The DOI matches its Crossref record; 21 of the 24 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
We Need a New Story: Walking and the wâhkôhtowin Imagination
Open accessAbstract
Inspired and guided by the nêhiyaw (Cree) wisdom concept of wâhkôhtowin, this paper frames walking as a life practice that can teach kinship relationality and help reconceptualize Indigenous-Canadian relations on more ethical terms. I argue that Indigenous-Canadian relations today continue to be heavily influenced by colonial teachings that emphasize relationship denial. A significant curricular and pedagogical challenge faced by educators in Canada today is how to facilitate the emergence of a new story that can repair inherited colonial divides and give good guidance on how Indigenous peoples and Canadians can live together differently. In my experience, the emergence of a new story can be facilitated through the life practice of walking.
Overview
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Verification
Claims the paper makes
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
The cited source says what the claim attributes to it.
In the citing paper
“Dwayne Donald (2021) describes how Wâhkôhtowin supports our actions, stating how 'in a practical way, Wâhkôhtowin describes ethical guidelines regarding how you are related to your kin and how to conduct yourself as a good relative' (p. 58).”
From Education Leadership in K-12 Systems from a Métis Worldview: Infusing Education Leadership with an Understanding of Wâhkôhtowin (2025) · cites this paper as Donald, 2021
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
Citations
Cites
Sheller, M., & Urry, J. (2006) · Environment and Planning A Economy and Space · doi:10.1068/a37268 · Cited by 6,172
The Intimacies of Four Continents
Lowe, L. (2015) · Duke University Press eBooks · doi:10.1215/9780822375647 · Cited by 1,720
Ingold, T. (2004) · Journal of Material Culture · doi:10.1177/1359183504046896 · Cited by 578
Footprints through the weather‐world: walking, breathing, knowing
Ingold, T. (2010) · Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute · doi:10.1111/j.1467-9655.2010.01613.x · Cited by 547
The Colonizer's Model of the World. Geographical Diffusionism and Eurocentric History
Mathewson, K., & Blaut, J. M. (1996) · Economic Geography · doi:10.2307/144529 · Cited by 502
History of the Idea of Progress
Nisbet, R. (2017) · Routledge eBooks · doi:10.4324/9780203789940 · Cited by 388
The Intimacies of Four Continents
Lowe, L. (2020) · Duke University Press eBooks · doi:10.1515/9780822375647 · Cited by 264
Wanderlust a history of walking
Solnit, R. (2001) · Cited by 264
Casey, E. S. (2013) · University of California Press eBooks · doi:10.1525/california/9780520276031.001.0001 · Cited by 252
The Colonizer's Model of the World: Geographical Diffusionism and Eurocentric History
Blaut, J. M. (1993) · Dominican Scholar (Dominican University of California) · Cited by 149
Research works printed but not linked: 3
- Campbell, M. (2007, November). We need to return to the principles of Wahkotowin. Eagle Feather News, 10(11), 5. https://www.eaglefeathernews.com/quadrant/media//pastIssues/November_2007.pdf
- Tenner, E. (1997). How the chair conquered the world. Wilson Quarterly, 21(2), 64-70. http://archive.wilsonquarterly.com/essays/how-chair-conquered-world
- Wynter, S. (1995). 1492: A new world view. In V. L. Hyatt & R. Nettleford (Eds.), Race, discourse, and the origin of the Americas: A new world view (pp. 5-57). Smithsonian.
Cited by
A Case of Senator Lynn Beyak and Anti-Indigenous Systemic Racism in Canada
Howell, L., & Ng-A-Fook, N. (2022) · Canadian Journal of Education / Revue canadienne de l éducation · doi:10.53967/cje-rce.v45i1.4787 · Cited by 26
“However, as some of the research literature makes clear, the most crucial barriers to such ongoing relational denials, are within the teachers themselves (Aitken & Radford, 2018; Deer 2013; Donald, 2021; Howell, 2017; Smith, 2017).”
BackgroundInfluentialMarom, L. (2023) · Canadian Journal of Education / Revue canadienne de l éducation · doi:10.53967/cje-rce.6071 · Cited by 14
jagodzinski, J. (2022) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-030-90980-2_8 · Cited by 6
Envisioning Indigenous education sovereignty through story: Our education, our way
Bishop, M. (2024) · The Australian Journal of Indigenous Education · doi:10.55146/ajie.v53i2.1105 · Cited by 5
Murky Waters: An Arts-Based Inquiry into Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women and Girls
Ferguson, K. A. (2022) · The Canadian Journal of Action Research · doi:10.33524/cjar.v22i3.580 · Cited by 6
Ordons, D. R. D., & Hill, C. (2024) · Journal of Adventure Education & Outdoor Learning · doi:10.1080/14729679.2024.2444913 · Cited by 5
“The work of decolonization requires an examination of the sedimented layers of Indigenous and settler relationships on and with these lands, as well as a commitment to the ethic of historical consciousness and kinship relationality (Donald, 2009, 2021).”
