Indigenous scholars strive to produce research to improve Native communities in meaningful ways. They also recognize that long-lasting change depends on effective leadership.

Living Indigenous Leadership showcases innovative research and leadership practices from diverse nations and tribes in Canada, the United States, and New Zealand. The contributors use storytelling to highlight the distinctive nature of Indigenous leadership. Native leaders, whether formal or informal, ground their work in embodied concepts such as land, story, ancestors, and elders, and their leadership style finds its most powerful expression in collaboration, in the teaching and example of Eders, and in community projects to promote higher education, language revitalization, health care, and the preservation of Indigenous arts.

This inspiring collection not only adds indigenous methods to studies on leadership, it also gives a voice to the wives, mothers, and grandmothers who are using their knowledge to mend hearts and minds and to build strong communities.

Carolyn Kenny's profile page

Tina Ngaroimata Fraser's profile page

Carolyn Kenny is a professor of human development and Indigenous studies at Antioch University. Tina Ngaroimata Fraser, a Maori scholar, is an assistant professor in the School of Education at the University of Northern British Columbia where she also teaches in the School of Nursing and in the First Nations Studies program.

The research in this publication encourages us to rethink leadership, to give thought to the original philosophies and practices of our people, and to give voice to these invisible leaders.

From the Foreword by Verna Kirkness, Fisher River Cree Nation, Professor Emerita, University of British Columbia

A unique contribution to the field of American Indian leadership that brings together diverse voices and perspectives, this book is not only beneficial to scholars but, importantly, it provides useful ways for non-academics to think about leadership in their own communities.

Michael D. Wilson, Associate Professor, Department of English, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee