Reconciling How We Live With Water: The Development and Use of a Collaborative Podcasting Methodology to Explore and Share Diverse First Nations, Inuit, and Métis Perspectives

Abstract

Conventional approaches to water research and governance often fail to meaningfully engage and mobilize Indigenous peoples’ perspectives, values, and knowledge in addressing water-related concerns. This research introduces the use of collaborative podcasting as a methodological approach, applied in the context of this work to explore First Nations, Inuit, and Métis perspectives around how we live with, and relate to, water in Canada; and what the inclusion of these perspectives mean for water policy and research. Data were collected during a National Water Gathering event through sharing circle dialogue and participant interviews (n=18), and contributed to the creation of an audio-documentary podcast. Thematic analysis revealed key themes relating to: responsibilities to water; confronting colonialism; and pathways to mobilizing diverse knowledge systems. Findings from this work illustrate how relationships with, and responsibilities to, water are being sustained, reclaimed, and renewed by Indigenous people, and the value and power inherent in such actions.