Working Backwords but Not 'backwards': Indigenous Arts-Based Research and Challenging Western Research Designs

This paper discusses a community-engaged digital storytelling project with Indigenous gang members in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. Partnering with the community-based organization STR8 UP, who has over 25 years working with Indigenous Peoples engaged in street gangs, the project looked to have STR8 UP members reflect on the life and impact of STR8 UPs founder, Father Andre Polievre. The theme and direction of the digital stories were defined by STR8 UP and follows a process of ‘working backwards to move forward’ in research. The importance of this research and methodology is that Indigenous street gang research has been limited to research methods that have focused primarily on traditional sociological and anthropological approaches such as surveys, ethnography, and semi-structured interviews. This has limited our understandings of why and how individuals get involved and leave the street gang lifestyle. Arts-based research, such as digital stories, have the potential to shift our understandings and provide a deeper perspective into the lifeworlds of those involved in street spaces. However, caution must be used to ensure that the research does not pornify or reinforce stereotypical tropes that further marginalize peoples living in gang communities. Through an Indigenous methodological approach that centres the concept of relationality, digital storytelling becomes a tool for individuals to tell their story from their perspective, providing a thicker understanding of the complexities that have led to one’s inclusion and exiting from street gangs.