This dissertation is an action-research and self-narrative inquiry project conducted in two senior high schools with the collaboration of one teacher-counselor and indigenous youths in Hualien, Taiwan. These two schools have a diverse student body composed of youths from different indigenous ethnic groups. The teacher-counselor is not only a researcher but a reflective actor who also develops critical action research from decolonization and reframing perspectives. This thesis overturns the oppression experiences through self-reflection and narrative practices: (1) women’s experiences in family, (2) indigenous youths’ experiences on campus , (3) shaman experiences in religious beliefs, and (4) cultural healing encounters in counseling and psychological therapy.
Indigenous students take the “limit acts” in high school systems. (1) They rebuild a sense of belonging and critical thinking, (2) sharing their narrative stories with one another, (3) holding inheritable indigenous cultural festivals, and create a multicultural campus. (4) They also go back to their tribes to learn and pass on the traditional knowledge. And finally, (5) before graduation, they are able to speak out on the decolonization of the mainstream ( Han) educational system. (6) After graduation, they also go back to school to lead their juniors, and continue to pass on their missions.
The teacher-counselor conducts a project “to identify the shaman spiritual leaders among students, and build the community.” Indigenous youths develop the path of decolonization, self-identification, and cultural renaissance. The Shaman spiritual leaders are students with the following qualities: (1) intelligence and sensitivity; (2) Leadership skills; (3) Spiritual gifts; (4) Physical and mental distress; (5) Family shaman heritage; (6)The calling to contribute to community. The teacher-counselor also encountered cultural healing from Pangcah Sikawasay and reflected on her maternal Han culture’s religious healing experience basing on her mother’s religious commitment. Reframing the perspectives of her family experience, seeing the shimmering reflection within a family, accompanying indigenous students on the path of recovery from historical traumas, and following the spiritual guidance towards the returning road constitute the liberating experiences for the researcher/practitioner.