Captikʷɬ, unlike general children’s stories, do not necessarily end or begin, but rather exist on a continuum. Each story is a part of a greater universe of stories that intertwine and coexist within each other, much like our understanding of community. Being that the captikʷɬ are stories about the land, on our land, it is only appropriate that this concept be found in Syilx territory boundaries, plants and living organisms: Where is the exact territorial boundary line of 123 one community to the next? While there is certainly clarity in territorial sovereignty, there is less clarity on which blade of grass is Syilx and which is not. Where does a branch start to form a branch from the vine? Where does one ecosystem end and the next begin? Where does a Black Bear start or end? During one Enowkinwixʷ with leaders in our nation, Syilx scholar Jeannette Armstrong (2016), illustrated the concept of “mixʷ” by discussing animals and their origin: “When I see a Black Bear, I am not seeing an isolated animal apart from its environment. I am seeing the latest manifestation of a living being coming from generations of Black Bears past. Just as all the Black Bears are connected through DNA (theirs and their resources) and space they share, so are the land and all its living organisms, including us, interconnected.” The ERP in its systems lens, Syilx language and thinking tie back to the polysynthetic nature of the Syilx language. Most Indigenous languages are polysynthetic. The words in polysynthetic languages are made up of morphemes that each express an idea or concept. Thus, at their core, they are expressed in a word what is typically expressed in a sentence in the English or any Latin-based language. The nature of polysynthetic languages contributes to the speakers of the language and the culture of the language- that is, it points back to Capra’s complex system of relationships. Indigenous ontologies are relational and consider each part’s relationship to the next. This is the case with Syilx captikʷɬ. The Syilx ceremony, Enowkinwixʷ, is a governance/consensus building process that connects people to each other, to the land and to a greater purpose positioned in the “middle.” Armstrong (2009) states that the Enowkinwixʷ “process, organized as a natural systems dialogic model,” provides “clarification and consensus building methodology foundational to the approach taken in the enquiry” (p.30). The word picture of Enowkinwixʷ (see Ch. 1) illustrates a 124 respectful dialogue that depicts relational accountability through protocols that is inherent to the ERP systems lens. The polysynthetic nature of the Nsyilxcn language is a foundational to the relational accountability. Furthermore, the polysynthetic nature is also an outcrop in and of the systems lens which is mirrored in Syilx communities. The language, the thinking, the stories are all situated in the systems arena of thought. So, participation in Enowkinwixʷ inhabits much of this metaphorical Syilx territory and thus exudes systems thought in the dialogue process. When Syilx people participate in this ceremony, they engage in what Armstrong (2009) calls a “societal dialogue process” (p.26). It is a consensus process that benefits the societies from which the participants belong due to the tie between the problem being discussed and the participants. For example, in one Enowkinwixʷ a government entity had made a claim to a certain resource when a Syilx community had concerns over the nature of the claim and its effect on medicinal resources not known to the public. The Syilx community offered an Enowkinwixʷ as a means of addressing the issue and the government entity agreed. They had no idea what they were agreeing to (literally), but yielded to the ceremonial process, followed the protocols, and to their amazement, arrived at a consensus. At one point, a high-level administrator kept saying “I’m not really sure what’s happening here,” as he cried and cried during one stage of the process. He was experiencing the personal effects of giving up power in yielding to the journey. The dispute was resolved. Food Chief Dyads and Dialogue There is a dyadic notion to the Enowkinwixʷ process. There are two sets of dyads that exist within the Food Chief lenses. One dyad is complementary while the other dyad is seemingly contrary. Each Food Chief embodies a specific lens of thinking that correlates to people in any given community, whether Syilx, Indigenous or otherwise. Black Bear’ traditional 125 thinking is complementary to Bitterroot’s relational thinking which always considers a decision’s impact on the well-being of people. Tradition and relationality (or dialogue) are the basis for Syilx culture and often consider the other when faced with a decision. Armstrong (2009) confirms this: “Enowkinwixʷ which institutes a process of decision-making that includes living within the requirements of the land to fully regenerate” (p.5). Salmon’s action-orientated nature resonates with Saskatoon’s innovative disposition towards a visionary and future-led perspective. These two Food Chiefs both have a disposition towards movement. When facilitating an Enowkinwixʷ it can be difficult to differentiate and properly situate a participant due to the ebb and flow of these Food Chief dyads. The complementary dyads have a unique synergistic relationship to one another that has a sense of uncoerced ease. The seemingly contrarian dyads occur when these complementary dyads are reversed i.e., Salmon/Action-Bitterroot/Relationship, and Black bear/Tradition-Saskatoon/Innovation. These dyads, by contrast, have very different approaches that can clash when not approached through Enowkinwixʷ (and the protocols therein). Salmon is for getting things done and Bitterroot considers people, two different goals if approached in isolation. Black Bear considers what has been and what has always been done while Saskatoon looks to innovating new ways and is future-minded- that is, one wants the past in the present, and one wants the future in the present. The irony in the productive dialogue is that complementary and opposing dyads are all needed to confront the challenges faced by Syilx people. This again points back to the relational ontology of Syilx thinking and Enowkinwixʷ and the systems space it inhabits. In both dyadic functions, the existing system functions in relationship, both in the complementary and the contrary nature of the dyads. Wheatley’s (2006) describes this as “new information” which enters a system and causes shifts in the nature of that system. In the context of Enowkinwixʷ, this is the interaction between Food Chief lenses, or 126 more pragmatically speaking, the existence of relationship in a living system- that is, the exchange of information is relationship. The Four Food Chiefs modeled this exchange of information in Enowkinwixʷ for the people-to-be. When Syilx people engage in Enowkinwixʷ, as The Four Food Chiefs did, to solve a problem, they situate themselves in a Food Chief society and address that problem through their own lens, then work together to bring all perspectives together. In the consensus building process, there is a key feature that is fundamental to its repeated success in solving the question at the “middle:” power-sharing. Enowkinwixʷ: The Middle According to Emerson (1962) ‘power’ is understood in the context of two actors: Actor A and Actor B. For power to be power, A exerts power over B in and as much as B is dependent on A. Harvard professors, Battilana & Casciaro (2021) expand on Emerson’s take by adding the variable of valued resources and who controls those valuable resources in the given relationship. Because of this nature of power, which will be discussed in this section, when power is insulated in one actor, the flow of resources ceases, and system breakdown ensues. Thus, in Enowkinwixʷ, power must be shared for the process to work. Power sharing is intrinsic to Syilx ways of being45 in life and in our ceremony, particularly through the “middle.” The “middle” is literally and metaphorically the center of the ceremonial circle. In the story of The Four Food Chiefs, power is diffused and shared, not only with the other Food Chiefs in Enowkinwixʷ, but with the people- to-be. In Enowkinwixʷ, the participants are required (as per the protocols) to submit their power to the “middle,” and by doing so the bundling of power in any one Food Chief cannot happen. 45 Cline et al. (1938) note that there were elements of power-sharing in leadership in Syilx communities where there was “two or three chiefs at one time in a band, each with equal authority, and that they take turns in directing tribal affairs." (Cline et al., 1938, p.99) 127 This is done by temporarily extinguishing their position with which carries access to resources and thus power. The Food Chiefs operated on a level paradigm in their power structure. Black Bear took initiative and offered his life, something I will unpack later in this section. In his offering, he physically made himself lower than his contemporaries. The response from the Food Chiefs was to say, “I will do the same” (Armstrong, 2009, p.360). During the first stage of ceremony, participants, in concert with the story, one by one, introduce themselves to the group by speaking to a valuable personal item that carries emotional significance. They then place the object in the middle of the circle (everyone is facing inwards) and state, “I’m committed to the process.” The significance of this practice is twofold: practically, the participants are saying they commit to the extent that they cannot retrieve their personal item until the process is complete. Emotionally, they are submitting their personal power to the group through vulnerability. The former is easy to subvert- the participant could take back their object (albeit they would lose credibility professionally and probably personally as well)- but the latter cannot so easily be undone if done in sincerity. Once vulnerability is established and as a result power is given to the middle, it is difficult to walk away from the circle. The dependence that Emerson pointed out is performed by everybody in the circle without exception. The giving away of power creates mutual dependence within each Food Chief group, and likewise between each Food Chief group, which sets the stage for consensus building. The physical construct of Enowkinwixʷ points to the importance of the middle. The circle of participants continually faces the middle is an ever-reminder of corporate commitment. In the main circle, the participants’ items of personal significance are continuously before their eyes, throughout all deliberation and discussion. (Even in the Food Chief break out groups the smaller circles still face inward.) This optical reality is important in one primary way: it is a reminder to 128 the group of the “ante” they have invested in the process. The middle is also a magnet for group cohesion which also functions as a balance to power. In the story, the Food Chiefs were discussing a specific enigma which was at the center of their deliberations: how will the people- to-be be provided for? In every Enowkinwixʷ there is a “middle,” or a raison d’etre, or a reason for calling the ceremony together. There is an enigma that must be solved through the consensus building methodology of respectful dialogue through differing lenses of study. The middle contains the emotions of vulnerability. In the story, the Food Chiefs talk for days about how to provide for the people-to-be. In the same vein, the ceremony of Enowkinwixʷ will have prolonged, emotional discussions. The emotional tax that comes with this dialogue is evident with everyone, but arguably more with the facilitators as they must navigate and make decisions for the group during the process. Because of the story being acted out in ceremony, and because you are exposed to the narratives of others, the process pushes participants to build and experience empathy (see chapter 3, “Story”). When the Enowkinwixʷ is finished and consensus has been reached, one by one the participants make closing remarks and retrieve their personal item. There is always a sense of great relief at this final stage. The process has built empathy through a mutual understanding. There is a sense of harmonic trust that has been percolated over the days(s), which results in relationship, a central idea to Syilx ontology. Enowkinwixʷ: Power, Protocols and Ethics Battilana & Casciaro (2021) point out the strange phenomena that occurs with power and ethics. When ethics are absent from power, no matter the individual or context, power blinds the wielder. Clearfield (2018) in his book about system failure points to various case studies in which people in positions of power become blind in areas of cognition and reasoning. Furthermore, a clinical study proved that people in positions of power show similar MRI scans to 129 people with brain damage to their frontal lobes. The exact explanation behind these power- effects is elusive. In the context of leadership, what I will discuss is the notion that power must be coupled with checks, or protocols, or it will cause damage to people and systems. Protocols in any Syilx context refer to organizational rules that are rooted in respect for people and the land. They are meant to guide people in their context to a fruitful outcome without leaving damage to people or the land. Because of the protocols of Enowkinwixʷ, power is shared and by consequence becomes generative rather than coercive and destructive. The protocols for Enowkinwixʷ are vital to its fruitful outcome of consensus building or solving the query of the middle. They exist in the ceremony as a means of guiding individual interaction and group interactions, ensuring the completion of the process, and allowing for the disbursement of power within the larger group. Without these protocols (or ethics), the ceremony cannot accomplish what it is set out to do for the middle. The protocols originate from the story of The Four Food Chiefs. In the story the Chiefs engaged in Enowkinwixʷ. Armstrong (2009) translates the morphemes as “naʕʷ-drip into, and qn- the head, and wixʷ- reciprocally” (p.178). The word denotes a gentle, respectful, patient process that builds consensus. The metaphorical use of water in the word carries much meaning. From this concept comes the idea of connectedness, which exists from the circle of meeting in Enowkinwixʷ which produces a visual reminder of the protocols of engagement: the gentle process of water filling up at the same rate in a connected network via dripping. Though the protocol of respectful dialogue can be reduced into practical micro rules based on the context and group make-up such as an Enowkinwixʷ for Chiefs i.e., “no cell phones,” the overarching ethic/protocol that builds consensus is a gentle and patient process that brings everyone along in the process. 