Metissage

Kathy Bishop, Catherine Etmanski, M. Beth Page, Brian Dominguez, Cheryl Heykoop https://esj.usask.ca/index.php/esj/article/download/68331/52041/#:~:text=—is%20derived%20from%20the%20Latin,al.%2C%202008%3B%20Hasebe%2D

• Definition and Purpose:

  • Métissage is a creative method used for engaging people in research, learning, teaching, and community or organizational development.

  • Aims to read a life outside narrative and allows the network of relationships to construct the narrative.

• Characteristics:

  • Defies categorization or concrete definition.

  • Involves life writing, storytelling, theatre, and symbolic weaving or braiding.

  • Focuses on claiming and reclaiming multiple identities.

• Approach:

  • Heart-centered holistic approach to research, learning, teaching, community, and organizational development.

  • Autoethnographic and past performance approach.

  • Rejects positivism, objectivity, and detachment.

• Critical Reflection:

  • Involves critical reflection on self and intersubjective knowing of self in relationships.

  • Encourages seeing beyond the boundaries of life worlds.

• Steps:

  1. Set the Stage:

     • Explain Métissage, its roots, and its power.

     • Link it to a workshop setting.

  2. Select Writing Prompt:

     • Examples include 'standing outside' or 'the words I didn't speak' (the person I never became?).

  3. Incorporate Wisdom:

     • Draw inspiration from Ojibwe elder Richard Wagamese's approach: write for 15 minutes daily without a plan, focusing on the flow of thoughts without worrying about punctuation and grammar.

  4. Editing and Weaving:

     • Edit personal narratives and weave them with the narratives of others.