Terri Cardinal’s research has always centred on ceremony and healing practices, but when it came time to narrow her focus, she chose to begin at the end.
The decision to centre her PhD research on Indigenous end-of-life practices, MacEwan University’s associate vice-president of Indigenous initiatives and engagement told the Office of Research Services Research Recast(ed) podcast, was deeply personal and based on having experienced multiple losses in a short period of time.
“I feel that many of us who do Indigenous research are really doing research to also identify with our own healing journey in some capacity, but also witnessing and experiencing how traditional practices have impacted and changed the way we heal … grieve, and mourn our loved ones,” says Cardinal.
Addressing the disruption in knowledge transfer around the end of life caused by colonization hasn’t been easy.
“There's not a lot of Western literature out there in relation to the questions that I'm asking,” says Cardinal. So she finds herself going back to Elders in Cree communities and posing questions to people who hold the knowledge.
Cardinal is also studying the science around the end of life in Western literature and using what she calls her “Cree brain” to make connections.
“I automatically think, ‘Our grandmothers did that,’ or ‘Our grandfathers do that,’ or ‘We do that in ceremony,’” she says. “Our ceremonies, our practices, our teachings aren't for nothing. There's reason and science behind it. We have the knowledge embedded in our communities.”
And while Cardinal often relies on end-of-life terminology that Western institutions are familiar with, it isn’t necessarily a perfect fit. When she talks about death, for example, there isn’t a direct Cree translation – the closest Cree word translates to, “the spirit that is leaving the physical world and moving into the spiritual realm.”
“We don't necessarily see it as an end-of-life, so to speak,” she explains. “End-of-life and birth are very much connected … coming from spiritual world into the physical world. And so there is this circular process of how we experience that.”
Cardinal shared a story with Research Recast(ed) host Brooklyn Leschyshyn about the loss of a friend to cancer and how the last days of her friend's life and the days after she passed were intricately tied to traditional practices. Cardinal spoke about how honoured – and anxious – she was to be invited into the space where women close to her friend were preparing her body.
“There was laughter and there were tears, and there was joy, and there was love,” she said. “Something switched for me, and it didn't feel as heavy.”
The funeral process that followed, along with traditional burial processes and teachings, were also really important, said Cardinal. “To be able to hear, and feel, and see love at the end of life, or at that transition period, was really beautiful.”
While most of Cardinal’s work is tied to recognizing and celebrating the importance of Indigenous identity and cultural practices, she is also spending some time this month turning her attention to Indigenous identity in the context of cultural exploitation.
“It’s cool to be Indigenous right now,” she says, but that can also lead to individuals faking Indigeneity for employment, and research and scholarship funding.
“We have people coming into institutions and claiming Indigenous ancestry, making Indigenous claims to benefit themselves,” says Cardinal. An event hosted by MacEwan University’s kihêw waciston Indigenous Centre on September 26 brings together international speakers to spark a conversation around the issue.