A Walking Curriculum: From “Good Ideas for Walks” to Transformative Design for Eco-Social Change
Judson, G., & Datura, M. D. D. (2023) · International Journal of Education Policy and Leadership · doi:10.22230/ijepl.2023v19n2a1355 · Cited by 4
“Walking as a way of attuning physically, emotionally, and imaginatively to the living world is, for example, the first theme noted in the literature on walking pedagogy (Beavington, 2021; Beyes & Steyaert; 2021; Donald, 2021; Lyle & Snowber; 2021).”
BackgroundReorienting toward complexity in teacher education
Dlouhy-Nelson, J., Hamilton, K., Loland, D., Shayer, L. P., Broom, C., Cherkowski, S. L., Latta, M. M., & Ragoonaden, K. O. (2023) · Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education · doi:10.1080/1359866x.2023.2197188 · Cited by 3
“…the possibilities for what teacher education could look like and rethought “what it means to be human” in a demanding profession, in the land we inhabit, and with the knowledge that what it is to be human is a question of practicing our relationality to the land (Donald, 2021, 2019) and to others.”
BackgroundCentering First Voice in Indigenous Ways of Knowing in a Foundational Indigenous Health Course
Paul, M. S., Bensler, H., & Striker, E. G. (2025) · Creative Nursing · doi:10.1177/10784535251357331 · Cited by 3
Boelen, V. (2023) · Journal of the Canadian Association for Curriculum Studies · doi:10.25071/1916-4467.40761 · Cited by 3
“Cette dynamique décoloniale de guérison, indissociable de la réconciliation avec le monde naturel (Madden, 2019), mobilise ainsi la spiritualité de tout un chacun pour en arriver à un nouveau rapport avec les Peuples autochtones ainsi qu’avec la Terre-Mère en temps de crise écologique, résultat d’un anthropocentrisme…”
BackgroundInfluentialTowards kinship literacies: attending to place relations in a play-based library program
MacDonald, J., Lenters, K., & Mosher, R. (2024) · Children s Geographies · doi:10.1080/14733285.2024.2352365 · Cited by 2
“Following on the work of Donald (2019; 2021) and Tyson Yunkaporta (2020), from the Apa-lech Clan, we o ff er two layers for attuning literacies with place-based stories.”
InfluentialDisrupting Colonial Narratives of Place: The [blinded] Slough Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow Project
Hill, C., Bailey, R., & McKay, C. (2024) · Canadian Journal of Education / Revue canadienne de l éducation · doi:10.53967/cje-rce.6889 · Cited by 2
Waliszewska, A. (2025) · Language and Literacy · doi:10.20360/langandlit29761 · Cited by 2
“…2019; Machado de Oliveira, 2021; Mills & Dooley, 2019; Rowsell & Pahl, 2020; van Ierland, 2024), ● place and land-based (Battiste, 2010; Cardinal, 2015; Donald, 2019; 2021; Grenz, 2024; Häggström & Schmidt, 2020; Machado de Oliveira, 2021; Marom & Rattray, 2022; Mills et al., 2014; Mills…”
InfluentialLand as Kin, Exile and Agony: A Relational Approach to Justice
Sawafta, E. (2026) · Australian Journal of Environmental Education · doi:10.1017/aee.2026.10134 · Cited by 2
Crandall, J. (2023) · Humanities · doi:10.3390/h12040072 · Cited by 2
Yoon, E. (2023) · Journal of Childhood Studies · doi:10.18357/jcs21219 · Cited by 2
“In conclusion, I discuss how children’s connections to nature can be important for decolonization and Indigenization in Canadian school systems (Donald, 2021).”
BackgroundHill, C., Rosehart, P., Ordons, D. R. D., Aileen, K., & Blenkinsop, S. (2024) · Teacher Development · doi:10.1080/13664530.2024.2383748 · Cited by 2
“In his own life, Donald undertakes walking as a life practice to activate the wâhkôhtowin imagination, ‘wherein the networks of human and more-than-human relations that enmesh us become vivid and apparent’ (Donald 2021, 55).”