130 Armstrong (2009) addresses the protocol of equality that is expressed through the physical construct of the circle in which participants face each other as representing those who cannot be seen. That is, participants are reminded that they’re personal worth based on our commonality of land-based worth and value is more important than their position in their organization or community. Their metaphorical hats are put to the side in the circle of equality, and everyone is told that they have their own representatives based on this commonality. Not everyone is a manager, minister, or Chief, but everyone has relationality whom they represent. Armstrong (2009) states that “The protocols of Enowkinwixʷ are based on the recognition that in any circle of people there are different perspectives as a result of particular sensitivities, expertise and concerns and the recognition that diversity is necessary. Protocols are based on the idea that “community” as a whole unit functions like a living organism with different but vitally necessary parts” (p.189). The different “parts,” as Armstrong puts it, carry different function in any community while being interdependently connected, just as the different parts of our body have their own function but are connected to the whole. This uniqueness is also found in the lens in which the participants of an Enowkinwixʷ see the world. Each Food Chief has the protocol of respect for the other Food Chief groups and is non- negotiable, and as such cannot be circumvented. Each group is bound to protocol by committing to the process and therefore must incline their ear to listen and listen respectfully. This protocol positions the participants to put themselves in the context of their counterparts and results in a deepened understanding of others. For example, the society of Saskatoon/Innovation tends to think outside the box and express themselves in a seemingly never-ending stream of potential ideas. Though this tendency clashes with its counterpart, Black Bear/Tradition whose disposition is to adhere to established practices, it is exactly what makes both societies a part of the 131 community fabric and a part of Enowkinwixʷ. Giving space to the other participants’ views is respect for people and ensures that people are not damaged in the process. The protocols ensure that these seemingly opposite views do not clash but meld into a coherent vision. They also help guide the participants to solving the middle in a practical manner. They also guide the process by staving off variables that would and do hinder consensus building. In short, the protocols that guide an Enowkinwixʷ promote empathy. Enowkinwixʷ and Empathy and Humility Battilana & Casciaro (2021) state that empathy and humility are antidotes to abuse of power. Enowkinwixʷ, in its depowering of the middle, its protocols and its environment and structure, creates a space for participants’ empathy to develop. The ceremony is a three-to-five- day process that gives full attention to the middle and the process. From the beginning, as a protocol, participants are required to engage in active listening as they hear the personal stories of everyone else.46 After hearing the personal stories of other participants and the emotion that is attached to their stories, participants almost always put their hubris aside as they are reminded of their own humanity. I would remind the reader that Fly’s song, which revived Black Bear, was a crying and grieving song. His song was emotional and vulnerable. At the UBC Indigenous Faculty Enowkinwixʷ (2023), in the closing circle, a participant who had recently been burgled was blanket wrapped, hugged, and told they were sorry for their hardship by the host facilitators. The observed effect on the rest of the circle was deeply emotional- not one person had dry eyes as they empathized with the impact of having one’s personal belongings stolen and, at the same time, being acknowledged as a person. 46 Secrecy is a protocol of Enowkinwixʷ. It forbids the sharing of information that is not made public by the final report. The middle is usually public in its calling to ceremony (Enowkinwixʷ) and in its findings. 132 According to Battilana & Casciaro (2021), one way of developing empathy is to understand one’s interconnectedness and interdependency with other people and with the physical environment. Armstrong (2009) states “Enowkinwixʷ is structured in a way which requires viewing the human system as a subset of ‘relatedness’ within the larger sphere of nature. The Enowkinwixʷ model positions the human as having equality of rights within nature as a necessary value to guide decision-making thereby differentiating the model from the concept of the equality of nature to the rights of humans” (p.27). Upon Black Bear’s commitment to give of himself, the other three Food Chiefs said, “we can do no less.” In the vein of realizing interconnectedness and interdependency, when we are physically and mentally positioned in our relation to the land and all living things, there is a humility that is cultivated and a perspective that is given, and we are more apt to give of ourselves. In addition to Bitterroot’s positionality of being on and in the ground, Black Bear’s commitment physically made him next to the ground and below the other Chiefs- the eldest and most respected made himself to be the least. One elder at the UBC Indigenous Faculty Enowkinwixʷ (2023) told me that he needed to sleep on the ground soon as a means of being reminded of his relation to our land. Similarly, research on empathy shows that when people were asked to read personal stories of the medically ill and imagine what it was like to live to be in their positions, their empathy increased (Batson et al., 1997; Herrera et al., 2018). I witnessed this act of kindness towards the burgled and felt what it was probably like to experience this travesty. That was yesterday. In this moment, as I sit and write at a local cafe (as I often do), next to me is a young Indigenous undergraduate student, studying for her finals. As a frequenter of this café, an employee gave me an unclaimed coffee, to which I donated to the undergrad. I don’t know her and have never seen her before, but as I witnessed her context, I empathized her position and remembered what it was like to be in 133 “finals mode.” I’d like to think that after coming back from an Enowkinwixʷ and having my empathy boosted, I was in a better position to resist the smouldering coffee and give it someone who needed it. According to Edmondson’s (2018; 1999) empirical research, humility is cultivated when we allow people to speak into our lives, ask questions, express concerns without fear of being punished. Part of Edmondson’s research involved the development of this environment of humility by creating the awareness among a group that no single individual has all the answers to any given challenge. This notion and practice that counters hubris is seen in Enowkinwixʷ in the protocol of active listening, both in the big circle and in the Food Chief groups. To reach the end of the ceremony and bring the vision to life (i.e., fully address the middle), all participants must listen to, learn from, and understand everyone’s perspectives. This can involve uncomfortable truths and questions that each Food Chief group has perhaps not thought of due to their naturally selective lens. The consensus among scholars is that humility creates an environment of generosity, helpfulness, and altruism (Exline & Hill, 2012; Labouff et al., 2012). Case in point, in the CEC Enowkinwixʷ (2023) the Bitterroot and Black Bear groups stated that the Syilx nation needed to “incorporate conflict resolution measures…focus on building trust and understanding,” and for communications to be open, honest, and clear (p.4). The Chiefs were asking for humility among the communities and among the leadership. In the same vein, in every Enowkinwixʷ I’ve participated, when people humble themselves there is a sense of kindness that emerges during ceremony and is carried forward into their respective positions. I have witnessed many participants open their hearts and minds which created the environment for empathy and humility to grow. The result is that people put aside their default Food Chief lens, detach from 134 the isolation of their lens, and engage in consensus building. At the end of the PIB Enowkinwixʷ (2016), one participant stated that they positively recognized the “differences in Council,” and that they understood the “minds” of their contemporaries. Another participant stated that they recognized the “strength of council members,” and that they not only came to appreciate those strengths but wanted to “consider those strengths” as well. Battilana & Casciaro (2021) state that there are two necessary variables needed to grow empathy and humility: personal checks and an external structure. They go on to state that these two variables must be constantly reinforced in order to be maintained. Enowkinwixʷ creates the environment for empathy and humility to thrive and grow through the protocol of active listening and a physical structure that is reflective of community practice. As per Armstrong’s definition of “Enowkinwixʷ,” as well as the group-consent-driven protocols, the ceremony’s protocols address participant participation and reinforce a structure, which allows for the ceremonial process, which creates space for empathy. At the beginning of each day, the ceremony is begun with a smudge, a prayer, a personal check-in from participants, followed by a reminder of the protocols to which everyone agreed, specifically the protocol of active listening. Moreover, the facilitators are tasked with corralling any unwanted or unproductive actions, which happens in almost every Enowkinwixʷ. This usually takes the form of a small number of people taking up verbal space. Trained facilitators are savvy and kind in these situations to keep the group in a directed flow. The protocols of Enowkinwixʷ provide the means for keeping participants in check while reinforcing a depowering atmosphere that promotes empathy. This is critical to the participants solving the query at the middle. In the structural process, the ceremonial pattern and steps between the big circle and the small circle, all play the part of reinforcing the external structure that allow for humility and empathy to grow in participants. This is one of the 135 regenerative aspects of Enowkinwixʷ. The more the ceremony is practiced, the more the participants become familiar with the process and the more they cultivate humility and empathy. Enowkinwixʷ: Generative Relations According to Emerson (1962), power is not a personal characteristic, but rather it is a property of social relations. The social relations of Enowkinwixʷ exist not only between each Food Chief, Food Chief clan, but also with the ceremony itself. Thus, participants can give their power to the ceremony because the ceremony, using the words of Emerson, is a social “actor” (Emerson, 1962, p.32). Enowkinwixʷ has power unto itself because it originates from captikʷɬ and captikʷɬ are living actors in and as much as the living plants and animals therein. Syilx people (and by default the participants) have an inherent relationship to the captikʷɬ as well as to the land from which the stories originate. The Syilx thought of the land in its cyclical and seasonal regeneration, Syilx ways of being are generative onto themselves in that they produce rather than consume. That is, when the social relations of power in Enowkinwixʷ as a ceremony and, in Battilana & Casciaro’s (2021) words, an “external structure,” are given to the ceremony, the relations then become regenerative. A simple illustration from the story that translates to this power regeneration in the ceremony is when Black Bear gives his life. In the vein of thought offered by Ott & Ott (2009), Black Bear’s “death” was not a sacrificial effort, rather it was an “offertorium.” As Ott & Ott (2009) point out, the offertorium is rooted in an ethic of provision and giving that creates new opportunities for future generations. Black Bear gave away his power to the middle, to the process and modeled a form of leadership that is empowering, regenerative in an act for the people-to-be. What is the quintessential leadership ethic for Syilx leaders? Give your life and your work for the people-to-be. Just as Black Bear gave his ‘power’ to the process, in an Enowkinwixʷ, the safest, the most Syilx, the most innovative and the and 136 most productive place to place power is in the ceremony’s framework, knowing this relational act will prove regenerative. At this juncture we have a simple yet beautiful conundrum: in the process of depowering, Enowkinwixʷ, as regenerative function, empowers and creates power for change and growth. Just as Syilx people promote growth on the land through acts of pruning (controlled burns, culling of animals such as beaver), the same becomes true for power. We come back to the cyclical ways of knowing and being of Syilx leadership: give power to the middle and to the process, you are empowered, power is given for change, repeat. Enowkinwixʷ: Balancing Power An important aspect to explore in the discussion on power in Enowkinwixʷ is how it lives in the ceremony. By asking a few questions, we can quickly deduce the ‘how.’ If power is extinguished, then where does it go?’ If power changes form, then to whom is it given? Does each Food Chief group gain a measure of power after they have given their own away. This would seem to be a zero-sum gain. Is it neutralized in the middle? For the purposes of this discussion, this may present as the most plausible answer to where power ends up in Enowkinwixʷ. I would pose a slightly more efficient answer to this question: in Enowkinwixʷ, power is not extinguished, nor does it change forms- it is transferred to the ceremonial praxis and framework of Enowkinwixʷ which is the representatives of community- that is, if Enowkinwixʷ is held and the protocols are followed, and the middle is addressed, then the participants and whom they represent are empowered. When this occurs, power requires balancing. Enowkinwixʷ, in its structure and protocols, implicitly balances power. Emerson (1962, p.35) theorized four mediums of balancing or dispersing power. If power imbalance can be represented by the social relation of ‘A – B,’ then power balancing can be achieved, 137 1) If B reduces motivational investment in goals mediated by A. 2) If B cultivates alternative sources for gratification of those goals. 