InterNātional Indigenous Initiative for Transformative Collaboration (INITC)

There is a growing recognition amongst people, many organisations and community members, that our use of language includes wider perspectives and greater understanding. Euro-centric, colonial ideas of classification such as ‘Aboriginal’ or ‘American Indian’, ‘Red Indians’ or just ‘Indian’ are misnomers. These ideas perpetuate a historical perspective that lump all Original Nations and Peoples to a position of one ‘Indigenous Worldview’. The result too often finds the unique cultural and spiritual knowledge and practices of our diverse Original Nations and Peoples put out of focus, limiting the view of the possibilities for relationships with each other and our environment.

INITC recognizes emotional, mental, physical and spiritual change as critical to genuine transformative collaboration. As a co-defined Original Nations and Peoples format and process for sharing cultural perspectives and practice, an underlying notion is the recognition that we come from many Nations. Thus the product of our collective and collaborative efforts may be described as InterNātional.

Also see www.initc.org

Stories and Songs of the People