Kovach, Margaret PhD

Research Interests

Research Supervision Interests

Individual research Interests

Bio

Tanisi. I am an Indigenous scholar of Nêhiyaw and Saulteaux ancestry from Treaty Four, Saskatchewan and an enrolled member of Pasqua First Nation. I was appointed as Professor in the Department of Educational Studies in 2020.  I am a Professor Emerita of Educational Foundations, University of Saskatchewan.  I am the author of book Indigenous Methodologies:  Characteristics, Conversations, and Contexts (University of Toronto Press) now in its 2^nd edition. As a member of the Royal Society of Canada, I collaborated as co-editor on the book Royally Wronged:  The Royal Society of Canada and Indigenous Peoples (2021).  Indigenous research methodologies is my passion and this focus has allowed me to connect with individuals and communities from across the globe.  Alongside a keen interest in research methodologies, my interests  include Indigenous higher education and social justice approaches to education.  My research seeks to explore ways in which Canadian universities can cultivate environments that enhance the experience for Indigenous scholars and graduate students.  As a post-secondary scholar, my teaching, research, and writing is compelled by a particular interest in how members of university communities might work, learn, and live at the intersectionality of diversity in the service of compassionate, socially just relations. Ekosi.

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Education

Research Projects

Selected Publications

Books

 

Kovach, M. (2021).  Indigenous Methodologies: Characteristics, Conversations, and Contexts. (2^nd Edition).  Toronto, ON:  University of Toronto Press.  (Publication date August 2021.)

 

Backhouse, C., Milton, C., Kovach, M., & Perry, A. (Eds). (2021) Royally Wronged: The Royal Society of Canada’s Role in the Marginalization of Indigenous Knowledge. Montreal, QUE:  McGill-Queen’s University Press. (Publication date November 2021)

 

Kovach, M. (2009).  Indigenous Methodologies:  Characteristics, Conversations, and Contexts.  Toronto, ON: University of Toronto Press.

Battiste, M., Kovach, M. & Balzar, G. (Eds.) (2010). Aboriginal Englishes and Education [Special Edition]. Canadian Journal of Native Education, Supplement, 32. (Contribution of 33% each author.)

Selected Chapters

Kovach, M./Stelmach, B. (2020).   The surprisingly empty feeling of getting full: Contemplations on the contradictory nature of full professorship. In A. Burns & C. Eaton (Eds). Women negotiating the academy: A Canadian perspective (pp. 51-65).  (We omit the ampersand and use a back slash to indicate we occupy the same author position.)

Fast, E. & Kovach, M. (2019).  Complexities and Conditions of Community Relationship within Indigenous Methodologies. In. T. Pedro & S. Windchief (Eds).  Applying Indigenous Research Methods:  Storying with Peoples and Community (pp. 21-36).  New York City, NY: Routledge Press.

Kovach, M. (2016).  Doing Indigenous Methodologies – A Letter to a Research Class. In N. Denzin & Y. Lincoln (eds). The SAGE Handbook of Qualitative Research (5th Edition), (pp. 214-234). Thousand Oakes, CA: Sage Publications.

Prokop Thomas, S., Felix, A.J., Felix, P., Kovach, M., Montgomery, H. (2016). Saskatchewan First Nations: Researching Ourselves Back to Life. In H.  Montgomery, D. Badry, D. Fuchs, & D. Kikulwe (Eds). Transforming Child Welfare: Interdisciplinary Practices, Field Education, and Research, (43- 58). Regina, SK:  University of Regina press.

Kovach, M. (2016). Moving forward, pushing back:  Indigenous methodologies in the academy. In N. Denzin & D. Giardina (eds). Qualitative inquiry through a critical lens, (pp. 31-39). New York, NY: Routledge.

