Setting the Table: The Curricular Ingredients in an Autoethnography

This dissertation, an autoethnographic study over many years, is dedicated to curating the voice, identity, and worldview of the author through interactions between herself and experiences with food practices within various communities across Canada, United States, and in the United Kingdom. With bicultural and mixed ethnicity–European settlerhood and Mi'kmaq heritage—the interactive text between self and food practices spanned a nine-year period and chaptered into four-phases of data collection. Narratives were authored and took shape in the form of a curated set of journals, photography, and artefacts. How do Indigeneity and food memories emerge in an autoethnographic story? I asked, 1) In what ways are curricula used in and through the lived experiences of the researcher? 2) How has this autoethnography contributed to the formation of the researcher's identity as a holder of Mi’kmaq heritage? 3). What insights might be considered in future curriculum development to address the concerns of community members? Six new themes emerged: Food Mapping: Measuring Spaces; Open-hearted Mixing; Holding onto Historic Territory; Carrying Stories; Culture Blending; and Feeding Self. Critical Race Theory (CRT) and TribalCrit were employed to conceptualize the thoughts, feelings, and stories of the narratives authored and utilized to further the goals of infusing the lived curriculum with an emancipatory cause. The six themes serve to encompass and describe the findings from this study as well as point attention in new directions regarding further constructed ideas, perspectives, and orientations with and within the world. The findings offer us a way to move forward and to enact change in the way we professionally engage with all learners, and placing a special caring emphasis on learners who have FNIM (First Nations, Inuit, Métis) heritage.