Kristina Fagan Bidwell

Opening the Circle of Collaboration: Making Futures in the Indigenous Literary Arts Kristina Fagan Bidwell

There are increasing expectations in the arts and humanities for both Indigenous and settler scholars to work in collaboration, but urgent questions remain: Who does collaboration benefit? What happens when differing pursuits collide? Who has access to these relationships and methods? And how does a person actually do collaboration? Opening the Circle of Collaboration responds to these questions by offering concrete practices of collaboration by and with Indigenous people. Indigenous and settler scholars Bidwell and McCall extend their close collaboration to include a wider circle of Elders, scholars, authors, artists, and students known as The Collaboration Project. Together the contributors explore the tensions and dualities within collaborative relationships in chapters that model conversation, reflection, literary analysis, and co-creative practices.

What emerges from this unique, collectively produced book project is that collaboration is a powerful and necessary practice within a larger process of (re)claiming Indigenous knowledges, cultures, languages, and stories. The co-authors argue for thinking about collaboration as a dynamic and shared space that has the potential to spark change. This book is essential reading for scholars, artists, and students seeking sustainable ways of working together, and promises to change the critical terrain around collaboration.