3) If A increases motivational investment in goals mediated by B. 4) If A is denied alternative sources for achieving those goals. Of those four mechanisms the second and the fourth will be discussed for the aspects of power in Enowkinwixʷ. His second power-balancing act is the reconfiguration of the relational network. Power can be balanced by either extending the network of power (i.e., BDE: B seeks other sources of gratification via DE or D, or E), or closing the network of power (i.e., ABC: B and C form relations and close the network). He goes on to note that the former will only balance some relations but not the whole network (i.e., AB and DB, but not BC or DA), while the latter will balance the whole network (i.e., ABC). Enowkinwixʷ, in the context of a ceremony, is a closed network. The ceremonial aspect closes and limits outside interactions as a means of protecting what is at stake in the middle and thus “closes” that outlet of potential power. Thus, the power sharing in Enowkinwixʷ closely resembles what Emerson stated as a potential means of power sharing by closing the network to eliminate outside influence or exertion on the process. Emerson (1967) differentiated between the second and the fourth act primarily by function of focus- that is, the second reduces the power of the main actor while the fourth act increases the power of the weaker actors. Emerson’s (1967) fourth balancing act is illustrated in Enowkinwixʷ when “weaker actors” (p.37) are given power in the circle through collectivization- that is, through the working of consensus, every participant ends up acting in parallel to the framework laid out by The Four Food Chiefs in one collective voice. In the process of situating participants (see methodology chapter 2) during an Enowkinwixʷ, there are two variables of power that cannot be completely 138 controlled, mostly because these variables originate outside of the ceremony in an amoral fashion. These factors pose the risk for power imbalance that must be mitigated by the facilitator by emphasizing the protocols and the ever present visual reminder of the middle. The first variable is the specific Food Chief lens that each participant carries in their personhood. A facilitator or elder cannot predict who will manifest each Food Chief lens and is usually left with four uneven groups. This means that every Enowkinwixʷ is rarely completely balanced in the number of participants in each Food Chief group. Depending on who makes up each group, this variable poses a potential power imbalance. For example, one ceremony may have a large Black Bear/Traditions group and a small Saskatoon/Vision group. Another ceremony may have a larger Salmon/Action group and a smaller Bitterroot/Relationship group. By sheer rational of numbers, both these examples have the potential to create the opportunity for a power shift during ceremony if protocols are not followed. The second variable originates from the context of the participants’ work, relationships, and community. In the CEC Enowkinwixʷ (2020) three of the four Food Chief groups were noticeably the weaker actors in relation to the fourth group. There was a noticeable positionality that had already been established in the fourth group due to their position in their organization. This existing power structure had originated outside of the circle and was part and parcel for the call to ceremony. Enowkinwixʷ, in its protocols and structure, is such that numbers in groups play no role in power imbalance. If the protocol of equality in the circle is adhered to and the facilitators direct the dialogue within the framework, these variables are neutralized through the protocols of the ceremony and become point moot. These two variables may not always be present, but they may exist to different degrees based on the group and what issue is placed in the middle. (It should also be noted that depending on how these two variables emerge, the opposing Food Chief dynamics may pose another layer of complication.) 139 In Emerson’s (1967) words, balance is achieved “through collapsing the two-relational network into one group-person relation with the emergence of a ‘collective actor’” (p.37). Specifically, when the dominant Food Chief group sought to dominate over the other three groups, whether by over-speaking or speaking over other participants, the facilitators reminded the groups of their commitment to the process and redirected the process back to the protocols. The Four Food Chiefs is not the only captikʷɬ to illustrate power dynamics. In the next section, I will discuss the captikʷɬ of Coyote and Porcupine and Coyote, Horse, and Dog in their relation to power and leadership. Power and Leadership Coyote In Syilx thinking, there is no one leadership theory that encapsulates Syilx ways of being. In that Syilx thinking is systems orientated, or as some of our people would put it, ‘holistic,’ as discussed in the vein of The Four Food Chiefs, this holistic way of thinking is reflected in all the captikʷɬ. With this thought in mind, as I discuss the captikʷɬ in relation to power, it is important to note that the Syilx ways of being may not necessarily disagree with the literature but may pose an alternative viewpoint that is lacking. For example, Battilana & Casciaro (2021) argue that power is a resource and that it is limited in its availability and duration. Coyote had a resource that was given to him by the Creator, his purpose and power, and he also took resources away from monsters (their power). However, Coyote’s “resource” was never lost as Battilana & Casciaro state in regard to the holding of power. However, a theme of theories that has power resting in one individual addresses Coyote’s context. 140 Rost’s (1990) meta-analysis of leadership texts looked at the discussion of the “strong man” leadership theory that was popularized in the mid 20th century. This theory posits leadership as being exclusive to people of extraordinary talent or stature, and is leadership based on personalized power. Raoul Girardet (1986) outlines this concept as “L’homme providential,” an embodiment of a powerful figure who determines fates and fortunes for masses. The reference and context were to historical despots, such as Napoleon. Coyote was no despot, but he does hold some qualities akin to the theories. In his transformation of monsters, he shifted history, he established laws that are a present reality, and he literally moved mountains with his power. The strong man theory, which rests in the cradle of position, power, and personal skills, resonates well with the character of Coyote. Coyote was given his power, or “shoo’-mesh” by the Creator as a means of taming the monsters of the land for the people-to-be (Dove, 1933, p. 36). Though the strongman theory does resonate with some aspects of Coyote, the captikʷɬ in discussion create a space where the theory lacks adherence. In the three captikʷɬ, there was no grand sweep of power that took place. In one captikʷɬ, he is seen as a comical character keeping his eyes open with sticks as a means of “getting ahead.” In the other two, the mountain mover (Coyote) fails in his attempts and is befuddled in numerous attempts before he succeeds. Rather than a talent or stature succeeding, it is consistent, patient action, or a humbling sharing of power to overcome the monsters at hand. In the captikʷɬ of Coyote, Porcupine, and the Flies, Coyote attempts to acquire the Sundance and he is attacked by the Flies and consumed by their eggs. Both the strong man theory and L’homme providential speak to this lack of adherence and fallacy of context. Ross (1977) dubbed this the Fundamental Attribution Error, or the accreditation of a person’s characteristics (in this case, power) to their persona rather than to their environment. I would not go as far to say that Coyote “lacked” 141 power. In two of the three captikʷɬ in question (Coyote and Porcupine, and Coyote, Horse, and Dog), he had a clear deficit that was expressed in “not enoughness” for the specific contexts. According to French & Raven (1959) there are five forms of power: expert power, referent power, legitimate power, reward power and coercive power. In tying this leadership theory back to power, this is where the strongman theory falls short. Coyote possessed all five of the powers yet fell short in his first attempts at transforming monsters. This presents a leadership paradox of sorts in Syilx thinking: Coyote (from the stories) is seen to possess all five power bases but could not address the monsters. French & Raven (1959) address this paradox (to a degree) by stating that “any attempt to utilize power outside the range of power will tend to reduce the power” (p.156). The paradox remains unresolved in that Coyote, possessing all the characteristics of a strongman and all five power bases, could not exercise his gifts and win as he had previously in other contexts. All power has specific qualities, and while we might think about power in terms of levels or intensities, this is a product of inappropriate abstraction and generalization, which is an outcome of universalizing thought which is counter to effective systems thinking. His “power” was not enough to overcome the power the flies possessed- that is, for whatever reason, he didn’t use the appropriate power (though he had it) to meet the appropriate need. He overcame his adversary, not through his usual mechanisms of power, but rather in partnership with Porcupine. Though he seeb ms like a hero in the classical sense, he took on a team-based approach (never mind his anti-hero properties). This goes back to the systems aspect of Syilx thinking. Like us, he can be many things at different times, amazing, successful and a failure, all at once. Like all of us, Coyote had a set of individual skills or powers that were invaluable in his life’s work, and like all of us, needed to partner for a specific challenge that had us stumped. 142 Coyote, Porcupine, and the Flies The Khaka’-malh -Fly people- had the Swen-qhum (Sun-dance) first. The Sun-dance was theirs. It was their medicine. Many people wanted to learn the Sun-dance, to discover the power of the Flies, and many went to the Flies’ village to learn the dance. But none ever returned. They were eaten by the crawlers that hatched from the eggs of the flies. The Khaka’-malh kept their secret well. One time Coyote went to the dance. As he danced, he became covered with eggs. Crawlers hatched from the eggs and ate him —ate most of him. What was left flies through outside their camp. There the remains were found by Fox, step over them three times. That restored Coyote to life. Then Coyote went in search of someone to help him learn the secret of the Sundance. He met Kwil-kin— Porcupine, a brave man. He asked porcupine to go back with him to the Fly Village, and Pine-bough Head went. When they got to the camp, Coyote told porcupine to go and dance while he watched. So, Porcupine went on in and danced with the Flies. They laid eggs all over him. But the eggs did not bother Porcupine. Every little while he would shake himself hard, and the creepers that had crawled from the eggs would be killed on his sharp quills. The Flies laid more and more eggs on Porcupine, and he kept on shaking himself, and killing the crawlers; he was too much for the Flies. He killed all of them, too, except a very few small ones. These he permitted to live. “Hereafter, Flies, will not kill anybody,” Porcupine told the little Flies. “There shall be no more big Flies to kill people. After this, only that which is dead shall be the egg-laying place of the Flies.” 143 That was how the Flies lost the secret of their Sun-dance and their medicine-power. Because of Porcupine it no longer was a secret. The New People, when they came, were able to learn the Sun-dance (Dove, 1933, p.187-189). “Power With” or Power Sharing This captikʷɬ begins with Coyote seeking the Sundance from Flies, who have kept it only for themselves. As he dances around the Sundance pole, the flies lay their eggs on him, which consume and kill him. Fox, Coyote’s brother, revives him, and Coyote continues to pursue his goal of obtaining the Sundance for all living beings. After learning he could not learn the dance by his own means, he seeks out Porcupine to dance in his stead. As Porcupine dances, the Flies lay their eggs on him but to a different outcome: Porcupine shakes off the eggs and they die on the tip of his quills. This is repeated with the same outcome. The result is that Porcupine makes a law and states the flies will never again be able to lay their eggs on living creatures. Through his skill set and perseverance and endurance, the Sundance was learned and was made available for all the animals and people-to-be. Coyote, with all his power and wits, gave up his space for someone else with a different skill set to accomplish a goal. Empowerment requires security in a leader and trust for their subordinates. It requires the recognition of others’ strengths and one’s own areas of strengths. Yukl (1999) states: "instead of focusing on a single person who (as the designated leader) influences followers, many people are viewed as contributors to the overall process of leadership in organizations. This conception of shared leadership does not require an individual who is exceptional or who can perform all the essential leadership functions, only a set of people who collectively perform them. Different people may perform a particular leadership 144 function at different times, and different functions may be performed by different people (e.g., whomever is most qualified)" (p.41). The research on leadership has recognized that empowerment/shared leadership is fundamental to effective leadership (Yukl, 2013; Argyris, 1964; Likert, 1967). Yukl (2013) outlines shared leadership (an aspect of empowering leadership) as when “leadership responsibilities are shared by members of a small organization or team rather than invested in a single leader” (p.128). This means that responsibility over resources (human resources, capital resources, portfolio resources) are not locked into a single person or position. This dispersed- power structure can be a deterrent to power abuse. It usually has built in mechanisms which make it challenging to accumulate power for selfish means. Thaler & Sustein (2021) call these structures “sludge,” or administrative and policy “hoops” that make it difficult to achieve a specific goal. In Syilx leadership the protocols and external structure in the context of Enowkinwixʷ prevent power accumulation. Of Howell & Avolio (1992) seven traits of an unethical charismatic leader, power used for personal gain is at the top. Often what causes power accumulation is fear. Insecure or inexperienced (or both) leaders consolidate power and exercise control as a means of controlling resources or outcomes related to resources. Padilla et al. (2007) contend that historical despots, Fidel Castro, and Adolf Hitler, practiced this consolidation in their rise to and abuse of power. Consolidation of power is not limited to government contexts and is evident in other organizations such as large companies (see Brown, 2021 The white saviors). As Clearfield & Tilcsik (2018) point out, based on years of data, power is power and none are immune to its potential toxic, consuming nature. Henry Ford II was notoriously insecure as a leader, which 145 made him fearful of strong-minded leaders and their possible reprisal. His leadership of the Ford car company was with an iron fist (Maxwell, 2013). In the CEC Enowkinwixʷ (2020), the Chiefs, among all the differing Food Chief groups/lenses stated that the Syilx tribal council, the Okanagan Nation Alliance, needed to be transparent, redefined, and redirected (p.4). The concern was that power was too concentrated within the current structure, and, like the community band offices, should be Syilx-ified and not left to mimic the dominant and normalized organizational structures. Coyote was not insecure nor fearful of his own upheaval in giving away his position in the desirable resource. He trusted Porcupine to carry out the mission, and he recognized his power was not enough to free the sun dance from the flies. Empowerment is only a threat to those who wish to hold onto their positionality. In this captikʷɬ, he was an empowering leader who practiced shared leadership. Power and Resources According to Battilana & Casciaro (2021), power, as a resource, is usually discussed in a negative context- that is, power is typically seen as a resource which actors use to manipulate and control