How Can Canadian Universities Tell Stories About Indigenous Engagement That Amplify Indigenous Voices and Advance Indigenous Objectives?

This study explores how Canadian universities frame Indigenous engagement through their public communications, potentially marking the first comprehensive analysis within this context. By analyzing university communications published between 2022 and 2023, this research establishes how current storytelling practices align or deviate from principles of reciprocal Indigenous engagement. Interviews with university communicators and senior Indigenous engagement advisors further contextualize these findings, offering insights into the motivations and challenges inherent in such storytelling efforts. This study finds that while many universities have made progress toward reciprocal storytelling, significant gaps remain in amplifying Indigenous voices and fostering community-university partnerships. The study provides actionable recommendations such as prioritizing narratives that feature Indigenous partners as leaders and co-creators and emphasizing reciprocal relationships over institutional agendas. Additionally, this thesis explores innovative applications of OpenAI's Chat GPT-4 to enhance research methodologies, presenting a novel approach to content analysis that could inform future academic inquiries.

Author dc:creator

• Mann, Oliver

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Walinga, Jennifer

• School of communication and culture

Language dc:language.iso

en_US

Identifier URI

https://doi.org/10.25316/ir-19788

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:null:10613/28175