7:00 PM
BMH 101

Dr. Andrea Trenholm will speak on “Narrative (Re)Presentations: Reflections on Form and Teachings from My Elders” as part of the annual John McKendy Memorial Lecture on Narrative. The event will take place on Thursday, November 16 at 7 PM in BMH 101.

“Narrative research texts can be considered to be (re)presentations, consisting of both presentations – an image of the researcher’s journey that has not been presented before, and representations – referring to participants’ recounted experiences and stories, as reconstructed and re-told through the researcher-participant relationship. However, the absence of clearly defined rules, processes and steps, makes narrative research challenging and uncertain, especially in cross-cultural research contexts.

"My goal for this lecture and discussion is to share from my experience navigating the narrative analysis and production phase of an inquiry into the schooling experiences of Wabanaki high school graduates. During this project, particularly while (re)writing participants stories I was frequently filled with doubt. While I eventually charted a path through it, I learned that the analytical process necessary in narrative inquiry is as artistic as it is rigorous. For in order to convey “what it is like” in someone else’s shoes you have to transmit feelings, something that research reports generally do not accomplish. In other words, form matters."

But what happens when the researcher-writer’s “forms,” or genres of writing, do not match those familiar to the participants? What happens when the researcher’s language does not have words to express relational concepts that are foundational to another? These are questions she continues to ponder thanks to teachings from several Wabanaki Elders she has worked closely with over the years, and she would love to explore these further with attendees.

Dr. Andrea Trenholm is currently a Freelance Consultant Researcher working with Three Nations Education Group Inc. on a Treaty Education development project. She recently completed a three-year Postdoctoral Fellowship with the Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Narrative (CIRN) at St. Thomas University. While with CIRN she was the Lead Researcher on two Healthy Seniors Pilot Projects: iGenNB: Intergenerational Living for Community Wellbeing and Civic Engagement for Health Among Older Adults. Dr. Trenholm completed her Ph.D. with the Faculty of Education at the University of New Brunswick in 2019, where she conducted a narrative inquiry into the schooling experiences of Wabanaki high school graduates. Between 2009 and 2021, she also worked at the Mi’kmaq Wolastoqey Centre in various capacities, including Instructor and Program Development Coordinator for the Indigenous Counselling Certificate program. Her research in healthy aging and Indigenous education is connected by a desire to really listen to people and learn from their stories, and her preference for applying an appreciative, strengths-based lens. She is a mom of two children and fur-baby, and is passionate about social justice and reconciliation efforts.