contexts and people who are deemed as a threat to their power. As long as one actor controls a resource that others depend on, or as long as the other party depends on that resource, then the power relationship will exist for better or for worse. The Sundance was a resource that was being hoarded by the Flies, and thus there existed a power imbalance amongst the animals. The flies had power via their control of a resource, the Sundance.This captikʷɬ illustrates what Syilx leadership is not (i.e., the Flies) and what Syilx leadership is (i.e., Coyote and Porcupine). This captikʷɬ points Syilx leaders to situations where they may be in possession of a resource that will benefit others yet hoard it. Anastasio (1955) observed this of Salishan people (which included Syilx) in that we had an “areal organization” governance based on resource sharing, 146 allocation, and protection. What Anastasio was observing was a self-organizing cultural construct whose underlining ethic was a connection to and love for the land. After Coyote is consumed by the Fly eggs and revived by his brother, Fox, he takes a different approach. He persuades Porcupine to become an actor in his process and to dance in the Sundance as means of freeing the withheld resource. Coyote shared his leadership and power space as a means of freeing up a resource of power. Within the Syilx nation, this Syilx leadership principle of areal governance, which Anastasio (1955) observed of our management of resources, unfortunately doesn’t currently exist to the degree of its former capacity. Syilx communities can be over-protective of band-jurisdiction. One of the main ideas that came out of the CEC Enowkinwixʷ (2020) was that of “sharing” resources within the Syilx territory, and to not hold too firmly to the colonial imposed idea of band/community jurisdiction (p.2). The Chiefs wanted to identify shared territorial spaces, establish a resource-sharing model, and share protocols among the communities as a means of addressing the resource challenges. Syilx leaders, just as Coyote did with the Sundance, led in a way that distributed resources, which if withheld had the potential for power corruption, thus no one tribe or community owned or controlled the resources. In this system the ‘leadership’ was not top-down as can be the case in dominant structures. Rather, it was egalitarian in nature and had a style that closely resembles what Yukl (2013) calls “sacrificial leadership.” The paradox within this areal organization is that the leaders didn’t lead in the way in which we would associate with leading. In that Syilx leaders did not hold power, nor did they hold sway over community members, by contrast, they led through ethics related to resource management. This ethic of resource management spilled over into relational aspects between tribes. Armstrong (2009) states that when one tribe went to war, others would come to their 147 defence as a singular unit of tribal front. They protected them because ultimately, they too were affected. In an anthropomorphist vein of thought, the leaders (i.e., Salmon Chief, War Chief, Village Chief, xatus, etc) responded to the leading of the land. So, it is more accurate to say that the land did the leading through its telling of resource updates and the Chiefs responded to the leading along with the people. For example, it was the job of certain xatus, or knowledge keepers, to signal to the people if a specific resource needed rest from harvesting for replenishment. They would make these decisions based on deep ecological knowledge of the land, or the ‘signals’ it was giving, and not just whether there was abundance. Though this could be seen as being similar to leadership collaboration with the land and with people, it was not. This leading was not through the concept of collaboration, but through the self-organizing areal organization that existed with the land. Syilx leaders operated in a systems-organizing fashion that on the surface resembled collaboration with neighbouring tribes. Yukl (2013) defines collaboration in leadership as “an offer to help the target person carry out a request for you, and…can help reduce the difficultly or cost of carry out a request” (p.214). It’s a power and influence tactic, i.e., “I’ll give you this if you can get me that.” Yukl (2013) states that it is still the leader holding the reigns and the “collaborators” hold a lateral position in power (p.207). In the Syilx way of being, a leader partners in equal sacrifice and even goes above and beyond what is expected. This points back to the egalitarian concept of the circle in Enowkinwixʷ. Leaders do not operate unilaterally, among themselves in system isolation. They lead together in a manner that considers every voice and every living thing. Being that Syilx leadership was directly tied to sustainability of resources (or land care), it is safe to state that Syilx leadership had an economic sustainability component. 148 Daly (1996) discusses the mental rationalization of present versus future conceptualization regarding decision making of current resource stocks that are directly related to a growth economy, or an economy that is focused on growth based on resource use that outweighs resource replenishment. He states that “the basic needs of the future should take precedence over the extravagant luxury of the present” (p.36). Without repeating what I’ve already established, the idea of resource sharing is evident in this captikʷɬ. Furthermore, the story of the Food Chiefs gives us this overarching leadership economic notion of what Daly (1996) calls a “steady-state economy,” (SSE) where these basic future needs are considered in the handling of current resource stocks: The SSE would go a long way toward maximizing cumulative life for all species by imposing the constraint of a constant throughput as a sustainable level, thereby halting the growing takeover of habitats of other species, as well as slowing the rate of drawdown of geospatial capital otherwise available to future generations (p.32). The solution to the crux of the story was that Black Bear (and other Chiefs) were to give his life for the people-to-be and that he would be “resurrected.” That is the future generations of people-to-be was a greater than the current cost of Black Bear’s offertorium. According to Armstrong (2017), this is the sustainability aspect of a Syilx environmental ethic that echoes Daly’s (1996) steady-state economy of output that is equally replaced with input. She states that with each Black Bear who gives his life, with the Syilx leadership ethic of resource care led by the land, there is another Black Bear. Like Enowkinwixʷ in the story and in ceremonial practice, when the protocols stop being observed, or to mirror Daly’s assertion, when people adhere to a growth economy, the sustainability or regeneration of resources (i.e., Black Bear’s regeneration) 149 will not occur. This is why practicing Syilx leadership as opposed to dominant forms of leadership is so important within community. Syilx leadership is directly tied to land care or resource care, which is what drives economics, and Syilx leadership must be resource minded (economically) as a means of protecting the land and all living things. Coyote, Horse, and Dog In the time before this one in the land of the Okanagan, the original inhabitants of the world were people but hey were not human. They were the timxw, the spirits people had now taken the names and duties of animals, birds, fish, plants, and all living things. They were shimmering and iridescent, and with light and shadow could change their shapes when they needed. The timxw were told that a great change was soon coming to all the lands and they must prepare for that change. They were told that they must prepare for the arrival of the human, the one who will be transformed form the earth. Among the timxw, some were given special duties and special work to carry out to transform the earth so that the human could survive, because the human would be the most helpless and ignorant of all. The human, unlike the timxw, would not automatically know things. The timxw were sacred and had great knowledge to teach to the human. In the days that the names and duties were given to each timxw, some agreed to become useful as food, a few agreed to provide medicine while others agreed to teach respect. A few stayed the way they were and became sacred beings like the nxaxitkw. Ogopogo. Some were indignant and went off in resentment threatening frightful consequences for the “newcomers.” These became known as the nelthnasqilxʷtn, monsters who devour 150 people. They had mean minds and wanted to nothing more than to destroy everyone else. They had to be transformed so the human could survive. Snk’lip, Coyote, was one of the timxw who had been given the special work to travel the lands to transform all the monsters which devour people. Snk’klip was chosen because Snk’lip could think for himself and was the most creative of all the timxw, which just means that Snk’lip was cunning and could think up all kinds of tricks to outdo others. Snk’lip was travelling through the mountains towards the east. He had been travelling a long time and was so tired. Snk’lip came to a beautiful flatland. There were tall grasses waving for as far he could see. Way over on the grassland Snk’lip saw someone all by himself and so decided to go and pay a visit. It was “Snklc’askaxa,” Horsemonster. As soon as Snklc’askaxa saw Snk’lip, he opened his mouth and screamed. His eyes burned fire and he thundered towards Snk’lip. They ran and ran. Snk’lip was running as hard as he could, but Snklc’askaxas was catching up. Back towards the mountains Snk’lip ran. Snk’lip would look back, thinking that Snklc’askaxs would tire out, but each time Snklc’askaxa would be closer. Near the foot of the mountains Snk’lip finally called out to his powers, “Help me, do something for me quickly.” One of his five powers heard and became a tree. This tree was the Bush Willow. It leaped out of the ground straight ahead of Snk’lip. Snk’lip laughed thinking he was safe. Then Snklc’askaxa began to kick and bite the thin stalks of the willow knocking them down easily. Snk’lip was flipped away into the grass and as soon as he hit ground he started running again, up the hill. 151 Another tree sprang up in front of him, this time it was Bushy Maple who was a little thicker and taller than Bush Willow. Snk’lip scrambled up the stalks. But Snklc’askaxa began hacking with his hoofs and the wrist thick stalks splintered easily. Again Snk’lip landed on his back and reeled to his feet to turn to the next tree which had sprung up taller and thicker than the other two and farther up the hill. This was Poplar. The leg thick trunks seemed so sturdy that Snk’lip laughed with relief. But again, Snklc’askaxa reared up and began chopping away at Poplar. Splinters flew and quickly the tree cracked and Snk’lip was flung to the ground. He staggered to his feet just in time. He puffed and zig zagged as hard as he could to the next tree which grew a little higher up. It was Birch Tree ahead of him, tall with a big thick trunk. Up into its branches he scrambled and sat. He had to think quickly, for he had only had one power left. As Snklc’askaxa began to chop and bite huge splinters away, Snk’lip said, “Wait Snklc’askaxa. It isn’t time yet for me to go. You know I have to smoke my pipe, my pope which you know comes from the thunder, your home. My pipe which I like so much.” Snklc’askaxa said, “You can have one smoke and that’s all. Only because I too respect the thunder.” Snk’lip took out his little pipe from his waist pouch and began to puff on it and at the same time talked to his power. It gave him a switch. Before Snklc’askaxa looked up again, Snk’lip leaped onto his back and clinched with his skinny legs. Snklc’askaxa was so surprised, he reared up a bucked, and twirled, and spun around, and thundered over the mountains back toward the west. Snk’lip smacked him fiercely over and over. Snklc’askaxa ran over the mountains and into the clouds, he flew over the clouds, and thunder and lightning cracked, but Snk’lip hung on to his mane and switched him again 152 and again with the medicine switch. After a while, Snklc’askaxa tired out and finally landed on the ground. He said, “You win Snk’lip, I’ll do whatever you decide, only don’t switch me anymore.” Snk’lip said, “Okay, I’ll get down and stand on the ground, then I will pass the law.” When Snk’lip got down he turned and looked. Snklc’askaxa was smaller and he didn’t look so fierce without the burning eyes and lightening coming out of his hair. Snk’lip said, “Because you were mean and wouldn’t offer anything for the People-to-be, from now on you have to work for them and look after them when they catch you. You will only buck for a while at first. Then even the old ones will be able to ride you to pick berries and pack roots and meat. They will need lots of help in the times to come and they will thank you and honor you with songs and dances and only use a thin switch once in a while to remind you. And all you will eat is grass and willows and the juicy bark of those trees you tried to break. This will be a law for others to learn from.” So Snk’lip and Snklc’askaxa began the journey from the west where they had landed, from the edge of the great waters from where the thunders come, back to the Okanagan. Snk’lip left Snklc’askaxa far behind. He trotted and sometimes ran along with his nose down sniffing the many tracks on the trails. Just as Snk’lip was crossing in front of a dark cave, out rushed Kikwapa, Dog monster, with his blood red mouth, huge, curved white teeth, shaggy hair and a growl that sounded like thunder rumbling. Of course Snk’lip didn’t know this was Snklc’askaxa’s younger brother, and that Kikwapa meant revenge on Snk’lip for his older brother. Snk’lip leaped away and zig-zagged, not watching where he was stepping. He stumbled as he stepped into a mole hole. 153 This reminded him of his small, beautiful, blind wife, Mole, Pullaxw, and he made himself tiny enough to crawl into the hole, and there was Pullaxw herself. Snk’lip shouted, “Quick make some of your tunnels” and mole dug as many as she could, she knew Kikwapa was after Snk’lip and they crawled away. At first Snk’lip laughed and bragged to Pullaxw that he had outdone Kikwapa, but Kikwapa also had big strong claws and he dug up great huge chunks of earth and quickly caught up to Snk’lip and mole. Kikwapa uncovered Snk’lip who was shaking and in the bright sun grew to his normal size again. “Wait Kikwapa, I’m not ready to go yet. You know I must smoke my pipe first. It comes from the thunder, your home. It is my favorite pipe.” And Kikwapa said, “Okay, but only because I too respect the thunder.” Snk’lip spoke to his powers and it gave him an armful of small stones. They were medicine stones. Snk’lip flung one at Kikwapa, hitting him hard. Kikwapa had a thin hide under all that hair. Kikwapa howled and started after Snk’lip, but then he stumbled on an earth mound put there by mole. Kikwapa fell and Snk’lip hit him again. Pullaxw had been busy. Coyote often operated in selfish, unproductive means that went against his mandated purpose (see How Coyote Got His Name and Powers). When he did operate within his bestowed mandate, he was wise, creative, and effective. This