Reciprocal Citizenship: Settling into the Responsibilities of Living on Indigenous Lands

Bodnaresko, Sulyn

Reciprocal Citizenship: Settling into the Responsibilities of Living on Indigenous Lands

dc.contributor.advisor	Poitras Pratt, Yvonne
dc.contributor.author	Bodnaresko, Sulyn
dc.contributor.committeemember	Lacerda-Vandenborn, Elisa M.
dc.contributor.committeemember	Domene, José F.
dc.contributor.committeemember	Gereluk, Dianne T.
dc.contributor.committeemember	Chung, Stan Sae-Hoon
dc.date	2024-11
dc.date.accessioned	2024-09-11T19:40:54Z
dc.date.available	2024-09-11T19:40:54Z
dc.date.issued	2024-09-04
dc.description.abstract	This study examined newcomer-settler citizenship as a personal and scholastic response to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Call to Action 94. With the guidance of Indigenous principles, including relationality, respect, interconnectedness, and reciprocity, I engaged with newcomer-settlers and Indigenous peoples working in the immigration and settlement sector to consider, “How can I be the best relative that I can be, and learn from others, while living on these Blackfoot, Stoney Nakoda, Tsuut’ina, and Métis lands that my settler-colonial family and I call home?” This Indigenist, interpretative, mixed methods research study has helped me to more fully understand the costs paid by Indigenous peoples to support my standard of living and comfort on these lands. Through relationships and this research process, I have also come to recognize an ethical and decolonizing way of being—called reciprocal citizenship—whereby non-Indigenous peoples can challenge settler-colonialism’s inherent oppression by centering Indigenous truths, dignity, and liberty in their thoughts, actions, and words. Reciprocal citizenship is about the ethical acts of giving back for the gifts of living on these lands, and seven actions revealed through this study include: respecting Indigenous-settler relationships; critically self-reflecting on oppression in Canada; acknowledging one’s own moves to innocence and comfort; seeking to learn; growing settler-colonial awareness; imagining shared futures; and actioning personal responsibilities that are guided in relationship with Indigenous peoples, knowledge systems, and the land. Reciprocal citizenship brings together citizenship education, transformative learning, and reconciliatory education. It asks both newcomer-settlers and established-settlers to step into their citizenship responsibilities, so that all can live in mutual respect and flourish on these lands that that we now call Canada.
dc.identifier.citation	Bodnaresko, S. (2024). Reciprocal citizenship: settling into the responsibilities of living on Indigenous lands (Doctoral thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca.
dc.identifier.uri	https://hdl.handle.net/1880/119664
dc.language.iso	en	en
dc.publisher.faculty	Werklund School of Education
dc.rights	Unless otherwise indicated, this material is protected by copyright and has been made available with authorization from the copyright owner. You may use this material in any way that is permitted by the Copyright Act or through licensing that has been assigned to the document. For uses that are not allowable under copyright legislation or licensing, you are required to seek permission.	en
dc.subject	Reciprocal citizenship
dc.subject	Settler-colonialism
dc.subject	TRC 94 Calls to Action
dc.subject	Transformative learning
dc.subject	Reconciliatory education
dc.subject	Citizenship education
dc.subject	Newcomer-settler and established-settler responsibilities
dc.subject.classification	Education--Adult and Continuing
dc.title	Reciprocal Citizenship: Settling into the Responsibilities of Living on Indigenous Lands
dc.type	doctoral thesis
thesis.degree.discipline	Education Graduate Program – Educational Research
thesis.degree.grantor	University of Calgary
thesis.degree.name	Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
ucalgary.thesis.accesssetbystudent	I do not require a thesis withhold – my thesis will have open access and can be viewed and downloaded publicly as soon as possible.