Kovach, M. (2016). Reprint. Epistemology and research: Centring tribal knowledge. In D. Reder & L. Morra (Eds.), Teach, Learn, Challenge:  Approaches to Indigenous Literature.  Waterloo, ON: Wilfred Laurier UP. (Reprint. Original printing in M. Kovach (2009). Indigenous Methodologies: Characteristics, conversations, and contexts (see pp. 55-76). Toronto:  University of Toronto Press.) 

Kovach, M. (2015).  Emerging from the margins:  Indigenous methodologies (2nd Edition). In. S. Strega & L. Brown (Eds). Revisiting Research as Resistance: Critical, Indigenous and anti -oppressive approaches, (43-63) Toronto, ON: Canadian Scholars Press.

 Selected Journal Publications

Kovach, M. (2019).  Indigenous Evaluation Frameworks:  Can the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage be a guide for recognizing Indigenous scholarship within tenure and promotion standards?  In J. Porsanger & P. Virtanen. (Eds). AlterNative: An International Journal of Indigenous Peoples [Special Edition], 15(4), 299-308.

Kovach, M. (2019).  Conversational method in Indigenous research.  First Peoples Child & Family Review [Special edition], 14(1), pp. 123-137. (Reprint with Original Work Published in 2010).  

 Stelmach, B., Kovach, M., & Steeves, L. (2017). Casting a New Light on a Long Shadow: Saskatchewan Aboriginal High School Students Talk About What Helps and Hinders their Learning.  Alberta Journal of Educational Research, 63(1), 1-20.

Ritenburg, H, Young Leon, A., Linds, W., Nadeau, D., Goulet, L., Kovach, M., & Marshall, M. (2014).  Embodying Decolonization:  Methodologies and Indigenization. AlterNative – An International Journal of Indigenous Peoples, 10 (1), 67-80.

Kovach, M., Carriere, J., Barrett, M.J, Montgomery, H., Gilles, C. (2014). Stories of diverse identity locations in Indigenous research. In C. Campbell, H. Montgomery, and H. Ritenburg. (Guest Eds). Special Edition of the International Review of Qualitative Research: Indigenous Inquiries, 6(4), 487-509.

Kovach, M. (2012).  Treaties, Truths, and Transgressive Pedagogies. In Coburn, E. (Ed), Socialist Studies: Special Issue on Transgressive Pedagogies and Research, 9 (1), 109-127.

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Students Supervised

Courses taught

• EDST 401: Education, School, and Social Institutions (Teaching)

Committee/Service

• EDST MA Management and Admissions Committee 
• Dean’s Advisory Committee on Research (EDST rep)
• Faculty Mentor, Support Aboriginal Graduate Enhancement (SAGE)

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Memberships

Distinctions and Memberships

Professor Emerita, University of Saskatchewan, 2020

Member, College of the Royal Society of Canada

National and International Visiting Scholar Invitations

Centre for Women and Gender Studies, Ethnic Studies Department, School of Education, School of Social Work, and Native American Cultural Centre, Colorado State University (Fort Collins), September 23-29, 2019.

Scholar-in-Residence, Faculty of Education, St. Francis Xavier University, Antigonish, Nova Scotia, July 22-24, 2018.

International Visiting Scholar, National Dong Hwa University, College of Indigenous Studies, Hualien, Taiwan, December 4 to 14, 2013.

Noted Summer Scholar, Educational Studies, Faculty of Education, University of British Columbia (UBC), August 6 to 16, 2013.

Visiting Scholar, School of Nursing, Midwifery, and Nutrition, James Cook University (Cairns and Townsville Campus), Australia, July 6 to 22, 2013.

Wellbeing Initiative, University of Western Ontario (UWO), University March 11 to 15, 2013.

International Visiting Fellow, Healthway Indigenous Visiting Fellowship of Western Australia and Combined Universities Centre for Rural Health, August 9-19, 2008.

