Project 450141

The negative implications of Euro-Western gender systems on the health and wellness of Indigenous peoples is widely recognized. Notwithstanding the disruptive impact of colonialism on diverse Indigenous gender formations, tribally-specific gender values, roles and responsibilities continue to exist in the stories, places, and practices of the community. This project employs an Indigenous-centred, community-first design to explore the relationship between Cree values and practices, identity, healing, and wellness as a pathway for re-membering and reclaiming Cree roles and responsibilities of boys and men. The project will centre Cree Elders and knowledge holders in addressing three research questions: how has colonialism impacted Cree gender formations, specifically the values, roles and responsibilities of boys and men; what is the relationship between Cree values, practices, identities and wellness; how can Cree values and embodied practices be re-membered and reclaimed in fostering the resurgence of tribally-specific roles and responsibilities of boys and men. This project focuses on cisgendered Cree boys and men, not to the exclusion of diverse genders, but as part of a relational ecology. It is our contention that Cree ways of life represent a critical pathway to re-balancing the relationships between boys and men, diverse genders, communities, and the Cree Nation, all of which lead to holistic, Indigenous-centred, health and wellness. The project is significant in that it draws upon tribally-specific (that is, Cree) ways of life and gender formations in addressing Cree health and wellness.