InfluentialEcologies of De/colonization: Embodied Caribbean Diasporic Perspectives
Girvan, A., & Piñán, A. V. P. (2024) · Studies in Social Justice · doi:10.26522/ssj.v18i4.4330 · Cited by 2
Rashid, M., Nguyen, J., Clark, W., Foulds, J. L., John, I., Chan, M., Whalen‐Browne, M., Roach, P., Morris, M. I., & Forgie, S. E. D. (2025) · BMC Medical Education · doi:10.1186/s12909-025-06722-w · Cited by 2
Tarc, A. M. (2022) · Elsevier eBooks · doi:10.1016/b978-0-12-818630-5.08011-8 · Cited by 4
Chaulk, D. (2025) · Canadian Journal of Education / Revue canadienne de l éducation · doi:10.53967/cje-rce.7521 · Cited by 1
Nous avons besoin d’une nouvelle histoire : la marche et l’imagination wâhkôhtowin
Donald, D. T., & Campeau, D. (2023) · Journal of the Canadian Association for Curriculum Studies · doi:10.25071/1916-4467.40873 · Cited by 1
Self-citationMcKeon, M. (2025) · Qualitative Research · doi:10.1177/14687941251337243 · Cited by 1
“Over a period of 13 moons, I drove north to Edmonton, where I was born, to take a year-long holistic education course through the University of Alberta, co-instructed by Cree professor Dwayne Donald and Cree Elder Bob Cardinal.”
Influential“I Just Feel Fully Alive”: Enhancing Ecological Understandings Through Place-Based Experiences
MacDonald, J. (2025) · Journal of the Canadian Association for Curriculum Studies · doi:10.25071/1916-4467.40843 · Cited by 1
Rajagopal, H. (2025) · Multicultural Perspectives · doi:10.1080/15210960.2025.2575736 · Cited by 1
“The questions posed by hooks (2009) also emphasize how place and community shape human subjectivity, and suggest that our identities and lit-eracies are shaped by the geographical, social, and cultural aspects of the places we inhabit, as many Indigenous scholars have emphasised (Donald, 2021).”
Unearthing Forest Pedagogies: Autoethnographic Encounters within Critical Forest Studies
Chartrand, M.-È. (2026) · Australian Journal of Environmental Education · doi:10.1017/aee.2026.10136 · Cited by 1
Critical Forest Studies: Seeding a New Field from Underground to Overstory
Rousell, D., Hill, C. M., Ryan, J. C., Harvey, M., Barns, S., Aleksic, J., & Boadu, G. (2026) · Australian Journal of Environmental Education · doi:10.1017/aee.2026.10153 · Cited by 1
Writing as Resurgent Presencing: An Urban Coyote Curriculum
Hanson, A. J. (2023) · Journal of the Canadian Association for Curriculum Studies · doi:10.25071/1916-4467.40735 · Cited by 1
Water, Air, Stone: Storying Elemental Kinship
Lucas, K. (2024) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-031-65591-3_6 · Cited by 1
Motta, S. C., Marzinotto, D., Hutchinson, N., Rodham, J., & Sullivan, I. (2024) · Journal of International Political Theory · doi:10.1177/17550882241283585 · Cited by 1
“…recognition and nurturing of our lives lived in responsible relationship as students, as Indigenous (on and off Country) and non-Indigenous peoples, and as members of our communities and kinship networks (see for Indigenist pedagogies of kinship-making e.g. Donald, 2021; Lees and Bang, 2023).”
Garrett-Walker, W. L., Brant, J., Pham, J., & Spooner, N. (2024) · International Journal of Leadership in Education · doi:10.1080/13603124.2024.2442624 · Cited by 2
“Noted Indigenous scholars have written extensively about the importance of seeing self in relation to land and each other (Donald, 2021; Nightingale & Richmond, 2022; Nxumalo & Villanueva, 2020).”
Educational transformation through ethical relationality in education change networks
Schnellert, L., Davidson, S. F., & Donovan, B. L. (2024) · Curriculum Inquiry · doi:10.1080/03626784.2025.2458071 · Cited by 1
“By working across Indigenous and transformative paradigms, our conceptual framework spans Indigenous Knowledges, Indigenous education, and ethical relationality (Donald, 2021) perspectives.”