Selected International Keynotes and Invited Lectures

Indigenous Methodologies and Cultural Sustainability in Research. Keynote Presentation (via Zoom webinar) at Master of Arts in Cultural Sustainability 10^th Anniversary & Symposium, Goucher College, Baltimore, July 24, 2020.

Foundations and Practice of Indigenous Research Methodologies. Invited Presentation at Oklahoma State University, Still Water, OK, Feb 27, 2020.

Seeing an Indigenous Paradigm in Indigenous Research Methodologies. Keynote Presentation at American Indigenous Research Association Annual Conference. Polson, Montana, October 11, 2019.

Indigenous Methodologies and Research: Recognizing the Distinctiveness of Indigenous Scholarship within University Zones of Contact.  Invited Presentation at Colorado State University (Visiting Scholar), Fort Collins, CO., September 26, 2019.

Indigenous Methodologies and Research. Keynote Presentation at Indigenous women resisting dialogues, reflexions and actions Conference.  Université du Québec à Montréal, Montreal, Quebec, QUE., September 3, 2019.

Orality and Story in Indigenous Methodologies and Knowledges.  Keynote Presentation at Narrative Research SIG business meeting, AERA, Toronto, ON., April 6, 2019.

The Powerful Connection between Indigenous Research, Scholarship, Truth, and Reconciliation.  Invited Presentation at Keene State University.  Keene, NH., March 22, 2019.

Indigenous Methodologies. Keynote Presentation at Indigenous Graduate Student Symposium.  Simon Fraser University.  Vancouver, BC., March 16, 2019.

Dear Graduate Students of Indigenous Research. Keynote Presentation at Canadian National Gathering of Indigenous Graduate Students. Thompson Rivers University, Kamloops, BC., July 11, 2018.

Translating Diversity and/or Transforming Public Spaces?  The Paradox and Potentiality of Indigenous Knowledges in Post-Secondary Landscapes.  Invited Presentation at the International Research Training Group (IRTG) (Partnership between the Universities of Trier, Saarbrücken, Montréal), Saarbrücken, Germany, May 8, 2017.

Indigenous research, Indigenous methodologies, and the power of Indigenous knowledges in informing research practice Keynote Presentation at Labrador Research Forum Conference, Labrador Research Institute of Memorial University, Goose Bay, Labrador, May 1, 2017.

Decolonization at the intersection of Education and Healing. Invited Presentation at The Holistic Cultural and Cultural Wellness Center Health and Wellness Staff, California State University (Fresno), Fresno, CA., April 22, 2017.

Interpreting Research Through Indigenous Knowledges: How Indigenous Research Approaches Sustain Cultural Heritage.  Keynote Presentation at Indigenous Heritage 2017, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland, November 16, 2017.

Considering the Landscape of Indigenous Research.  Keynote Presentation at University of Saskatchewan Social Science Research Laboratories – Rethink Research Conference, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK., October 5, 2016.

Kovach, M. (2016, June 6). Indigenous Research, Indigenous Methodologies, and the Matter of Big “E” Ethics. Keynote Presentation at Ethics of Research Forum with Indigenous Peoples, Carleton University, Ottawa, ON.

Kovach, M. & Montgomery, H.  (2015, May 20).  Indigenous Presence: Experiencing & Envisioning Indigenous Knowledges within Selected Post-Secondary Sites of Education and Social Work.  Invited Presentation at Indigenous Inquiries SIG, Congress of Qualitative Inquiry, University of Illinois (Urbana-Champaign), Urbana-Champaign, IL.

Kovach, M. (2015, May 21). Moving Forward, Pushing Back:  Indigenous Knowledges in the Academy.  Keynote Presentation at Eleventh International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry, University of Illinois (Urbana-Champaign), Urbana, IL.

Kovach, M. (2015, June 11). From Where We Stand:  The You, Me, and We of Indigenous Knowledges in Higher Education. Keynote Presentation at Idaho Indian Education Summit, Office of Indian Education, State Department of Education, Boise, Idaho.

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