captikʷɬ describes two encounters between Coyote and people-eaters/monsters: the untamed, raw form of a horse and a dog. In the story, Coyote transforms the two monsters through different mediums: one through discipline and the other through strategy, each preceded by an educational component. In Coyote’s fight with monster-horse, he runs to and from four trees, each time being bested by the monster, until he comes to the Red Willow tree where he sits, smokes his pipe, and contemplates his course of 154 action. From the Red Willow Tree, Coyote creates a whip, which he then uses to discipline the monster-horse into submission. His fight with monster-dog was methodologically different in approach. Horse and Dog were monsters who were new to the Syilx territory. In the story, Coyote ultimately ends up taming both monsters through methodologies specific to the character of the monster. Coyote developed a power structure with his partner, Mole, who digs holes for him to use in a guerilla like fashion. Mary Parker Follet refers to this power as “power-with,” which is a “jointly developed power” used for “the enrichment and advancement of every human soul” (Metcalf & Urwick, 2003). In leadership theory, this is called empowerment leadership or shared leadership. In these two stories his leadership methodologies were Syilx-based in that he modeled a shared-leadership approach. After repeated failures and then reflection, and only through the aid of his wife, Mole, did Coyote transform the dog-monster. Mole digs holes all over the landscape to facilitate Coyote’s escape and re-entry into the battle with the dog-monster. As he pops up from a hole, he throws rocks at the monster, and as it pursues him, he escapes down another hole, causing the monster to slam into the ground. After each monster is subdued, Coyote makes a law, stating that they shall be tools for the people, rather than destroyers of the people. In both cases he speaks words over them, making them points of use for humans, rather than destroyers of the earth. I will first unpack the portion of the story with Dog, then I will give attention to the story of the Horse. There are a couple of leadership observations I’d like to extrapolate in this section, which I will call “the taming of Dog.” The Taming of Dog Coyote engaged in a guerilla type approach in the taming of Dog. His hole-jumping is interesting. He takes advantage of the element of surprise and pelts the monster. When it is no longer opportunistic, he then jumps into a hole for a period until another opportunity presents 155 itself to continue the offensive cycle. This section reveals important leadership principles that I will explore in two facets: Coyote’s warfare via Mole’s holes and the Monster’s actions therein. I will first unpack the holy situation, followed by tying-in the nature of a monster in the context of captikʷɬ. Leadership and Self-Care Whenever a monster is depicted in the captikʷɬ, among other things, we always learn two things: the nature of the monster is revealed, and the monster is transformed into something useful for people. The nature of the monsters is always described as a one-way consuming relationship with people and the land. There are different kinds of monsters in the captikʷɬ, but they all carry the same nature that is expressed in their Syilx name: әnәɬnasqilxʷtn or people eaters. They consume people and destroy the land in the process. When they are tamed, their consuming nature is reversed and takes the form of a reciprocal relationship with people. The monster-baby becomes a seed of hope for the people, and people must care for the baby (Dove, 1933). The tamarack tree becomes medicine for the people, and people must tend to the land so that the tamaracks can thrive in their ecosystems. And in this captikʷɬ, the monster-dog and monster-horse become useful tools for people, and the people must care for the animals with food, water, and care. Coyote did not defeat the monsters by showing full force, but rather took a cyclical approach that allowed for self-care. Leaders can get caught-up in the all-consuming nature of a monster and experience burnout or defeat. They may not succumb to the monster itself but can get stuck or worn down in the cycle of pelting. Just as there are different monsters in the captikʷɬ, every era can have its own specific monsters/challenges to tame. One of those challenges for our era is the all- consuming monster of anxiety. They need to get a hold of you. Why haven’t you called them 156 back? The report, the goal, the product needs to be achieved and/or delivered no matter the context. These accepted norms in our work and families cause anxieties. These anxieties push us to put ourselves in harm’s way. One of the Chiefs in the CEC Enowkinwixʷ (2020) was hard pressed to commit to the full 4 days of ceremony or even to leaving business to break-time or after the day was done. These protocols are essential to the ceremony and to the health of the participants. Yet, their anxiety was visible in their constant protests, requests, and purposeful reminiscence of the protocols. At one point, he answered a phone call during the ceremony. One of the reasons that leaders put themselves (or their families) in positions where they are unable to stop working (and thus put themselves harm’s way) is because they do not mimic Coyote’s “pre- game” model of prayer, meditation, and spiritual care. Leaders often sacrifice their own well-being for the sake of the goal they are trying to achieve (See Yukl (2013) chapter three on “Effective Leadership Behavior”). Problem solving becomes sleepless nights, dialoguing with community-members becomes non-stop work with no rest, and the dopamine-hit from endless meetings becomes the goal rather than the path to the goal (see podcast Freakonomics “How to Make Meetings Less Terrible?”). Leaders end up sacrificing themselves in a way that is not in line with Syilx ways of being. Black Bear modeled sacrificial leadership by offering himself for the people-to-be and thus produced life, or rather his act was generative (see chapter two “The Four Food Chiefs,” section 2.4 “Offertorium”). This is inherent to Syilx leadership. However, though leadership must include sacrifice, it does not include a “sacrifice” that is degenerative to leaders and their followers, i.e., families, friends, community etc. Enowkinwixʷ, in the story of The Four Food Chiefs and when it is practiced, is generative- that is, it produces life, solves problems, creates empathy, strengthens relationships, and builds community. 157 One crucial reason leaders don’t practice self-care is realizing that they are not the saviors of their world. This is realized through a collaborative, collective approach (as in Enowkinwixʷ) that achieves success. Part of realizing this is seeing that they (leaders) are not without weakness and are not all strength and are in need of other leaders to fill the natural gaps that occur in community. For example, at a recent Enowkinwixʷ with UBC Indigenous Faculty, it was pointed out that despite the availability of well-equipped Indigenous scholars, it was better to have settler-allies teach first year Indigenous courses as a means of mitigating potential animosity in the first post-secondary decolonial process. Indigenous scholars are protecting their mental health like Coyote in the holes so that they can pop up later in third- and fourth-year classes. Like Coyote sending in Porcupine into the Sundance, they are realizing their strengths are not required and engaging in partnership. In the CEC Enowkinwixʷ (2020), the Chief Black Bear group ended by stating “we acknowledge our weaknesses and strength” (p.8). Prospectively, according to House & Howell (1992), socialized (positive) charismatic leadership is “(a) based on egalitarian behavior, (b) serves collective interests and is not driven by the self-interest of the leader and (c) develops and empowers others” (p.85). That is, positive leaders empower others in the reality that no one person (like the Food Chiefs) possesses everything needed to provide for the people-to-be. Another reason leaders don’t practice self-care and put themselves in harm’s way is because of the nature of the monster, and because they do not understand Coyote’s pre-game model of prayer, meditation, and spiritual care. Ceremony involves several factors: reflection, prayer, envisioning, commitment. Coyote had his first ceremony when he smoked his pipe and took time to reflect, pray, and envision his future. This was self-care. Before embarking on taming the monster (for the second attempt), Coyote envisioned his process and then carried out 158 that process. In the CEC Enowkinwixʷ (2020), the Black Bear and Bitterroot group repeatedly stated that starting with ceremony was crucial to functioning as a nation. Research has shown that mental “prospecting,” or visioning is a determinant not only to success but to being happy. This can be accomplished through writing (Roepke et al., 2018), or simply envisioning a positive future (Benoit et al., 2011; Bartels & Rips, 2010; Hershfield et al., 2011). The Chiefs’ reference to “ceremony” was not necessarily to (but did include) Enowkinwixʷ, in which they were participating, but to having the practice of repeated, regular Syilx ceremony as a means of self- regulating, reconnecting to the land and to community. The newly elected Chief and Council of Penticton Indian Band (2016) chose to do an Enowkinwixʷ before they began with the organizational business that entailed their political office. Research has proven that if a vision is developed apart from actions that addresses the realities, then the vision is likely to fail (Oettingen, Mayer, & Portnow, 2016; Oettingen, & Mayer, 2002; Oettingen & Wadden, 1991). When Coyote engaged in his ceremony, he envisioned his future and then properly carried out that vision that addressed the realities of his situation. What is important to note is that Syilx ceremony, Enowkinwixʷ, is not a fruitless expedition- that is, at the end of the ceremony there is a real commitment to action items, goals that come accompanied with timelines. The same research has shown the notion of carrying forth a vision positively increases mental health. Leaders, when addressing the power-hungry monsters, need to be mindful of their own care in a way that is Syilx. The process of Syilx ceremony is self-care. Throughout my experience in community, I’ve witnessed people sacrifice personal space, self-worth, or relationships to gain power. These sacrifices are not necessarily always bad, but they can take on a degenerative quality. One of the leaders in my community, briefly sacrificed personal space, spending weeks in Ottawa to ensure our self-government act went through 159 parliament. According to him, the power he gained in Ottawa was critical in negotiating and lobbying with key decision makers and was worth the sacrifice of family time. For one, his leadership goal (self-government) was accomplished. For two, he did not spend swaths of time away from his family in the long-term. His leadership mimicked Black Bear’s offertorium and was generative. By contrast, another leader of my community often bragged that he sacrificed his family for the community. His family was put in emotional harm’s way as a means of achieving greater outcomes in his leadership role. When I was a youth leader in my community, I witnessed the effects of his sacrifice on one of his children. His leadership accomplishments are arguably minor endeavours. From a Syilx perspective, he failed in his leadership, and he failed his family and his community. His leadership was degenerative. Yukl’s (2013) meta-analysis of the academic literature would define his leadership as “ineffective” due to his failure to achieve his leadership goals and his failure to enrich people (p.9). However, from Coyote’s modeling, we see there is a way to defeat the monster without being defeated. Leadership and Timing and Self-Care The idea of “timing” is deeply rooted in Syilx ways of being. According to Armstrong (2020), historically, Village Chiefs always knew where certain families were during seasons of resource gathering- that is, the timing of such harvests was crucial to obtaining a plant at its proper stage in development as it related to its specific function, and those families were knowledgeable in the location and timing of those resources. In the captikʷɬ, we see it modeled for by Coyote in the taming of the monster dog and horse. His timing was directly tied to his leadership and to self-care. Coyote did not run in with all his might and attempt to take down his adversary. He used a strategy that was coordinated, timed and patient. Coyote jumped into a hole to hide, jumped out of another hole to pelt the monster with rocks, jumped into another hole and 160 repeated the cycle until the monster was tamed. His path to taming the monster was not linear in the context of time. The story does not elaborate on the variable of time and leaves us (like most captikʷɬ) to contemplate the spaces in between the parts of the story, through meditation and prayer, that are not spelled out or that don’t seem to make sense at first. Coyote went into hiding for a period of time before revealing himself at another hole. More specifically, he came out of each hole in the future. He could have been in one hole for a second, and spent a couple days down another hole, and still, perhaps, a month in another hole. Coyote’s reasons for timed hole- popping were simple: for his own safety and for the best possible tactic to defeat the monster. The gap in time between each “rock-pelting” must be respected and not forced. According to Armstrong (2020), the Syilx word for protocol means “respectfulness for what the other person needs.” In the CEC Enowkinwixʷ (2020), the Chiefs noted the aspect of timing with the adoption of Enowkinwixʷ and the outcomes by all communities and compared it to rate of digestion between an apple and a portion of meat. When leaders put out initiatives, (such as the CEC Enowkinwixʷ final report), it may take some longer to process and adopt the findings than others. Regardless of the process, a leader must be respectful of the other party’s rate of process. In the PIB Enowkinwixʷ (2016), one of the facilitators noted in the Saskatoon group that the seeds inside of the berry are a “future package,” that must “go through shit” in order to reproduce. The result is a process of timing that yields a future harvest. The other Food Chiefs also hold a unique aspect of timing in their contribution to Syilx people: Salmon is only alive for a season before he gives his life for the next generation; Black Bear lives a long time accumulating experience. Most importantly (thematically), as noted during the PIB Enowkinwixʷ (2016), Bitterroot displays her flower in the spring (and only for a short period of time) thus revealing her location before it dwindles in the hot sun. Timing is important for Syilx 161 people and Syilx leaders. One of the facilitators in the same Enowkinwixʷ spoke about the idea of “hiddenness” that rests in the morpheme mixʷ i.e., many from one source. What we don’t see when I see a Coyote are the many Coyotes that it took to make that one Coyote a reality. In the context of self-care and timing, there are hidden parts of our lives that