Listening for the Teachings: Poetics as Ceremony in Indigenist Re-search

Abstract

This article introduces Indigenist poetic inquiry, an arts-based re-search method grounded in Indigenous ways of knowing, being, and doing. As a Muskego Inninuwak re-searcher, I share how poetic and relational practices guided knowledge gathering with Indigenous full-spectrum doulas who view birth work as Indigenous resurgence. Grounded in an Indigenist paradigm, this approach honors reciprocity, interconnectedness, and ceremony. Through storytelling, journaling, and reflection, I created “teaching” and “learning” poems that evoke môsihtâwin (insight) and nistohtamowin (deep understanding). Indigenist poetic inquiry weaves story, spirit, and relationship into re-search, positioning meaning-making itself as a transformative act of resurgence.