What makes it possible for people with HIV to live longer and better lives? Some insights might be found among Canada’s Aboriginal communities. Among many Aboriginal groups, HIV rates are rising, and yet many who have the virus live comparatively stable, happy and long lives.
Randy Jackson is Anishinaabe from Kettle and Stony Point First Nation and has become an expert in HIV in Indigenous communities in Canada. Dissatisfied with existing research, which tended to focus excessively on pathologizing Indigenous people, Jackson works with communities to find a different perspective–one grounded in cultural world views. Jackson continues to study how Indigenous ways of knowing the world can influence lived experiences of HIV. By better understanding the role of culture in the lives of people living with HIV, Jackson reveals parts of the bigger picture of the sociological facets of human health. Jackson teaches courses in Aboriginal Health and Wellness, and also in the Community-Based Research methods that are at the heart of his own research. This community-based approach has broad implications and potential, providing new insights into the ways resilience – not just physical, but also spiritual, emotional and mental – can be grounded in Indigenous knowledge, community and world views.
Randy is an Assistant Professor in the McMaster School of Social Work, Department of Health Aging and Society
Research Interests: Indigenous Health, HIV/AIDS, Indigenous and Decolonizing Methodologies
CURRENT RESEARCH:
- Indigenous Masculinity and HIV Wellness: Towards Planning a Research Agenda (2018/2019); CIHR Planning Grant
- Trans PULSE Canada: A National Study of Transgender Health (2018-2023); CIHR Operating Grant
- The GIPA Homefire: Understanding APHA Leadership Towards a Wholistic Response to STBBIs (2017-2020); CIHR Operating Grant
- Aboriginal HIV and AIDS Community-Based Research Collaborative Centre (2017-2022): CIHR Centre Grant
PREVIOUS RESEARCH:
- Decolonizing, Indigenous and African Diaspora Methodologies: Developing New Ways of Working Together in HIV/AIDS Community-Based Research (2012-201); CIHR Planning Grant
- Safe Homes, Strong Families: Housing and Health for Aboriginal Peoples Living with HIV and AIDS (2012-2015); CIHR Operating Grant
- Exploring the Health and Wellness of Long-Term HIV-Positive Two-Spirit Men in Ontario (2012-2013); CIHR Catalyst Grant
- Taking Action II: Arts-Based Approaches to Fostering Aboriginal Youth Leadership in HIV Prevention (2011-2014); CIHR Operating Grant
- Taking Action: Using Arts Based Approaches to Develop Aboriginal Youth Leadership in HIV Prevention (2008-2011); CIHR Operating Grant
AWARDS
- The Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal (2012)
- Ion, A., Greene, J., Masching, R., Poitras, M., Brownlee, P., St. Denys, R., Greene, S., Jackson, R., Worthington, C., Amirault, M., Nyman, S., Anaquod, J. (2018). Stable Homes, Strong Families: Reimagining Housing Policies and Programs for Indigenous Peoples Living with and Affected by HIV and AIDS in Canada. Housing and Society. Vol. 45, No. 2, 118-138.
- Jackson, R. (2018). A Thunder’s Wisdom. Journal of Indigenous HIV Research. Vol. 9, 38-56.
- Chambers, L., Jackson, R., Worthington, C., Wilson, C., Tharao, W., Greenspan, N., Masching, R., Pierre-Pierre, V., Mbulaheni, T., Amirault, M., Brownlee, P. (2018). Dialoguing with the tensions: Decolonizing scoping review methodologies for literature with, for and by Indigenous peoples and the African diaspora. Qualitative Health Research. Vol. 28 (No. 2): 175-188.
- Jackson, R. & Masching, R. (2017). Knowledge Translation in Indigenous Communities: A Review of the Literature. Journal of Indigenous HIV Research. Vol. 8: 81-104.