can be seasonal and must be protected as a means of rest- that is, after the wilting of Bitterroot’s flower, she goes back into hiding and rests in the land, making much out of dirt. In those times, we as Syilx respect her space and allow her to regenerate. The same must be true for leaders. How Coyote Got His Name and Powers & The Four Food Chiefs A long time ago there were only animal people on this earth. Were no human beings like you and me. It was a time when animals were like people. They could laugh and talk and play and lived just like you and I do. One day, the great spirit called the animal people together told that there would be a great change on the earth. There would be new people coming to live with the Animals People. However, before they came, all the Animal People would have to change. They would be given names and, with each name, they will have a special job to do. They were told to gather the next day for their name-giving. The Animal People were excited and each hoped to get the most important name and the most important job. Coyote was excited too. Most of the Animal People didn’t like Coyote. They said he bragged too much about himself and pretended to know everything, even when he did not know very much. Coyote wanted to get a good name with an important job, so everyone would look up to him and praise him a lot. 162 “I will be the first one at the name giving. “Coyote bragged to anyone who would listen. “I think I would like to be Grizzly Bear and a Chief of the animals. Maybe I would like to be Eagle, and be a Chief of the flying creatures, or maybe Salmon, and be a Chief of all things that live in the water.” Coyote’s, twin brother fox happened to hear him. Fox knew what Coyote was like and was ashamed of his brother. “Do not be too sure, brother,” he warned. “Maybe no one will be allowed to choose their name. Maybe everyone will just have to take what is given.” “That brother of mine always talks, so smart,” Coyote thought. “I’ll show him this time!” Coyote was always trying to prove he was smarter than Fox. So Coyote said to his brother, “You’ll see. You’ll have to be nice to me when I am Chief.” “Oh, go to sleep, Coyote,” his brother said, laughing, “or else you won’t be up in time for the name-giving. You always sleep in.” Coyote got angry. “Just for that,” he thought, “I’m going to stay awake all night, just to make sure I get there first. I’m not going to sleep at all!” He was still feeling very angry as he went to his tipi where his wife Mole was sitting by the door. “Mole, gather lots of wood. I’m going to sit up all night,” Coyote said. Mole did as she was told. Coyote built a big fire to keep himself awake, and there he sat. Before the night was half over, however, Coyotes eyes began to get heavier and heavier. He couldn’t seem to keep them open! 163 Suddenly he had an idea. He said, “I’ll prop my eyes open, that way, I won’t fall asleep. Gosh I am so smart.” So he broke some little twigs and propped his eyes open. Then he sat back. “Hah!” he thought, “Now I’ll be there first.” However, the Great Spirit had plans for Coyote, so he caused Coyote to go to sleep, anyway, with the eyes wide open. Soon it was morning and time for all the Animal People to receive their names. Coyote slept and slept. The Animal People kept going by and looking at him. “What’s wrong with Coyote’s eyes?” They ask each other, laughing. “He just sits there with his eyes wide open.” Mole knew he was asleep but she wouldn’t wake him. She did not want him to become a great Chief because she loved him just the way he was. Finally, Coyote woke up. He ran to the gathering place as fast as he could. No one was there, but the Great Spirit Chief. Coyote thought he was the first one there. “I want to be named Chief of all the animals!” He shouted happily. The Great Spirit slowly shook his head. “You are too late,” he said. “Grizzly Bear left early this morning.” “Well, then,” answered Coyote, “let me be Chief of all the flying things. Give me the name of Eagle.” Again the Great Spirit shook his head. “No Coyote, all the names have been given out, except for one. All the jobs have been handed out. All the plants, animals, birds, insects, and things that live in the water have gone to their special places to live, and do their jobs. Only your name is left, Coyote. No one wants to steal it from you.” 164 At this Coyote was very unhappy. He sank down on his knees and hung his head. “Poor Coyote,” thought the Great Spirit. “I cannot let him feel so bad.” “Get up Coyote,” he said. “I made you sleep late because I have a special job for you. I sent you to the land of dreams on purpose. I have lots of work for you to do before the people-to-be come to live here.” “Really!” Coyote asked, jumping up happily to his feet. The Great Spirit nodded and said, “in this world there are lots of things that will be harmful to the people to be. The monsters that live here will destroy the people-to-be. There will be many hardships for them.” “I will give you, Coyote, a special power to destroy these monsters. With your special power, you will be able to change your shape into anything you wish. You will be able to imagine things and make them happen. This power is given to you to use wisely. It is given to you to help the people-to-be.” Coyote had thought he was happy before, but when he heard these words, he was so excited that he ran around in circles, chasing his tail and yapping for joy. The Great Spirit shook his head and hid a smile as he watched Coyote frolic. “It is because of your foolish ways, however, that you will not always be careful,” he warned Coyote. “You may be killed, therefore, your twin, brother fox, will accompany you, and be near you always.” “Fox will be given the special power to bring you back to life when you are killed. Even if all your bones are scattered all over, if one hair remains, fox can step over it and bring you back to life. Go now and try and behave and do good. You are an important person now,” the Great Spirit said, sending Coyote away. 165 The Great Spirit watched Coyote go. He knew how Coyote was. He knew that Coyote would not do a perfect job. He knew Coyote would make mistakes, and there would still be some hardships and sorrows for the people-to-be. However, it was very important that everything on this earth, be given a purpose (Marchand, & Okanagan Tribal Council, 2017). In the captikʷɬ of How Coyote Got His Name and Powers, Coyote was chided by the Creator in his futile attempts to gain access and privilege over and above the other animals. Insecurity is a reality for any leader. Like Coyote, the question is not whether leaders have insecurities, it is whether they are aware of them are taking measures to address those insecurities. It was noted in the CEC Enowkinwixʷ (2020) that the colonial idea of “Indian Status,” and “membership to an Indian Band,” are obstructs to being Syilx, as they create systems of power and displacement where some “are” and some “aren’t.” This is seen in Coyote’s antics of attempting to gain above his peers. Though we live in and through a colonial system, it is clear from this captikʷɬ that wanting a sign of status that pushes one party above another is not the ways of Syilx. The Chiefs also noted that arrogance and ego block the achievement of a goal. As per the story, this is from a deep insecurity that is rooted in a lack or vacuum of identity. In the story, Coyote had not yet received his name (identity) which carried with it his purpose and powers. The irony was that he was then bestowed with a mantel of Syilx leadership that is rooted in care for the land, the people, all living things, which was the antithesis of his frustrated quest. The land and its resources are cared for by leadership through the management and protection of those resources based in governance which is healthy relationality or kinship. Inherent to that type of leadership, which expresses itself in a specific medium of governance, is governance and leadership ‘type’ which seeks to empowers others, 166 whether plant, land, or people. According to Yukl (1999), sharing leadership responsibility (or power) requires an ethic that is reflected in servant leadership. Specifically, humility and reflection are required when approaching leadership that has ethics. Coyote’s identity was affirmed and bestowed in his ceremonial interaction with the Creator only after he journeyed through trying to find himself. The Chiefs (2020) stated that our forestry sector needed to be governed by our own ways of resource management. It is our own identity in protocols and ways of being that must be used in the management of our land. “Dysfunctional”47 Leadership In this captikʷɬ, upon hearing of the potential for an illustrious title, Coyote bragged about himself as a false sense of security in his quest to obtain a good name. He was after a title that would bring power. Though we see the Creator had a wise course of action for Coyote’s life purpose, there were moments where he continued his abuse of power. For example, in another captikʷɬ not included in this dissertation, Coyote was about to get in a contest with Chickadee and while he walked to his post for the contest, he forgot what he was doing because “he was thinking how great he was” (see Dove, 1933). The examples of this side of his character are numerous. Our character in discussion is an apt portrait (in the proper captikʷɬ) of dysfunctional leadership. Dysfunctional leadership is what House & Avolio (1992) call “unethical” (as opposed to ethical), what Padilla et al. (2007) call “destructive leadership,” who operate selfishly for selfish gain (as opposed to selfless), and is what House & Howell (1992) call “personalized charismatic leadership” (as opposed to socialized). According to these authors, the traits of 47 The term “dysfunctional” is currently a pop-culture term that is floated in various circles of social interest that tends to refer to a practice socially or organizationally that is unliked. For the purposes of this paper and section, it is defined according to the referenced literature in the context of a leader having a less than desirable effect on followers and outcomes. I am making this distinction because of the current popularity of psychologically related terms in the field of mental health. 167 dysfunctional leadership are “self-aggrandizing, exploitive and non-egalitarian,” power-hungry, incommunicative, morally corrupt, deterrent to criticism, and demands unquestioned loyalty (Howell & Avolio, 1992, p.84). The strand of commonality in all these authors is the connection to the mishandling of power. Clearfield & Tilcsik (2018) address this aspect of power and its negative effects on our brains. They state that research has shown that power, no matter the person, causes brain dysfunction in the frontal lobe (which deals with rationale and reasoning) that is similar to brain damage. The only amelioration for this phenomenon is to have people and structures that bridge and mend the seeming irregular brain activity that affects how the person sees the world. This is the power-balancing act in Enowkinwixʷ of multiple voices being listened to for the sake of consensus: Saskatoon/Youth/Innovation, Black Bear/Elders/Traditions, Salmon/Men/Action, and Bitterroot/Women/Relationships. Being that systems thinking is inherent not only to the Syilx language but also to captikʷɬ, it is natural for a Syilx leader to lead through a systems lens, considering every part of the whole in community and in relation to the land. So, when Syilx leaders lead in silos, consume information in silos, and refuse to bring in other voices, then they become blind and develop disfigured lenses, as this type of leadership is antithetical to Syilx ways of being. Similarly, in the story of Coyote and the Berry Bush, Coyote was transfixed with the berry bush in a hyper-infatuation- he couldn’t tell the difference between the berries, the berries in his poop and his poop. It was all a blur in his twisted, downward spiral around the bush, forever looking for more berries. It was only Raven’s interpellation that brought Coyote out of the trance. Enowkinwixʷ, in its multi-voice community, allows for Raven’s voice (or perhaps better put, Fly’s voice) to be heard, which will keep Syilx leaders from becoming stuck at the berry bushes of life. Just as Raven is situated high above the earth, flying, or perched, 168 Enowkinwixʷ offers the ‘big picture’ perspective that only comes from seeing things outside of our own spaces through the four lenses. Clearfield & Tilcsik (2018) describe an experiment in which participants were placed into groups and given a general topic to discuss in a relatively short time frame. One person in each of the assigned groups was given the responsibility to assign participation-points to the other participants based on their contributions to discussion. These point-providers did not have any real power or say in how the experiment or discussion was conducted. What is interesting is that researchers found that these people who were given power, in comparison to the other participants, displayed arrogant mannerisms. When participants were given a plate of cookies halfway through the experiment the point-providers were more likely to eat more than one cookie, even though there were not enough cookies for everyone to have seconds. Their eating mannerisms were sloppier: they chewed with their mouths open and spilled crumbs everywhere. Clearfield & Tilcsik (2018) point out that people in positions of power exhibit similar brain activity in the orbitofrontal lobes to people with brain damage. They are more likely to dismiss the opinions of others, interrupt others in discussion, and less willing to accept any advice, even from experts. This experiment highlights some aspects of leaders who hold power and are not kept in check with buffers and structures of accountability. The dominant, dysfunctional structures of (Western) leadership rely on the acquisition of power, the consolidation of power, and the use of that power for the extraction of resources (Armstrong, 2023). At a conservative estimate, since Confederation, Canada has had over 2000 commissions of inquiry which includes royal commissions, departmental investigations, and task forces (Fox, 2013). This is to say that there have been innumerable instances where power was misused or abused, or, to put it in Syilx terms, people and/or the land were not cared for. It 169 wouldn’t be quite fair to pick on one country or organization to point out this notion of the abuse of power- that is, as Coyote illustrates, we are all susceptible to abusing power in our lives, sometimes in the smallest of circumstances (i.e., Jane Elliot’s “blue eye, brown eye” experiment). Furthermore, it is worthy to note the influence of American Presidential politics in the past 6 years that has arguably influenced the minds of people (see Hofmann, 2020; Whitehead, Perry & Baker, 2018; Jones, 2018; Lazaridis, Campani, Benveniste, 2016). This concept of power is antithetical to Syilx ways of knowing and being. Traditional Syilx Leadership The nature of Syilx leadership differs from the dominant forms of leadership. The Nsyilxcn word syilxʷcawt implies a way of doing business that is autochthonously Syilx. Whatever that “business” is, it is informed by our ways of being and knowing. Our ways of being and knowing in leadership come from the captikʷɬ and is modeled primarily in Enowkinwixʷ, as well as the other captikʷɬ in discussion. The Four Food Chiefs is categorized in The World Before Humans (p.94). The World Before Humans and Sacred Texts are meant to inform “formal social and ceremonial occasions” (p.92). Armstrong’s assertion affirms the context of The Four Food Chiefs as a foundational text that has informed Syilx people on the structure and practice of leadership for millennia.48 For example, in the captikʷɬ of The Four Food Chiefs, the problem of how the people-to-be survive and be provided for was solved by engaging in Enowkinwixʷ, one of our own ceremonies. In that process we see Black Bear putting himself physically and metaphorically beneath the other animals in his offertorium of his life and body for the future people. The other Food Chiefs followed suit. It was noted during the CEC Enowkinwixʷ (2020) that Syilx nation needed to continue to deepen our practices in our 48 The influence and application of Sqilxʷtcewt continues to this day in our communities, specifically at the administrative level, in our contemporary governance structures (WFN, 2020; PIB, 2013). 