Symbiotic Allegory as Innovative Indigenous Research Methodology.

This article introduces symbiotic allegory, an innovative research method designed by the researcher, an American Indian Chippewa. Symbiotic allegory incorporates traditional methods (storytelling, the Dream Catcher-Medicine Wheel, traditional grounding ceremonies) with Western interview methodology to evoke trust and candor among Plains Indians who had never voiced the traumatic stories of their childhood boarding school experiences. Implications reflect the importance of creating methodologies that incorporate the ways of knowing of the group being studied, which is best accomplished by a researcher who comes from within the ranks of the population being studied.

A traditional American Indian death ritual: Developing nursing knowledge through aesthetic exposure.

The theoretical and practical application of Boykin and Schoenhofer's Nursing as Caring: A Model for Transforming Practice (2001) provided a framework for the exploration of an aesthetic project of quilting, which was undertaken in order to explain the death journey for a cherished mentor of American Indian nursing students. In particular, the nursing situation was used to guide the making of the quilt sampler. Aesthetics nested into the teaching-learning process became another way to help students solidify their professional self-identity as caring persons.

Quilting a Field Pattern Portrait Using Butcher's Methodology.

The nursing profession acknowledges Martha Rogers to the foundation of nursing theory as a true visionary. Butcher developed a method that ensures scientific rigor in the application of Rogerian theory, unitary field pattern portrait (UFPP), which was used to explore new phenomenon of inquiry resulting in insights into Rogerian pandimensionality. In this intervention, an American Indian tradition, quilting, became a culturally appropriate way for a nurse to facilitate healing through the application of Rogerian theory.