The “Weaving our Wisdoms” Study: Findings from a gathering on the land, a positive action initiative to support Indigenous people living with HIV and AIDS

International Indigenous Pre-conference on HIV & AIDS 2020 | Virtual

The International Indigenous Pre-conference on HIV & AIDS is an online forum where Indigenous and non-Indigenous delegates alike have the opportunity to share action and research that is transforming Indigenous health from local to global perspectives.

The Pre-conference will provide time and space to consider Indigenous relationships and approaches to land, water, people, systems, and policies impacting our experience addressing HIV and AIDS. We intend to consider how the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), and global targets for HIV, hepatitis, sexually transmitted infections, and tuberculosis, are implemented for Indigenous Peoples. Grounded in the experience of Indigenous Peoples, we will celebrate resilience and resistance necessary to improve holistic social and cultural determinants of health.

These presentations are immersive teachings from HIV Olders and WoW’s Nominated Principal Investigator. Together, they guide us through ways that the land is healing while living with HIV.

Part 1: Introducing Weaving our Wisdoms

Welcome to WoW! Let us first give thanks to those who have come before us, the territories and lands where we do our work, and the people and community we serve.

Part 2: What is an HIV Older?

In this first Tipi Talk, Valerie Nicholson shares with us what it means to be an HIV Older, a leader in the community with an eagle-eye perspective on living long term with HIV.

Part 3: Medicine from the land and water

HIV Older Knighton Hillstrom tells his story “Growing up on a Trap Line.” Sit back and listen to his beautiful recounting of learning about land medicine from his Kokum and how these ancestral teachings help him harness the strength in his mind, body, heart, and spirit.

Part 4: Weaving Allyship

Meet the WoW team! We are a group of HIV Olders, community- and university-based researchers working and learning together to support living well with HIV through positive action initiatives rooted in and on the land.