Radical Care and Decolonial Futures: Conversations on Identity, Health, and Spirituality with Indigenous Queer, Trans, and Two-Spirit Youth.

Qualitative
Participatory Practices, including reviewing and anonymizing transcripts and providing input on the use of their data.

This study explores the intersections of identity, health, and spirituality among Indigenous queer, trans, and two-spirit youth amidst the pervasive impacts of colonial violence. Drawing from qualitative interviews with five youth activists across Canada, the research examines their lived experiences and activism in shaping decolonial futures. Central themes include identity as relational and dynamic, spirituality as a path of cultural resurgence, the multidimensional impacts of colonial violence, and radical care practices. Grounded in Indigenous feminism, queer thought, and grassroots movements, the study reveals how these youth navigate and challenge colonial structures through health promotion, cultural connection, and advocacy. The findings highlight the transformative potential of culturally safe and intersectional youth services in fostering belonging, self-determination, and joy. This research underscores the role of Indigenous queer, trans, and two-spirit leadership in enacting care practices that support holistic well-being and catalyze the creation of inclusive and resilient communities.

The project was informed by informed by Indigenous feminism, Indigenous queer studies, and grassroots movements. It emphasizes participatory and relational approaches to knowledge creation that center Indigenous perspectives and experiences.

The research was guided by principles of relationality, decolonization, and the political imagination of Indigenous queer youth, emphasizing dynamic and context-responsive methodologies.

Indigenous queer, trans, and two-spirit youth lead change by reclaiming cultural traditions, reimagining gender and sexuality, and resisting colonial frameworks that perpetuate violence and erasure. Reclaiming Indigenous spirituality, languages, and cultural practices is central to healing and transforming colonial harm. These practices help create "decolonial futures" marked by love, belonging, and self-determination.

Narrative-based data from interviews

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"When Indigenous queer, trans, and two-spirit young people spoke about identity, health, spirituality, and culture, it was clear that, for them, these concepts were highly interconnected. This has major implications for health promotion and youth services, contexts in which care practices often fail to integrate these multiple dimensions, and therefore become less relevant" (p. 99)

"Indigenous youth work is political work in that it is meaningfully entangled with projects of worlding decolonial futures and resisting multiple forms of violence. Practitioners need to be critically reflective about their own power, to resist the performativity of allyship, and to enact radical care through redistributions of the power and resources that are needed to support Indigenous queer, trans, and two-spirit young people’s already emerging decolonial work" (p. 100)

Indigenous studies
Queer Studies
Youth studies