A Metaphoric Mind: Selected Writings of Joseph Couture

Joseph E. Couture, Virginia McGowan, Ruth Couture

Athabasca University Press, 2013 - Biography & Autobiography - 303 pages

Dr. Joseph Couture (1930-2007), known affectionately as
"Dr. Joe," stood at the centre of some of the greatest
political, social, and intellectual struggles of Aboriginal peoples in
contemporary Canada. A profound thinker and writer, as well as a gifted
orator, he easily walked two paths, as a respected Elder and
traditional healer and as an educational psychologist, one of the first
Aboriginal people in Canada to receive a PhD. His work challenged and
transformed long-held views of Canada's Indigenous peoples, and
his vision and leadership gave direction to many of the current fields
of Aboriginal scholarship. His influence extended into numerous
areas--education, addictions and mental health treatment,
community development, restorative justice, and federal correctional
programming for Aboriginal peoples.

With a foreword by Aboriginal rights activist Lewis Cardinal, A
Metaphoric Mind brings together for the first time key works
selected from among Dr. Joe's writings, published and
unpublished. Spanning nearly thirty years, the essays invite us to
share in his transformative legacy through a series of encounters, with
Aboriginal spirituality and ancestral ways of knowing, with Elders and
their teachings, with education and its role in politicization,
self-determination, and social change, and with the restorative process
and the meaning of Native healing. Shaped by his social science
training but also by his apprenticeship in Medicine Ways, his writings
allow us to experience the richness and power of fully functional
Indigenous culture.Ruth Couture is a qualitative researcher with
extensive experience in marketing research and participatory holistic
research. She is the author of numerous research reports for the
Mistissini Cree, for the University of Saskatchewan's Indigenous
Peoples' Health Research Centre, and, with Dr. Joseph Couture,
for the Aboriginal Peoples' Collection, Public Safety Canada.
Virginia McGowan has been involved in applied
anthropology research on the health and well-being of indigenous
peoples for over twenty years. She currently leads research activities
for a division of Correctional Service Canada and has published journal
articles and discussion papers for both the federal and provincial
governments.

What people are saying

User Review -

Again "To ignore indigenous knowledge is a action taken at your peril"- This heartfelt work carries the tender care of body, mind and spirit which runs with the winds, feels for the losses, cares for the peoples. The writing conveys a caring and practical legacy, and expression which offers insight personally and structurally. We are invited to open the cages constructed about our lives which the unchallenged neo liberal word suggest is normal for us.
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Contents

• FIVE: 26
• TWO EncounteringElders: 61
• Emergent Issues: 77
• Introduction: 135
• Native Studies and the Academy: 157
• What Is Fundamental to Native Education? Some Thoughts on: 173
• and Core Values for Restorative Justice: 195
• Cornerstone Teachings: 281
• Recidivism and the Need for CornrnunityiBased Healing: 288
• MY FRIEND JOE: 295
• PUBLICATION ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: 301

About the author

Ruth Couture is a qualitative researcher withextensive experience in marketing research and participatory holisticresearch. She is the author of numerous research reports for theMistissini Cree, for the University of Saskatchewan's IndigenousPeoples' Health Research Centre, and, with Dr. Joseph Couture, for the Aboriginal Peoples' Collection, Public Safety Canada.Virginia McGowan has been involved in appliedanthropology research on the health and well-being of indigenouspeoples for over twenty years. She currently leads research activitiesfor a division of Correctional Service Canada and has published journalarticles and discussion papers for both the federal and provincialgovernments.

Bibliographic information

• Title: A Metaphoric Mind: Selected Writings of Joseph Couture
• Authors: Joseph E. Couture, Virginia McGowan, Ruth Couture
• Editors: Virginia McGowan, Ruth Couture
• Edition: illustrated
• Publisher: Athabasca University Press, 2013
• ISBN: 1926836529, 9781926836522
• Length: 303 pages
• Subjects: Biography & Autobiography / Cultural, Ethnic & Regional / Native American & Aboriginal