The Authentic Dissertation is a road map for students who want to make their dissertation more than a series of hoop-jumping machinations that cause them to lose the vitality and meaningfulness of their research. Students and tutors are presented with practical guidance for the kind of alternative dissertations that many educators believe are needed to move Doctoral and Master’s level work beyond the limitations that currently stifle authentic contributions for a better world. Drawing on his Cherokee/Creek ancestry and the Raramuri shamans of Mexico the author explores how research can regain its humanist core and find its true place in the natural order once more. Four Arrows provides a degree of "credibility" that will help graduate students legitimize their ideas in the eyes of more conservative university committees. This inspiring book will also help academics who sincerely want to see these alternative forms but are concerned about the rigor of "alternative" dissertation research and presentation. The featured dissertation stories tap into more diverse perspectives, more authentic experience and reflection, and more creative abilities. They are, in essence, spiritual undertakings that Honour the centrality of the researcher’s voice, experience, creativity and authority Focus more on important questions than on research methodologies per se Reveal virtues (generosity, patience, courage, respect, humility, fortitude, etc.) Regard the people’s version of reality The goal of this book is not to replace the historical values of academic research in the western tradition, but to challenge some of these values and offer alternative ideas that stem from different, sometimes opposing values.

Table of Contents:
Introduction DAY ONE: Indigenous Ways of Knowing 1st Presentation. Four Arrows’ Story, "Brilliant or Bullshit!" (with Manulani Aluli, Warren Linds and Gregory Cajete) 2nd Presentation. Veronica Arbon’s Story, "A Facilitated Journey" 3rd Presentation: Sandi Warren’s Story, "Tin Can Bear Fat" (with Trudy Sable and Angayuqaq Oscar Kawagley) 4th Presentation: Joyce Schneider’s Story, "Whispering the Circle Back"(with Suzanne Stewart and Carole LeClair) 5th Presentation: Barbara Mann’s Story: "Double Wampum" (with Bruce Johansen, Susan Deercloud and Robert B. Kaplan) DAY TWO: Creative Story Telling 1st Presentation: Pauline Sameshima’s Story, "Seeing Red" (with Patrick Slattery, Howard Gardner, Elliot Eisner, Rebecca Carmi and Gregory Cajete) 2nd Presentation: Rishma Dunlop’s Story, "Boundaries" 3rd Presentation: Douglas Gosse’s Story, "Breaking Silences" (with Tom Barone and Robert B. Kaplan) 4th Presentation, Deborah Ceglowski’s Story, "Stories as Relationship" DAY THREE: Poetic Inquiry and Visual Art 1st Presentation: Dalene Swanson’s Story, "Breaking Silences" (with Jamie Moran and Eileen Honan) 2nd Presentation: Patty Holmes’ Story, "A Journey to Praxis" 3rd Presentation: Robin Cox’s Story, "The Creative Potential of Not Knowing"(With Lorri Neilsen Glenn 4th Presentation: Margaret Macintyre Latta’s Story, "Aesthetic Spaces" 5th Presentation: Kathy Vaughan’s Story, "Inevitable" DAY FOUR: Documentary Film and Photography 1st Presentation: Jennifer Mervyn’s Story, "Metamorphosis" (with Beth Ferholt) 2nd Presentation: Anniina Souminen Guyas’s Story, "Writing with Photographs" 3rd Presentation: Denise A. Ségor’s Story, "Photo Voice" 4th Presentation: Christini Ri’s Story, "For Spiritual Reasons" DAY FIVE: Drama, Dialogue and Performance 1st Presentation: R. Michael Fisher’s Story, "Fearless Leadership" (with Stephen John Quaye and Blaine Pope) 2nd Presentation, Karen Lee, "Out of the Cage" (with Peter Gouzouasis) 3rd Presentation: Annie Smith’s Story, "Hybridity" 4th Presentation, Kevin Kirkland’s Story, "A Grim Fairy Tale" (With Katrina S. Rogers) 5th Presentation, Warren Linds’ Story, "Masks in Metaxis" 6th Presentation, George H. Elder’s Story, "Passion and Sparks" (with Sandra K. Winn) DAY SIX: Autobiography/Auto-ethnography 1st Presentation, Sigmund A. Boloz’s Story, "The Educator’s Voice Or "the Club?" 2nd Presentation: Sarah MacDougall’ Story, "Calling on Spirit" 3rd Presentation: Carol Parker Terhune’s Story, "I’ve Got to be Me" 4th Presentation: Jeanie Cockell’s Story, "Appreciative Inquiry" 5th Presentation: Adair Linn Nagata’s Story, "Being in Harmony" (with Valerie Bentz) DAY SEVEN: Participant’s Voices 1st Presentation: Doreen E. Martinez’s Story, "Knowingness, negotiation, and beauty: Recognizing and sharing Indigenous’ knowledge and voice." 2nd Presentation: Dixiane Hallaj’s Story, "Caught by Culture" 3rd Presentation: Denise Purnell’s Story, "In My Own Backyard" (with Rodney Beaulieu, Bob Dick, Kath Fisher and Renata Phelps) 4th Presentation: Simon Pockley’s Story, "Flight of Ducks" (With Glen Gatin) Closing Remarks: (with Rita Irwin, Stephanie Springgay and Alex de Cosson and Tony van Renterghem) Appendix 1, Relevant Reading