InfluentialStouffer, J., Kasamali, Z., Muro, M. D., Lam, M., & Watson, E. (2023) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-031-25871-8_9
A Canadian Curriculum Theory Project
Phillips, P., & Ng-A-Fook, N. (2023) · Springer international handbooks of education · doi:10.1007/978-3-030-82976-6_53-1
Krotz, S. W. (2023) · Canada and Beyond A Journal of Canadian Literary and Cultural Studies · doi:10.14201/candb.v12i127-144
La portée de la Commission de vérité et de réconciliation dans les contextes francophones canadiens
Wiscutie-Crépeau, N., Ng-A-Fook, N., Joncas, J. A., & Pageau, L. (2023) · Journal of the Canadian Association for Curriculum Studies · doi:10.25071/1916-4467.40871
Repenser les grands récits sur Marie-Anne Gaboury à partir d’une perspective wahkotowin
Gaudet, J. C., & Bouvier, H. (2023) · Cahiers franco-canadiens de l Ouest · doi:10.7202/1107477ar
A Canadian Curriculum Theory Project
Phillips, P., & Ng-A-Fook, N. (2024) · Springer international handbooks of education · doi:10.1007/978-3-031-21155-3_53
Movement, movie-making, and soil art: hope in affectively de/composing pedagogies
Honeyford, M. A., Watt, J., Roche, S., Cain, N., & Ferguson, K. A. (2024) · Pedagogies An International Journal · doi:10.1080/1554480x.2024.2435921
“Much of our collective work has been interested in multimodal composing as embodied practices, expanding ways of knowing through movement, dance, and walking (Donald, 2021; Irwin, 1999; Springgay & Truman, 2019; Ulmer, 2015; Snowber, 2012).”
Hill, J. (2024) · Imagining SoTL · doi:10.29173/isotl779
“I am inspired by Donald (2021) who draws on the Nêhiyaw wisdom concept wâhkôhtowin to animate and story his teaching practice.”
Activist Allyship and Anti-Discriminatory Education
Crandall, J. (2025) · Springer international handbooks of education · doi:10.1007/978-3-031-47411-8_19-1
Walking into Mo(u)rning: Walking as Recovery, Research, Revolt
Carter, J. (2025) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-031-77657-1_11
Unsettling Cooperative Education: Decolonial Directions
Warkentin, D. (2025) · Journal for the Study of Cooperative and Experiential Education · doi:10.34314/9a833d76
Activist Allyship and Anti-discriminatory Education
Crandall, J. (2025) · Springer international handbooks of education · doi:10.1007/978-3-031-76485-1_19
Phillips, P. (2025) · Journal of the Canadian Association for Curriculum Studies · doi:10.25071/1916-4467.40810
Mystery—Whereof We Cannot Know, Yet Cannot Keep Silent
Haggarty, H. T., Karrow, D. D., & Harvey, S. R. (2025) · Journal of the Canadian Association for Curriculum Studies · doi:10.25071/1916-4467.40912
Professional, Personal, and Pedagogical
Benoit, S. M., Meletis, Z. A., & Crandall, J. (2025) · IGI Global eBooks · doi:10.4018/979-8-3373-4445-4.ch003
Words that Come Before All Else: An Embodied Decolonizing Praxis
Bensler, H., & Paul, M. S. (2025) · Witness The Canadian Journal of Critical Nursing Discourse · doi:10.25071/2291-5796.174
On Working Toward Equitable Learning Communities: Thinking Across National Borders
Crandall, J., & Easterling, P. H. L. (2025) · Emerald Group Publishing Limited eBooks · doi:10.1108/978-1-80592-459-320251022
Crandall, J., Ha, H. T. H., Verma, R., & Simard, M.-A. (2025) · Springer texts in education · doi:10.1007/978-3-032-02333-9_19
Danielson, R., Anicha, C. L., Bilen‐Green, C., & Davis-Wallette, J. (2025) · Discover Education · doi:10.1007/s44217-025-00971-z
“…in Indigenous Communities” [51], when asked what could be done by those of us who want to support justice for Indigenous communities, one presenter responded simply, “Act like a relative,” a perspective that reflects the kin relationality described by a number of Indigenous scholars [40, 52, 53].”
Anti-racist reorientations to land through gardening with newcomer youth of color
Lognon, R., Khandelwal, C., Sanyal, M., Dutta, S., Banerjee, P., & Sengupta, P. (2025) · Frontiers in Climate · doi:10.3389/fclim.2025.1639059
“Indigenous and critical scholars have both argued for centering embodied, relational, place-based, and justice-oriented practices across diverse, urban contexts, while also centering more-than-human kinship (Bang et al., 2013; Donald, 2021; Marin, 2020; Vossoughi et al., 2023).”
