Restorying Indigenous Leadership: Wise Practices in Community Development

Cora Voyageur, Laura Brearley, and Brian Calliou (eds.), Restorying Indigenous Leadership: Wise Practices in Community Development. Banff, AB: Banff Centre Press, 2014. 345 pages. ISBN 978-1-89473-68-3. $24.95 paperback.Voyageur, Brearley, and Calliou's edited book, Restorying Indigenous Leadership: Wise Practices in Community Development offers a scholarly look at contemporary initiatives in Indigenous in Canada, Australia, and the United States. With the exception of Brearproject. ley's chapter on Deep Listening and Michelle Evans' chapter which explores artistic in an Indigenous Australian context, the volume focuses on building, entrepreneurship, and development of business capacity. The work also focuses heavily on case study research, which is closely associated with stories based on direct experience.In the area of studies, scholars note that the concept of leadership is, in and of itself, a contested notion and based almost exclusively on context. Thus coming up with any standard definition of provides an opportunity for Indigenous scholars to focus on the context of specific tribes and nations as well as delicately to attempt to provide a theoretically sound general approach to Indigenous leadership.In the Introduction, Voyageur, Brearley, and Calliou offer a thorough review of existent Indigenous literature. This chapter should be required reading in any Indigenous course because it provides an excellent foundation for this important discourse. In Chapter One, Calliou and Wesley-Esquimaux offer a strong rationale for replacing the standard notion of best with practices. Their argument is that wise practices are more in accord with traditional knowledge systems as well as contextual applications. Throughout the entire text, we come to understand the dilemma of defining Indigenous while walking between the two worlds of traditional Indigenous values/practices/knowledge and the contemporary world, especially when it comes to politics, governance, and business.In Chapter Four, Voyageur offers a summary of Indigenous women in politics and business in Canada. This chapter is extremely timely as women begin to take on more and more roles in Indigenous communities. She writes:Indigenous women are now more directly involved in their world. They have more power and authority than they had in the past, and they are not waiting for permission to act. This new attitude allows them to bring positive change to themselves, their families, and their communities through employment, programs, and services. They are serving as role models to the youth and are giving them hope. They also serve as ambassadors to the non-Indigenous community, since success in politics and business can open many doors for future interaction. (150)Several authors take on the specific dilemmas of the strengths and limitations of the groundbreaking research coming out of the partnership between the Harvard Project on American Indian Economic De- velopment and the Native Nations Institute at the University of Arizona in which Cornell and Kalt coined the concept of nation building so popular today in the U.S., Canada, and around the world (1992). …

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