Drumming Our Way Home: Intergenerational Learning, Teaching, and Indigenous Ways of Knowing

Takes readers on an autobiographical journey to recover Indigenous identity, demonstrating how storytelling can open up a new world of pedagogy and culture-based learning.

Drumming Our Way Home demonstrates how telling, retelling, and re-storying lived experiences not only pass on traditional ways but also open up a world of culture-based learning.

Georgina Martin was taken from her mother not long after birth in a tuberculosis hospital. Her experience is representative of the intergenerational trauma inflicted by the Canadian state on Indigenous peoples. Here she tells her story and invites Elder Jean William and youth Colten Wycotte to reflect critically on their own family and community experiences. Throughout, she is guided by her hand drum, reflecting on its use as a way to uphold community protocols and honor teachings. Her journey provides a powerful example of reconnection to culture through healing, affirmation, and intergenerational learning.

Drumming Our Way Home is evidence of the value of using storytelling as a tool for teaching, learning, and making meaning.

Georgina Martin is professor in the Department of Indigenous/Xwulmuxw Studies at Vancouver Island University. Prior to her academic career, she worked in a range of federal and provincial government departments, serving in roles including Native program officer, community health development officer, land and community coordinator, and Aboriginal liaison equity officer.