The Ethical Space of Engagement Between Indigenous Women and Girls of a Drum Circle and White, Settler Men of a Police Chorus: Implications for Policing Ideology, Policies, and Practices

Abstract

Centering an Indigenous research framework and methodology, this study set out to inquire as to how an unlikely singing partnership between Indigenous women and girls of a drum circle and white, Settler men of a police chorus has been sustained within a local context for five years. Through engagement with one another, an ethical space upheld by willingness, responsibility, accountability, and reciprocity was created that enabled dialogue and understanding of the historical and ongoing systemic violence perpetrated against Indigenous peoples and the need for ideological structural and systemic change in policing policies and practices. An emergent and, decidedly, central theme deriving from participants’ stories was the importance of the shared ethics of: truth, care (love), respect, courage, honesty, humility, and wisdom that served to maintain the ethical space. Interpretation of these findings through an Indigenous epistemological lens reveals the sacred teachings of the Anishinaabe1 peoples about living in harmony with all of one’s relations.