Reflections on Indigenous Allyship: Perspectives from an International Student and Emerging Scholar

Abstract

This paper epitomizes my journey toward Indigenous allyship in relation to my lived experiences in Canada as a recently graduated international student and emerging community-based researcher. I reflect upon Tuck and Yang’s (2012) concept of ‘settler innocence’ where I position myself as an international student struggling to fully adjust to Canada’s socio-cultural sphere, but also as a settler scholar who often reverts to my academic niches to resume colonial occupation of research processes. Additionally, I share some challenges and insights of working across epistemological differences during my research intern in Baawaating. Such experience has at time engendered my feeling of inaction and fear of cultural appropriation. However, through stepwise community engagement, scaffolding, and trust-building, I argue that it is feasible for an ally scholar to transform apprehension and vulnerability into decolonizing actions and ethical research practices.