Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-ndw9j Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-09T15:28:18.597Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Doing Participatory Evaluation: from “Jagged World Views” to Indigenous Methodology

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 July 2015

Steven Jordan ,
Christine Stocek ,
Rodney Mark  and
Stacy Matches
Steven Jordan
Affiliation:
Department of Integrated Studies in Education, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, H3A 2T5, Canada
Christine Stocek
Affiliation:
Department of Integrated Studies in Education, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, H3A 2T5, Canada
Rodney Mark
Affiliation:
Department of Integrated Studies in Education, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, H3A 2T5, Canada
Stacy Matches
Affiliation:
Department of Integrated Studies in Education, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, H3A 2T5, Canada
Get access

Abstract

The paper will present findings from a Social Science and Humanities Research (SSHRC) funded participatory evaluation conducted over the past four years in the Cree nation of Wemindji in Quebec, Canada. COOL (Challenging Our Own Limits) or “Nigawchiisuun” in Cree, was launched in 2003 as part of a broader program of governance initiatives within Wemindji. As a key component of this new governance program, COOL was to address the need for after-school care within the community for parents, as well as to engage with the recurring problem of low retention rates in school. In consultation with the Band Council of the Cree Nation of Wemindji (James Bay), the Deputy Chief at the time (Rodney Mark) – who was elected Chief in 2006 – established a COOL committee to oversee the design, organisation, implementation and running of the program. Unlike the other eight Cree communities of the James Bay, Wemindji decided to fund and run its own program based on values, customs, and traditions that have been established through consultations with elders, parents, and other interested groups within the community. This has made COOL a distinctly homegrown, autonomous, self-determined Cree program. The paper will not only report on principal themes and issues connected with the establishment and administration of COOL, but will also discuss why a participatory evaluation has been used to assess its effectiveness as a social/educational program.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Australian Journal of Indigenous Education , Volume 38 , Issue 1 , January 2009 , pp. 74 - 82
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2009

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Absolon, K., & Willet, C. (2004). Aboriginal research: Berry picking and hunting in the 21st century. Retrieved 25 February 2009, from http://www.fncfcs.com/pubs/vol1num1/Absolon_Willett_pp5-17.pdf.Google Scholar
Asad, T. (1986). The concept of translation in British social anthropology. In Clifford, J. & Marcus, G. E. (Eds.), Writing culture: The poetics and politics of ethnography (pp. 141–164). Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Battiste, M. (2000). Reclaiming Indigenous voice and vision. Toronto, ON: UBC Press.Google Scholar
Boston, P., MacNamara, E., Kozolanka, K., Bobbish-Rondeau, E., Iserhoff, H., Mianscum, S., Mianscum-Trapper, R., Mistacheesick, I., Petawabano, B., Sheshamush-Masty, M., Wapachee, R., & Weapenicappo, J. (1997). Using participatory action research to understand meanings aboriginal Canadians attribute to the rising incidence of diabetes. Chronic Diseases in Canada, 18, 5–12.Google Scholar
Freire, P. (1972). Pedagogy of the oppressed. Harmondsworth: Penguin.Google Scholar
Gramsci, A. (1974). The prison notebooks. London: Lawrence and Wishart.Google Scholar
Cuba, E. G., & Lincoln, Y. S. (1989). Fourth generation evaluation. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.Google Scholar
Jordan, S. (2003). Who stole my methodology: Co-opting PAR. Globalisation, Societies and Education, 1, 185–200.Google Scholar
Jordan, S., Boston, P., MacNamara, E. M., & Kozolanka, K. (2000). Some signposts for medical and nursing educational policy formation for aboriginal health care. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 13, 307–324.Google Scholar
Marcus, G. E. (1998). Ethnography through thick and thin. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Mark, R. (2004, June). Challenging our own limits. Presentation to the Council of Commissioners, Montreal, Canada.Google Scholar
McTaggart, R. (1997). Participatory action research: International contexts and consequences. Albany, NY: SUNY Press.Google Scholar
Mianscum, H. (1999). Mianscum report. Unpublished report to the Cree School Board of James Bay.Google Scholar
Orlick, T. (1996). Feeling great teaching children to excel at living (2nd ed.) Carp, ON: Creative Bound.Google Scholar
Patton, M. Q. (1997). Toward distinguishing empowerment evaluation and placing it in a larger context. Evaluation Practice, 18(2), 147–163.Google Scholar
Patton, M. Q. (1999). Organisational development and evaluation. The Canadian Journal of Program Evaluation, Special Issue, 93–113.Google Scholar
Said, E. (1993). Culture and imperialism. New York, NY: Knopf.Google Scholar
Schissel, B., & Wotherspoon, T. (2003). The legacy of school for Aboriginal people. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Sinclair, R. (2003). PAR and aboriginal epistemology: A really good fit. Retrieved 22 July, 2003, from http://www.aboriginalsocialwork.ca/special_topics/par/epistemology.htm.Google Scholar
Smith, D. E. (1990a). Texts, facts, and feminity: Exploring the relations of ruling. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Smith, D. E. (1990b). The conceptual practices of power: A feminist sociology of knowledge. Toronto, ON: University of Toronto Press.Google Scholar
Smith, D. E. (1994). The relations of ruling: A feminist inquiry. Group for Research into Institutionalisation and Professionalisation of Knowlege-Production (GRIP). Minnesota: University of Minnesota.Google Scholar
Smith, L. T. (1999). Decolonising methodologies: Research and indigeneous peoples. New York, NY: St Martin's Press.Google Scholar
Smith, L. T. (2005). On tricky ground: Researching the native in the age of uncertainity. In Denzin, N. K. & Lincoln, Y. S. (Eds.), The Sage Hanbook of Qualitative Research (pp. 85–108). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.Google Scholar
Stocek, C., & Mark, R. (2009). Indigenous research and decolonising methodologies: Possibilities and opportunities. In Langdon, J. (Ed.), Indigenous knowledges, development and education (pp. 73–96). Rotterdam, The Netherlands: Sense Publications.Google Scholar
Stronach, I., & Morris, B. (1994). Polemical notes on educational evaluation in the age of “policy hysteria”. Evaluation and Research in Education, 8, 5–19.Google Scholar
Wotherspoon, T. (2002). The dynamics of social inclusion: Public education and Aboriginal people in Canada. Toronto, ON: Laidlaw Foundation.Google Scholar