170 organizations so as not to mimic the dominant forms of leading. In the final report (2020) the Black Bear/Traditions group stated more than once that our own laws needed to be upheld as we continue to decolonize. One of those areas has to do with access and privilege. Historically, Syilx leaders operated in a culture where the abuse of power was minimized. Cline et al. (1938) noted that among Syilx villages, "power was not a necessary attribute for holding the office of chief" (p.99). That is, power in resources, abilities, or wealth was not a determining factor for being a leader49. Though the authors assert the hereditary nature of Syilx leadership, they state that it was “merely a nominal superiority in most cases” and that they functioned as a “tribal manager rather than as a despot controlling life and death” (Cline et al., 1938, p.94-95). In the ethical arena, the authors observed that the chief and his family were to “exemplify the virtues of the group…should know no fear and should neither lie, steal, nor fight with his own people” (p.98).50 In regards to Syilx government, they state that the “general maxim is, that Indians were born to be free, and that no man has a natural right to the obedience of another…it is wonderful how well the government works for the general good, and without any coercive power to back the will of the chief, he is seldom disobeyed: the people submit without a murmur” (Cline et al., 1938, p.94) 49 Cline et al. (1938) note that the reputation as a warrior/hunter was not considered essential, but the ability, however, to organize successful hunting, fishing, and gathering expeditions was seen as the most important criteria to holding office." 50 Syilx chiefs typically had a spokesman, or suxʷawa’m, who reiterated the chief’s whispered messages in a loud voice. The suxʷawa’m was by function an extension of the chief. They carried messages to scattered members of the band, brought food from the chief to hungry families early in the spring and reported back to him on the status of their health, exhorted village members in their morals, reminding them not to be ungrateful, lazy, or thieving. (p.98) 171 Enowkinwixʷ as an act of leadership Enowkinwixʷ is an act of Syilx leadership. Firstly, it is a captikʷɬ about leaders discussing leadership in a Syilx context. Not all captikʷɬ are necessarily about leadership, though they may indeed contain varying leadership principles. The captikʷɬ contain yilmixʷm both in title and in practice. They are acting out the definition of Syilx leadership which is to bring together the things at hand for future generations. As the definition found in the language and in the captikʷɬ, the Food Chiefs came together, brought together all the community perspectives, in their contextual animal fifes and in their respective ecomimicry lenses of community, so that the people-to-be, and implicitly animals and all living things as we were mapped out to live together, would be provided for. So, when we as Syilx people practice Enowkinwixʷ today as laid out in the model beset from The Four Food Chiefs in protocol and in structure, we are emulating and imitating an act of leadership as performed by the Food Chiefs. Secondly, Enowkinwixʷ is a governance process and leadership practice ceremony, and, in the vein of systems theory, it is also a Syilx structure for thinking, as well as a ceremony. It is a ceremony that, in its practice, is a governance and leadership process. In that leadership is tied to governance, the governance aspect of Enowkinwixʷ must be acknowledged. For one, the protocols are the rules of engagement in the governance process. Bevir (2007) calls governance a “pattern of rule” with attached adverbs51 i.e., corporate governance, international governance, Syilx governance (p.364). Bevir states that these ‘patterns,’ or governance are not new constructs and have existed prior to any modern form of governance. The governance of Syilx people predates dominant/modern structures of governance. Enowkinwixʷ as a Syilx governance practice is implicitly seen firstly in the captikʷɬ, and secondly in ethnographers’ accounts. 51 It is arguable that “adjectives” is a more appropriate term to use rather than “adverbs.” However, in Syilx thought, governance is something that is action-orientated for the land, people, and all living things. 172 Though the ethnographers saw the explicit patterns in the various Chieftainships (with the exception of Anastasio (1955) they did not see the various patterns of self-organization that existed in Syilx communities and with neighboring tribes. These ‘patterns,’ as Bevir states, then influence and direct “social orders, social coordination, or social practices” (p.365). These social aspects are imbedded in the systems aspect of self-organizing in Syilx governance as they arise from the “activities and exchanges of actors and institutions” (Bevir, 2007, p.374). The activities and exchanges in Syilx governance was and is, like our stories, rooted in the land- that is, the social-driven exchanges were a joint-care for resources that benefited every community and tribe, or as Bevir (2007) puts it “to distribute among numerous organizations” (p.374). Traditionally, these social aspects were protection and allocation of resources and kinship through gift exchange and intermarriage. This social-driven systems aspect of governance that was self-organizing is found in the captikʷɬ of The Four Food Chiefs in their Enowkinwixʷ. The Chiefs came together in self-organized groups of animals or lenses, i.e., patterns of rule, to address a challenge. The solution that was iterated for the people-to-be resource- based in Black Bear’s (and consequently the other Food Chiefs) offering of his own body. Furthermore, the solution involving resources had to do with sustainable allocation of resources. Just as Enowkinwixʷ creates regeneration when it is practiced as a governance process, Black Bear’s regeneration via Fly’s song pointed to the sustainable practice of resource allocation and land care, i.e., as we care for the land and resources, there would be regeneration and thus plenty for all tribes. This is what Anastasio (1955) observed as the “areal organization” governance process of self-organization among interior Salishan people, which included Syilx (p.4). So, when we practice Enowkinwixʷ, as it is a systems structure of self-organization and 173 thinking, we point ourselves towards regenerative practices of resource management (i.e., whatever is in the middle). This is Syilx governance. Thirdly, and perhaps more relevant, we are practicing a Syilx practice that is autochthonously Syilx. It is an act of self-determination as it is resident from our captikʷɬ and our captikʷɬ come from our land and traditional territory. When we engage in Enowkinwixʷ, by observing the protocols, we engage in and activate the leadership qualities of the Food Chiefs. If I am in the bitterroot group and I engage in the protocols and observe the positive aspects of Bitterroot (as opposed to the potentially negative aspects which are discussed in Chapter 2, Methodology), then as per my emotional situatedness in that Food Chief group, I will inherently act out the leadership qualities of empathy, caring, empowerment and kindness52. Therefore, when we practice Enowkinwixʷ with the necessary protocols, for one we are acting out the leadership qualities of the Food Chiefs, and secondly, we are carrying out an act of leadership, both in context and content, in the vein of self-determination. Lastly, the practice of Enowkinwixʷ has the potential to release traditional Syilx leadership empathy. According to Battilana & Casciaro (2021) power is never extinguished, but rather it changes hands based on context and available resources. People are drawn to power as a means of survival and livelihood based on the desired resources. In Syilx leadership, power can be used as a means of consensus building, boosting empathy, being mindful of self-care, and being respectful of timing with people and the land. It can also be used to destroy and wreck people, the land and living things as seen in the discussed captikʷɬ. It is important to have structures of accountability in positions of or organizations with power a means of protecting humility and empathy which are the antidotes to the abuse of power. In the Syilx worldview 52 The exercise and practice of positive leadership qualities of the Food Chief are dependent on observing the protocols. If they are not practiced, then the negative aspects of the Food Chief lenses take over. 174 there is an axiom of sorts that is based on the ontological idea of relationality: we are all connected. In this vein of thought when power is shared, when empathy is boosted and when leaders take space for self-care, the benefit ripples outward into family and community. Leaders had empathy and that empathy was tied to the land, both in relationship and through story as the captikʷɬ are all about what happened on the land. Leaders had empathy towards the land. 175 Conclusion What is Leadership? So- what is leadership? The dominant leadership structures that exist in practice will influence the way society thinks about leadership. The ideas and definitions of leadership that partner with a growth economy, or how leaders can get “more” out of their followers, will continue to fill the academically disseminated leadership section of the local bookstore. Because these ideas are rooted in resource extraction beyond regeneration, they will continue to operate in their silos of Salmon-based thinking and will perpetuate resource extraction from people and from the land. When Syilx leadership starts to mimic the dominant structures in isolation from Syilx traditions then it ceases to be Syilx. Derickson (1995) describes a piece of Syilx knowledge that describes our “evolution,”53 known as “ k̓ ʷasic.” k̓ ʷasic points to this potential future of no longer resembling ourselves when looking into the cultural mirror of being sqilxʷ-that is,the potential to become a leadership based in k̓ ʷasic or something that no longer possesses the qualities of land-based care for all living things. However, what does not change is what Syilx leadership is: care for the land and people by bringing together the strands of community. Syilx leadership is rooted in the land: the definition comes from the language and the captikʷɬ, and these two things literally come from the land. The captikʷɬ are stories based in and around and through Syilx territory, and the Nsyilxcn phonemes originate from the land. One aspect of Syilx leadership is inherent to the captikʷɬ of The Four Food Chiefs by looking through the lens of Bitterroot: caring for the land and living things through empathy, empowerment, and selflessness. In the PIB Enowkinwixʷ (2016) it was noted by a facilitator that 53 Syilx knowledge keepers have used this term with hesitation in light of the poor job it does in describing these stages of Syilx existence. Nonetheless, I use it here with the same hesitation. 176 the reason the Food Chiefs are “Chiefs,” is because in the story they give the most. This concept can be challenging to accept and implement into practice, mostly because people fear losing identity or self-worth if they give selflessly to others. The paradox of giving the most is that when a person is connected to land there will always be two things: one, there is always replenishment. Two, the land and the stories instruct and guide us in all areas where we have concern of practicing this leadership ethic. The other side of that equation is the fear of loss of self and identity. This often originates in real stories where we as people didn’t matter. It must be stated that we and our stories matter. Yet, throughout my observations of leaders and leadership in community, I have seen the monsters emerge in people’s thinking and they start to believe their story matters more than others. Their ensuing efforts are directed towards ensuring their story is better resourced and supported than their contemporaries. This approach is antithetical to what the Food Chiefs modeled for us by giving the most. It does not consider the people-to-be, who are always in the middle. When the middle, what is in front of us as leaders, is no longer the people-to-be, but us, our resources, our own lot, then power is consolidated and abused and there is systems breakdown. The good news is that this is quickly ameliorated by putting the people- to-be back in the middle. This circles back to the Syilx leadership ethic of giving the most found in the story of The Four Food Chiefs and Enowkinwixʷ. Enowkinwixʷ and ERP Trust is a temperamental notion that requires a commitment in often shifting circumstances. Perhaps the most important thing that Enowkinwixʷ has done for me has been to build my trust capacity. That is, in the process of an Enowkinwixʷ there are always (and I do mean always) moments where you as a participant wonder how all the perspectives will be brought to consensus. Enowkinwixʷ requires trusting the process of deliberation and the model 177 that was beset by the Food Chiefs. During the process that trust can waver and even look, like Fly’s song, emotionally distraught. And when participants fully commit themselves to the middle, physically and emotionally like Black Bear’s offertorium, their trust is not disappointed. Similarly, the ERP’s protocol of the “middle,” pushed me to trust the process of discovery and research. The idea I had in my mind at the beginning of my research journey was, in some ways, very different from the product that iterated itself in this thesis. This is the uniqueness and generative qualities of Enowkinwixʷ that also exist in the Enowkinwixʷ Research Paradigm. In and as much as the ceremony is a process, so is the research process that holds the structure and protocols of Enowkinwixʷ. Methodology In brief, the autoethnographic nature of my research paradigm has been one big Syilx story with references. This thesis has been the story of my leadership research, musings, observations, and a personal journey. When I started grad school, I