- Gabel, C., Jackson, R. & Ryan, C. (2017). Aging and HIV/AIDS among Aboriginal peoples: Recommendation for research and policy. In Hindmarch, S., Orsini, M., Gagnon, M. (Eds.). Seeing Red: HIV/AIDS and Public Policy in Canada. Toronto, Ontario: University of Toronto Press.
- Monchalin, R., Flicker, S., Wilson, C., Danforth, J., Konsmo, E., Prentice, T., Oliver, V., Jackson, R., Larkin, J., Mitchell, C., Restoule, JP. (2016). “When your follow your heart, you provide that path for others”: Indigenous models of youth HIV leadership. International Journal of Indigenous Health. Vol. 11 (No. 1): 135-158.
- Wilson, C., Flicker, S., Danforth, J., Jackson, R., Prentice, T., Larkin, J., Restoule, J-P., C. Mitchell. (2016). “Culture” as HIV Prevention: Indigenous Youth Speak Up! Gateways: International Journal of Community Research and Engagement. Vol. 9 (No. 1): 74-88.
- Flicker, S., Wilson, C., Danforth, J., Monchalin, R., Konsmo, E., Oliver, V., Prentice, T., Larkin, J., Mitchell, C., Restoule, JP., Jackson, R. (2016). “Stay strong, stay sexy, stay Native”: Storying Indigenous youth HIV prevention activism. Action Research. (Accepted).
- Oliver, V., Flicker, S., Danforth, J., Konsmo, E., Wilson, C., Jackson, R., Restoule, JP., Prentice, T., Larkin, J., Mitchell, C. (2015). “Women are supposed to be the leaders”: Intersections of gender, race and colonisation in HIV prevention with Indigenous young people. Culture, Health and Sexuality. Vol. 17 (No. 7): 906-918.
- Flicker, S., Danforth, J., Oliver, V., Wilson, C., Konsmo, E., Larkin, J., Restoule, J-P., Mitchell, C., Jackson, R., Prentice, T. (2014). “Because we have Really Unique Art”: Indigenous Youth Arts-Based HIV Prevention. International Journal of Indigenous Health. 10 (1): 16-34.
- Scheim, AI., Jackson, R., James, L., Dopler, TS., Pyne, J., & Bauer, G. (2013). Barriers to Well-Being for Aboriginal Gender-Diverse People: Results from the Trans PULSE Project in Ontario. Ethnicity and Inequalities in Health and Social Care. Vol. 6 (No. 4): 108-120.
- Flicker, S., Danforth, J., Konsmo, E., Wilson, C., Oliver, V., Jackson, R., Prentice, T., Larkin, J., Restoule, J-P., Mitchel, C. (2013). “Because we are Natives and we stand strong to our pride: Decolonizing HIV prevention with Aboriginal Youth in Canada using the arts. Canadian Journal of Aboriginal Community-Based HIV/AIDS Research. 5: 4-23.
- Jackson, R. (2019). Indigenous knowing in HIV research in Canada: A reflexive dialogue. In Mykhalovskiy, E. & Namaste, V. (Eds). Critical Social Science and HIV/AIDS: Theory, Critique and Engagement (pp. 109-125). Vancouver, British Columbia: UBC Press. (Accepted in Final Form)
- Flicker, S., Wilson, C., Native Youth Sexual Health Network, Monchalin, R., Restoule, J-P., Mitchell, C., Larkin, J., Prentice, T., Jackson, R., Oliver, V. (2018). The Impact of Indigenous Youth Sharing Digital Stories about HIV Activism. Health Promotion Practice. (Accepted in Final Form)
- Jackson, R., Masching, R., Prentice, T., Smith, K., Amirault, M., Pendergraft, K., Loutfy, M. (2018). A Scoping Review of Indigenous HIV and AIDS Research in Canada. Journal of Social Service Research. (In Review).
- Jackson, R., Brennan, D., Georgievski, G., Zoccole, A., Nobis, T. (2018). “Our Gifts are the Same: Resilient Journeys of Long-Term HIV-Positive Two-Spirit Men in Ontario, Canada. Journal of Indigenous HIV Research. (In Review).
