Taking Action II is a community-based participatory action research project that adopted a strengths-based approach to thinking about Indigenous youth HIV prevention activism. Eighteen diverse Indigenous youth leaders produced digital stories about Indigenizing HIV prevention during the summer of 2012 at a week-long retreat. Youth were interviewed twice: right after they created their stories and again after community screenings. In the summer of 2013, youth reunited to collaboratively analyze the themes and meanings of their stories. Seven overlapping themes emerged that demonstrated how youth see HIV in the context of their lives' and community. The stories make connections between HIV and structural violence, culture and relationships. In particular, in the context of HIV prevention, they focus on (1) the role of family and elders, (2) traditional sacred notions of sexuality, (3) the importance of education, (4) reclaiming history, (5) focusing on strength, (6) Indigenous cosmology and (7) overcoming addictions. In contrast to conventional public health messaging, youth produced stories rarely focused on individual harm reduction strategies. Instead, ideas of Indigeneity and decolonization were foregrounded as key strategies for health promotion work.
AdelsonN.OldingM. (2012) Narrating Aboriginality on-line: Digital storytelling, identity and healing. The Journal of Community Informatics9. Retrieved from http://ci-journal.net/index.php/ciej/article/view/740/1004 (accessed 11 July 2017).
2.
AndersonK. (2011) Life stages and native women: Memory, teachings and story medicine, Winnipeg: University of Manitoba Press.
3.
Castleden, H., Garvin, T., & Huu-ay-aht First Nation. (2008). Modifying photovoice for community-based participatory Indigenous research. Social Science & Medicine, 66(6), 1393–1405.
DunbarC. (2008) Critical race theory and indigenous methodologies. In: DenzinN.LincolnY.SmithL. T. (eds) Handbook of critical and indigenous methodologies, Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE, pp. 85–100.
6.
DuveskogM.TedreM.SedanoC. I.SutinenE. (2012) Life planning by digital storytelling in a primary school in rural Tanzania. Journal of Educational Technology & Society15(4): 225–237.
7.
FlemingJ.LedogarR. J. (2008) Resilience, an evolving concept: A review of literature relevant to aboriginal research. Pimatisiwan6(2): 7–23.
8.
FlickerS.DanforthJ.KonsmoE.WilsonC.OliverV.JacksonR.MitchellC. (2013) “Because we are Natives and we stand strong to our pride”: Decolonizing HIV prevention with aboriginal youth in Canada using the arts. Canadian Journal of Aboriginal Community-Based HIV/AIDS Research5(1): 3–23.
9.
FlickerS.DanforthJ.OliverV.KonsmoE.WilsonC.JacksonR.MitchellC. (2014) “Because we have really unique art”: Decolonizing Research with Indigenous youth using the arts. International Journal of Indigenous Health10(1): 16–34.
FlickerS.MaleyO.RidgleyA.BiscopeS.LombardoC.SkinnerH. (2008) e-PAR: Using technology and participatory action research to engage youth in health promotion. Journal of Action Research6(3): 285–303.
12.
Flicker, S., & Nixon, S. (2014). The DEPICT model for participatory qualitative health promotion research analysis piloted in Canada, Zambia and South Africa. Health Promotion International. Advanced online publication doi: 10.1093/heapro/dat093.
13.
FlickerS.O'CampoP.MonchalinR.ThistleJ.WorthingtonC.MaschingR.ThomasC. (2015) Research Done in “A Good Way”: The importance of indigenous elder involvement in HIV community-based research. American Journal of Public Health105(6): 1149–1154.
14.
GubriumA. (2009) Digital storytelling: An emergent method for health promotion research and practice. Health Promotion Practice10(2): 186.
15.
GubriumA.HallA.FlickerS. (2014) A situated practice of ethics for participatory visual and digital methods in public health research and practice: A focus on digital storytelling. American Journal of Public Health104(9): 1606–1614.
16.
HeathK. V., et al. (1999) HIV-associated risk factors among young Canadian Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal men who have sex with men. International Journal of STD & AIDS10(9): 582–587.
17.
IrvineJ. M. (2004) Talk about sex: The battles over sex education in the United States, California: University of California Press.
18.
IsekeJ.MooreS. (2011) Community-based indigenous digital storytelling with elders and youth. American Indian Culture and Research Journal35(4): 19–38.
19.
JacksonR.DebassigeC.MaschingR.WhitebirdW. (2014) Towards an indigenous narrative inquiry: The importance of composite, artful representations. In: SindingC.BarnesH. (eds) Social work artfully: Beyond borders and boundaries, Waterloo, ON: Wilfrid Laurier Press, pp. 135–158.
20.
KingT. (2003) The truth about stories: A native narrative, Toronto, ON: House of Anansi.
21.
KirmayerL. J.DandeneauS.MarshallE.PhillipsM. K.WilliamsonK. J. (2011) Rethinking resilience from indigenous perspectives. Canadian Journal of Psychiatry. Revue canadienne de psychiatrie56(2): 84–91.