had very little in the way of what I was going to encounter. Much like Coyote’s pipe-reflections, I had moments and seasons of reflections that redefined not necessarily who I was, but what I was doing with my research, and consequently, the trajectory of this thesis. I started grad school very much situated in the lens of Salmon- I accomplished, I found a way through obstacles, and I sacrificed at all costs. Living in only one lens of the Food Chiefs is good for a season but is not sustainable over the long term. Capra (1982) and Wheatley (2016) express the idea of system breakdown as the isolation of one aspect apart from the necessary whole. Though sacrificing is a constant for the people-to-be, there must be seasons of refreshment or renewal, or as I experienced, a shift in Food Chief lens. During a season of shift, my lens shifted towards that of Bitterroot, interestingly enough, on the other side of that particular plane of thought in Enowkinwixʷ. It is important for Syilx leaders to 178 make the most of the seasons and moments in the holes of life and the high up trees of solitude to revaluate their endeavours and envision how and why the monster in front of them will be tamed. The necessary reflections/meditations over the monster can also be seen as the middle. The tree- top pipe-smoking is better structured and better practiced in Enowkinwixʷ. The meditative reflections of pipe-smoking should be visionary like Saskatoon, grounding like Bitterroot, have clear goals to overcoming the beast like Salmon, and, like Black Bear, should be reconnecting/re-establishing to a greater entity and calling through what matters most and what has always worked in our lives. Theory Systems theory is the dominant non-Syilx theory that best resonates with Syilx thinking. As outlined in the story of The Four Food Chiefs, Syilx ways of being do incorporate a mode of thinking that can be called systems thinking in that every part is considered in relation to the whole. What I did with the theory aspect of the ERP was to expand the lens of leadership approaches from Salmon-like or action orientated to a Bitterroot lens of relationality. Any person who has worked in the administrations of our communities will know that action plans, to do lists and endless meetings dominate the leadership approaches. These endeavours are often necessary and prove useful in many ways that benefit community development. However, these can quickly become monsters if not held in check. When this occurs, it is because a growth economy is influencing or dominating the thinking of our leadership. This goes back to systems failure as one part becomes self-serving and stops considering the impact of its actions on the rest of the system. Thus, in looking at the three captikʷɬ through the lens of Bitterroot, I sought to argue for the other end of that tension for effective leadership- that is, effective leadership isn’t just about reaching goals but about meeting people’s needs. In short, it is not about ignoring or 179 dismissing the Salmon lens (or any lens for that matter) but being mindful of the necessary tension between the dyads. The moment there is no tension, then one part has isolated itself from the whole. If the tension between these two Chiefs is kept and observed, then Syilx leaders will reach goals while meeting the relational needs of people. Methods The methods used in the research for this thesis were autoethnographical in nature and structure: Lived experience, observational data, and story analysis. That is, in my ‘Coyote-walk,’ I observed leaders and leadership in our community making decisions, fighting, and conquering monsters, giving of their lives and bodies, giving in to their own selfishness, making blunders, learning from their mistakes, and becoming a better version of their future selves as they metaphorically wake-up. The same is true for me and every person who hasn’t given in to eating their own berries. In the captikʷɬ, I thematically and contextually analyzed the stories as a means of drawing out principles of Syilx leadership. These principles were approached through the lens of Bitterroot and reflected on the backdrop of the definition of Syilx leadership by means of the captikʷɬ and the language. The overarching captikʷɬ, The Four Food Chiefs, has been the focus of my personal reflections/meditations for the past 15 years and I have by no means reached the end of what the story offers. Story In and as much as we learn from story, we must recognize that our lives are stories being written, with new iterations every day. In the vein of literary fiction, we are all complex characters, with personal quirks, likes, dislikes, passions, and lenses of thought, successes, failures, dreams, and desires- that is, as Syilx Elder, Eric Mitchell (2019) put it, we are all Coyote. We are constantly making decisions, encountering challenges, working with people who 180 have seemingly differing perspectives than us, all while trying to face the monsters of our generation. Though they are situated in a different ‘time,’ they contain principles which are timeless. Thus, if we allow them, they can perpetually influence and instruct us. Armstrong (2009) states that the captikʷɬ, for every generation, outline “the laws and principles of society, always directed to the time in front of the people” (p.134). It's been established that empathy is built in people through the engagement in story, whether in print, in media, or quasi-dimensional texts. What builds empathy is the transportation into story, meaningful reflection on story, and the reference and identification in and through characters. Syilx ‘texts’ are our captikʷɬ. Syilx people, but specifically Syilx leaders engaged in our captikʷɬ and thus would have been deeply empathetic. Being that empathy is the greatest indicator of relational stability, Syilx people and leaders today still have the opportunity to engage in story and allow the dyadic tension of Bitterroot and Salmon to flourish in their leadership walk. After all, Coyote’s leadership ‘walk’ is inherent in the genre of “Coyote Was Traveling.” In observing his walk, we gain insight into our own walk and how we can overcome our challenges and thus develop empathy. I’ve stated in this thesis that stories change us through their inference, our reflection, and their ability to boost our empathy as readers or observers, depending on the medium of story. The captikʷɬ in discussion certainly changed me during the course of writing this thesis. Enowkinwixʷ, which originates from story and amplifies the stories of others, has changed me and continues to boost my empathy. The comfort of the captikʷɬ is that they are always applicable to our own personal and corporate stories. The three Coyote stories which chose to be in this thesis are interesting reflections54 for the growing leader. They are by far not the primus maximus of Syilx leadership 54 It is widely known in the psychological field that over-reflection can be a cause of anxiety in that it takes on the nature of ruminating. Hence my spectrum of word choice throughout the conclusion to describe Coyote’s pipe- 181 texts, but they have offered unique insights into empowerment/power sharing, empathy, resource-care, economics, timing, ceremony, and self-care. How Coyote Got His Name and Powers expresses the insecurities of a leader through a medium of humor. This captikʷɬ also offers us the definition of a Syilx leader as perpetually caring/protecting the land and all living things and addressing the monsters that may hurt us and the people-to-be. The captikʷɬ of Coyote, Porcupine and the Flies demonstrates the foundational and fundamental aspect of Syilx leadership: power sharing/empowerment. Coyote realized he needed another set of skills and stature, which was fulfilled in Porcupine. This captikʷɬ also affirms our leadership definition: land-care expressed in the freeing and allocation of resources, namely a powerful resource, the Sundance. Resources are resource allocation, distribution, and management fall within the scope of Syilx leadership. When Syilx leaders become stuck in the lens of Salmon, thus entering into system breakdown, they engage in a growth economy which will always deplete resources at the beckon of want. By engaging in the relationality lens of Bitterroot and allowing our captikʷɬ to speak to us, we become empathetic in our relationship to the land and to its resources. This notion propels resource stewardship based on deep ecological knowledge. The captikʷɬ of Coyote, Horse and Dog shows us two related monster-taming events with two different approaches. Despite Coyote’s different approaches, with both monsters, before he tamed them, he engaged in reflection, self-care, and ceremony. He also had an approach that was patient and persistent and he did not give up. Lastly, though this thesis did not delve deep into the captikʷɬ which show us Coyote’s blunders and selflessness, Syilx leaders must still be reminded that we are all Coyote- that is, we are all capable of making great sacrifices and defeating mesmerizing giants at incredible odds, smoking- that is, it is not simply a point of reflection, but of prayer, meditation, and contemplation in reference to existing methodologies, knowledge sets and research. 182 and we are capable of folly, failure, acts of selfishness. When we put ourselves in the mental space that we can do no wrong or that we are beyond fallibility, then we have done what Coyote did in his battle with Chickadee and forgotten our mission en route (see Dove, 1933). And if we keep our minds on our humble beginnings of merciful endowments from our Creator, then we will do well on our missions and tame the monsters. Power Though I have not included some of these mentioned captikʷɬ in this thesis, I touch on them as a means of pointing forward to the myriad of captikʷɬ that speak to leadership. As Armstrong (2009) puts it, the captikʷɬ are indeed timeless: “captikʷɬ which continuously, in each new generation, outlines the laws and principles of society, always directed to the time in front of the people” (p.134). As a budding scholar, I have two hopes for this thesis: Firstly, it is that it speaks to Syilx and non-Syilx leaders alike in a myriad of ways, and that, like Enowkinwixʷ, it is generative for the people-to-be. There are many would-be leaders in our communities and, unfortunately, people who love the label of “leader,” but fail to act in a manner that is consistent with the Syilx concept of leadership. Both these groups deserve a Fox of sorts to come along and revive the ‘why’ inside of them. Like Coyote, we all deserve the moments where we are bestowed with our calling in leadership and given our ‘why’ that can stamp out the deep insecurities that we must tame. Perhaps this thesis can serve as a ‘Fox moment.’ Secondly, I hope that my reference to other captikʷɬ of leadership quality and content will spur further research into Syilx ways of knowing and being in the area of leadership, both in others and in myself. But that is another story for another day. 183 Limitations The limitations in the research and writing of this thesis are as follows: the limited number of captikʷɬ analyzed, the existing Syilx leadership literature, and the toll of the pandemic. Though my research on this topic began far before my entry into the institutional academic space, most of the challenges I faced have always been present. The first that has always been present is in regard to the breadth of the Syilx oraliture. I was not able to look at all the captikʷɬ and discuss their leadership principles. The number of Coyote stories alone are numerous in their originality and in their versions, never mind the captikʷɬ which specifically speak to leadership along with the captikʷɬ which infer leadership. It will take a community of academics to undertake such a feat of research in any discipline, let alone Syilx leadership resident in captikʷɬ. The second limitation was the availability of published Indigenous leadership literature- it is growing, but not in abundance. The number of data-backed Indigenous leadership literature based in community is even less. The number of published Syilx leadership texts grows smaller, and the number of academic and/or data-backed Syilx leadership literature is one- this thesis. This statement is not one of arrogance but of fact. My hope is that the research into captikʷɬ, leadership, data-backed research in community will all continue in the academic institutional setting. The third limitation had to do with the fact that my research occurred during the most recent historical pandemic. Like my ancestors before, my people were inadvertently affected by a pandemic. Personally, I contracted COVID only to realize after 8 weeks that the symptoms were not leaving. This has continued into my graduate studies even to the present. Stress, viral infections, and forest fire smoke and/or air quality triggers the long covid symptoms and make 184 life very difficult: Brain fog (inability to think clearly and thus do anything), extreme fatigue, anxiety, prolonged physical recovery. My rate of writing and research was slowed and at times very onerous when these symptoms would arise. This proved frustrating. Perhaps one of the frustrations was the lack of understanding from people within the institution, within the health care system and within community. At this point it is a long-term illness which is not officially recognized by the health care system and thus has no priority for systemic support. How this will affect me in the future is unknown in as much as the research on long covid is ongoing and occurs in real time. Final Thoughts Enowkinwixʷ- it is what I have been talking in and through as I finish this piece of writing. It is our Syilx process that comes from story, creates story in the ceremonies and enriches everyone involved. In the vein of the autoethnographic-ness of my methodology, I was once told that mountain tops are amazing experiences that give us perspective, reinvigorate our passions, and give us strength to carry our vision forward. However, not much grows on a mountain top (depending on how you define a mountain)- it is in the valley that growth occurs. The same could be said for Syilx leaders, that as we ebb and flow in the seasons of life, we climb a mountain and become filled with the metaphorical wind of passion that is inherent to the mountain top and then descend into the valley to learn and grow. Enowkinwixʷ is like the mountain tops of life: they refresh us, give us new energy, and remind us of our ‘why.’ We must carry forward this invigoration as Syilx leaders in selfless, empathetic, efforts for the people-to- be. The irony is that Enowkinwixʷ is also the valley. As I remind the reader that system thinking mirrors Syilx ways of being, I reflect on my own focal points of growth that occurred during Enowkinwixʷ in which I had pivotal moments of pax. The crux of the valley and mountain top in 185 Enowkinwixʷ is that, like the four lenses of the Food Chiefs, both must be carried forward lest system break down occurs. 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Thesis/Dissertation
eng
Interdisciplinary Studies
Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
Graduate
Armstrong, Jeannette
Leadership from a Syilx perspective rooted in captikʷɬ
Text