InfluentialLeading With Relational Compassion
Serebrin, W. (2023) · Emerald Group Publishing Limited eBooks · doi:10.1108/979-8-88730-473-120251004
Climate moves: reaching for threshold knowledge one walk at a time
Buller, R. E., & Wilson, S. (2025) · Local Environment · doi:10.1080/13549839.2025.2596719
Eastern Current—Falling into Story-Listening
Soares, R. P. (2026) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-032-08534-4_2
Western Current—Navigating Through Theories and Practices of Un/Learning
Soares, R. P. (2026) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-032-08534-4_4
Ecologising the Research Image: Methods of Knowledge Creation with Forestscapes
Hill, C. M., McKay, C., Aleksic, J., & Rousell, D. (2026) · Australian Journal of Environmental Education · doi:10.1017/aee.2026.10146
Literacies in the More-Than-Human World: Elementary Aged Learners in an Outdoor Learning Community
Waliszewska, A. (2026) · Australian Journal of Environmental Education · doi:10.1017/aee.2026.10152
Honeyford, M. A., & Watt, J. (2026) · English Teaching Practice & Critique · doi:10.1108/etpc-09-2025-0209
Encountering Olympic landscapes: walking as a pedagogic tool in Stratford, London
Qualmann, C., & Morris, B. (2025) · Research in Drama Education The Journal of Applied Theatre and Performance · doi:10.1080/13569783.2025.2557841
“…this work we seek to contribute to the flourishing of walking pedagogies that we believe have great potential to enliven the imagination (Donald 2021) connect the curriculum in transdisci-plinary ways (Mullally et al. 2023) and support students in connecting their creative practice and…”
Respatialising the Cape ocean through planetary attending
Canham, H. K., Malherbe, N., & Gwadiso, X. A. (2026) · Social & Cultural Geography · doi:10.1080/14649365.2026.2710087
Moose Legs and Countermaps: Reimagining Teacher Education with Indigenous Wisdom Traditions
Howell, L., & Donald, D. T. (2026) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-032-23483-4_12
Self-citationWayfinding as an educational experience of (re)orienting to life and living
MacDonald, J. (2026) · Journal of Curriculum and Pedagogy · doi:10.1080/15505170.2026.2711990
Race, Intersectionality and Hidden Necessary Labour in Computing Education
Sengupta, P., & Chokshi, A. (2026) · ACM Transactions on Computing Education · doi:10.1145/3839229
Galbraith, C., Gray, T. L., & Sturges, M. (2026) · International Journal of Qualitative Studies on Health and Well-Being · doi:10.1080/17482631.2026.2719072
“It has been described as a foundational life activity for developing relationships (Donald, 2021), adding a sense of meaning to daily life (Wensley & Slade, 2012) and combining everyday movement with play (Clement & Waitt, 2017).”
Gagnon, J. (2025) · Performance Research · doi:10.1080/13528165.2025.2663720
“Manifested in the re-occupation of Parliament Hill, this ‘autogestic’ performance against state-imposed spatial hierarchies can be read as an embodiment of the kind of relational political justice explored by scholars such as Dwayne Donald (2021), Deanna Reder (2022), Jennifer and Kristina Llewellyn (2015) and Tol Fos…”
Metadata
- Authors
- Donald, D.
- Affiliations
- University of Alberta (CA)
- Corresponding author
- Donald, Dwayne
- Venue
- Journal of the Canadian Association for Curriculum Studies
- Publisher
- York University Libraries
- Published
- 2021-03-16
- Volume
- 18
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 53-63
- ISSN
- 1916-4467 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W3136950657
- Cited by
- 65
- References
- 24
- Citations by year
- 2026: 13 · 2025: 21 · 2024: 13 · 2023: 14 · 2022: 4
- FWCI
- 4.28
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- diamond
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Journal of the Canadian Association for Curriculum Studies (publishedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Health › Indigenous Health, Education, and Rights
- Social Sciences › Education › Indigenous and Place-Based Education
- Social Sciences › Anthropology › Indigenous Cultures and History
- Keywords
- Indigenous-Canadian relations, colonialism, reconciliation, Indigenous pedagogy, course program, relational ethics
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
Data sources
Bibliographic data: Semantic Scholar, OpenAlex, Crossref.
Contains information from the Semantic Scholar Academic Graph Datasets, made available under the ODC Attribution License (ODC-BY 1.0).
Semantic Scholar’s data is described in: Kinney, R., et al. (2023). The Semantic Scholar Open Data Platform. arXiv:2301.10140.
