Michelle Porter and the Métis Way: Ancestry and Arts-Based Research

Flexibility isn’t exactly a defining trait of academia. Though scholarship has grown to embrace new areas of research and interdisciplinary subjects, historically, academics have stayed within their disciplines and employed traditional forms of study and evaluation. But is there another way? What can be gained by adopting multifaceted forms of research that fall outside conventional norms?

Michelle Porter studies the role of bison for the Métis people—a First Nations group of mixed indigenous and European ancestry in modern-day Canada. Michelle employs “arts-based research,” which treats artistic pursuits—music, beadwork, oral histories, writing—as viable, robust areas of discovery. Through this method, Michelle looks at the Métis with a holistic lens, resulting in creative nonfiction works like her latest title Scratching River.

In the first episode of this four-part series, Michelle introduces herself, her research, and her family ancestry. She also traces how her scholarship has developed in tandem with her writing—her first book of poetry Inquiries, the biography on her great-grandfather Approaching Fire, Scratching River, and a forthcoming book of fiction. Last, Michelle explains why bison are so vital to the Métis, and the tension of practicing arts-based research in the academy.

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