Week 1: Hopes & Gifts

My hopes for this internship include a range of realized and unfolding aspirations. In broad terms, I’m cognizant of my interest in fostering community, expanding understanding, integrating guidance, and skill building. My goal is to familiarize myself with the process of archival research and begin to establish a personalized method for analyzing archival information heavily, if not entirely, populated with patriarchal records in a way that illuminates indigenous stories while keeping in mind the nuanced cultural protocols to take into consideration when interacting with this type of material in the most compassionate way.

Qualities and strengths of mine that I bring as gifts to this project are not based in research experience itself but in the qualities of my character that I feel contribute to my efforts to engage and uplift indigenous populations. This includes an open mindset, a desire to digest and convey information in a concise and thoughtful manner, and a willingness to dissect the boundaries and erasure cultivated by patriarchal frameworks. At the core of what motivates me to delve into this type of work is a desire to heal, on a range of levels, from the trauma that this land and its’ indigenous people have endured since the beginning of colonization.

The area I expect I will need the most support at the beginning of this endeavor is in cultivating technical skills related to accessing archival records and methods of finding pertinent information. Navigating these steps to find relevant sources does appear to be straightforward in terms of the process, I imagine I’ll be referring to the guide to effective research often, but the practice of it is entirely new to me and a little intimidating without experience.