Arts informed indigenous research: Listening to Indigenous Peoples' knowledges in health professions education

CONTEXT: The 2007 United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples affirms Indigenous Peoples' right to maintain, control, protect and develop their knowledge systems, including knowledges of sciences and technologies of medicine and health. It could, however, be argued that this right is typically not upheld in health professions education (HPE), as the broader HPE community perceives dominant colonial ideologies as supreme. Yet, Indigenous Peoples' knowledges promote futurity. They can protect communities and promote healing for everyone from colonising harms. However, engaging with Indigenous Peoples' knowledges in HPE is not straightforward, as a contested cultural interface exists between knowledge systems. This article shares how Arts Informed Indigenous Research (AIIR) can illuminate ways to grow Indigenous knowledges into HPE. We outline the context and problem, describe AIIR's conceptual frame and praxis and share a praxis example. APPROACH: Informed by arts-based research paradigms, AIIR embeds and embodies an Indigenist research agenda. AIIR also incorporates storywork drawing attention to storying complexity. Indigenous Peoples engage AIIR to deeply investigate research questions and solve complex issues often caused by colonisation. Importantly, AIIR is Indigenous Peoples led and engages knowledge holder diversity through sensory and symbolic forms that create reflection. For many research methods, researchers perform data analysis. However, in AIIR knowledge holders make meaning through creativity, searching for ideas and interrelated understanding. Researchers revere created knowledges with honour and show reciprocity by strengthening story impact. CONCLUSION: Incorporating Indigenous knowledge within HPE is not straightforward, as colonial ideologies continue to dominate the field. However, AIIR can support engagement between divergent western and Indigenous knowledge systems by creating ethical, critically reflective and relational spaces that promote anti-colonial listening. Additionally, AIIR offers methods to generate insights into ways the broader HPE community can relinquish colonial power to make space in HPE for Indigenous Peoples' knowledges of futurity.