Please join us in congratulating Chas Desjarlais who successfully defended her doctoral dissertation on November 19th of 2024.
Title:
iskotew – Keeping the fire lit
Indigenous women leading in decolonizing education systems
Abstract:
Indigenous leadership is still an emerging field of study within educational leadership, where Indigenous women’s voices and experiences are largely unaccounted for, especially in the K-12 educational system. This study explored Indigenous women’s wholistic leadership perspectives where they were often “the only one” or the sole leaders in their districts. This qualitative study utilized a purposeful sampling of seven Knowledge Holders. By using an Indigenous approach to research, this study employed storywork as a means to capture the finer details of the Knowledge Holders’ perspectives and lived experiences of leading. Specifically, seven Indigenous women shared their conversations using the Conversational Method and Sharing Circles, responding to the main research question: “How do Indigenous women leaders leading within large urban educational organizations retain their ‘inner fire’?” What is their lived experience leading in decolonizing education systems? Are they surviving, surthriving, or not? Data was collected through conversations via Zoom and field notes. The conversations were transcribed and analyzed using multi-level coding and thematic analysis. The key finding of the research is that Indigenous women struggle to keep their Indigeneity intact while navigating their leadership in decolonizing educational systems. They are often the sole Indigenous leaders in a system, who lean in to their cultural teachings, families, and mentors to help keep their inner fire stoked and burning brightly. This research contributed to the current emerging research in the field of study on Indigenous women’s leadership. There will continue to be a significant absence of Indigenous women leaders in leadership positions in educational organizations if changes are not made to the culture of these organizations. Further research is needed to expand and include the voices of those who identify as Black, People of Colour (POC), and LGBTQIA2S+ who are similarly leading in the K-12 and post-secondary education system.
Chair of Examination Committee:
Dr. William Pinar
University Examiners:
Dr. Moss Norman (School of Kinesiology)
Dr. Margaret Kovach (EDST)
External Examiner:
Dr. Jeannie Kerr (University of Simon Fraser)
Supervisory Committee:
Dr. Fei Wang (Supervisor)
Dr. Alison Taylor (Member)
Dr. Tracy Friedel (Member)