22.
KovachM. (2009) Indigenous methodologies: Characteristics, conversations and contexts, Toronto, ON: University of Toronto Press.
23.
LambertJ. (2013) Digital storytelling: Capturing lives, creating community, New York: Routledge.
24.
LarkinJ.FlickerS.RestouleJ. P.BarlowK.MintzS.DagninoM.SmillieC. (2007) HIV risk, systemic inequities and aboriginal youth: Widening the circle for prevention programming, Toronto, ON: CANFAR.
25.
McWilliamK. (2009) The global diffusion of a community media practice: Digital storytelling online. In: HartleyJ.McWilliamK. (eds) Story circle: Digital storytelling around the world, Singapore: Blackwell Publishing, pp. 37–75.
26.
MillerC., et al. (2006) Elevated rates of HIV infection among young aboriginal injection drug users in a Canadian setting. Harm Reduction Journal3(9): 1–6.
27.
MitchellC.de LangeN. (2013) What can a teacher do with a cellphone? Using participatory visual research to speak back in addressing HIV & AIDS. SA Journal of Education33(4): 1–13.
28.
Monchalin, R., Flicker, S., Wilson, C., Native Youth Sexual Health Network, Prentice, T., Oliver, V., … Restoule, J. P. (2016). “When you follow your heart, you provide that path for others”: Indigenous models of youth HIV leadership. International Journal of Indigenous Health, 11(1), 135–158.
29.
NWAC (2010) A culturally relevant gender application protocol: Workbook, Ottawa, ON: Native Women's Association of Canada.
30.
PeltierD.JacksonR.PrenticeT.MaschingR.MonetteL.FongM.ShoreK. (2013) When women pick up their bundles: HIV prevention and related service needs of aboriginal women in Canada. In: GahaganJ. (ed.) Women and HIV Prevention in Canada: Implications for Research, Policy, Practice, Toronto, ON: Canadian Scholars' Press, pp. 85–104.
31.
RavenJ.O'DonnellK. (2010) Using digital storytelling to build a sense of national identity amongst Emirati students. Education, Business and Society: Contemporary Middle Eastern Issues3(3): 201–217.
32.
ReadingC. L.WienF. (2009) Health Inequalities and the Social Determinants of Aboriginal Peoples' Health, BC: National Collaborating Centre for Aboriginal Health Prince George.
33.
RicciC.FlickerS.JalonO.JacksonR.Smillie-AdjarkwaC. (2009) HIV prevention with Aboriginal youth: A global scoping review. Canadian Journal of Aboriginal Community-Based HIV/AIDS Research2: 25–37.
34.
RichmondC. A. M.RossN. A.EgelandG. M. (2007) Social support and thriving health: A new approach to understanding the health of indigenous Canadians. American Journal of Public Health97(10): 1827.
35.
RieckenT.ConibearF.MichelC.LyallJ.ScottT.TanakaM.Strong-WilsonT. (2006) Resistance through re-presenting culture: Aboriginal student filmmakers and a participatory action research project on health and wellness. Canadian Journal of Education/Revue canadienne de l'éducation29: 265–286.
36.
Sawhney, N. (2009). Voices beyond walls: The role of digital storytelling for empowering marginalized youth in refugee camps. Paper presented at the Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Interaction Design and Children, Como, Italy.
37.
SimpsonL. (2011) Dancing on our turtle's back: Stories of Nishnaabeg Recreation, resurgence and a new emergence, Winnipeg: Arbeiter Ring Publishing.
38.
SmithL. T. (1999) Decolonizing methodologies: Research and indigenous peoples, New York: St. Martin's Press.
39.
StewartS.RieckenT.ScottT.TanakaM.RieckenJ. (2008) Expanding health literacy indigenous youth creating videos. Journal of Health Psychology13(2): 180–189.
40.
SwitzerS.GutaA.de PrinseK.Chan CarusoneS.StrikeC. (2015) Visualizing harm reduction: Methodological and ethical considerations. Social Science & Medicine133: 77–84.
41.
TuckE. (2009) Suspending damage: A letter to communities. Harvard Educational Review79(3): 409–428.
42.
WexlerL.EglintonK.GubriumA. (2014) Using digital stories to understand the lives of Alaska native young people. Youth & Society46(4): 478–504.
43.
WexlerL.GubriumA.GriffinM.DiFulvioG. (2013) Promoting positive youth development and highlighting reasons for living in northwest Alaska through digital storytelling. Health Promotion Practice14(4): 617–623.
44.
WilloxA. C.HarperS. L.EdgeV. L. (2013) Storytelling in a digital age: Digital storytelling as an emerging narrative method for preserving and promoting indigenous oral wisdom. Qualitative Research13(2): 127–147.
45.
WilsonS. (2008) Research is ceremony, Halifax: Fernwood Publishing.
