Metaphors as a Pathway for Indigenization in Education

For Indigenous Peoples, building connections and relationships are fundamental practices in our ways living. One of the key approaches to developing this relationality we rely on is the use of metaphors in our teachings. Metaphors are a type of figurative language that draws comparisons between two otherwise unrelated subjects to clarify and strengthen understanding.

Value and purpose of metaphors for Indigenous Peoples

Indigenous understandings and contexts are shared through the connections and relationships we have with the land, people, and all beings around us. These relationships guide how we share our knowledge and communicate with each other.

Indigenous People often practice storytelling and sharing of oral histories as ways to pass on key teachings and ways of knowing, being, and doing. Our oral histories and stories are infused with metaphors as they are pathways to creating these connections that strengthen our relationships and help make sense of the world around us. In other words, “Metaphors help to reveal, and make visible, Indigenous ideas, thinking and thought. The use of metaphor is indigenous conceptual framing allows for a variety of expressions representing diverse experiences and symbols from place” (p. 48, Kovach, 2021).

How can metaphors enhance your teaching, learning, and research?

Margaret Kovach highlights the many ways that metaphors can be useful in your practices:

“Metaphors build imagery around story. Metaphors invite the particular to enter while bridging contextual divides. Metaphors facilitate knowledge sharing across disparate communities. Metaphoric framing is a catalyst for generating and expressing ideas in a holistic way…Metaphors offer an analytical framework that brings cohesion to disparate themes and grounds meaning in shared experiences” (p.231, Kovach, 2021).

Specifically, metaphors have strong potential to make concepts accessible and understandable while bridging gaps across diverse communities. They invite relationality through building connections with people, the land, and the environment that surrounds us. Furthermore, metaphors incorporate diverse perspectives into your practices. They are an accessible way to decolonize your teaching, learning, and research.

How can you incorporate metaphors into your practice?

When looking to incorporate metaphors into your practice, it is important to consider why you are incorporating them. Reflect on your audience and how you would like to start building a connection with them. Understanding their worldviews and what makes sense to them can guide the development of the metaphors. Take care in considering who is being respectfully represented and that the metaphors are responsive and relevant to the community you are trying to build the connection with.

With these foundations that answer the question of why you are incorporating metaphors, how you incorporate them can be significantly more comfortable. Building an understanding of those you are working with can enable you to select the tools and concepts that are relevant and impactful for the metaphor. Metaphors are about connections and relationality at their core; therefore, their effectiveness relies on their ability to be related to those who are interacting with them.

Examples of metaphors in practice at USask

• ohpahotân | oohpaahotaan “let’s fly up together” Indigenous Strategy for University of Saskatchewan

• Our Strategic Framework: "The Weave" - University of Saskatchewan’s Strategic Plan 2025

Resources

• Battiste, M. (2013). Decolonizing Education: Nourishing the learning spirit. UBC Press.
• Kovach, M. (2021). Indigenous Methodologies: Characteristics, Conversations, and Contexts (Second ed.). University of Toronto Press.

This resource is shared by the Gwenna Moss Centre for Teaching and Learning (GMCTL), University of Saskatchewan, under a CC BY-NC-SA license.