Continuing the Evaluation Journey
Sharing the Lunaape Seven Directions Medicine Wheel (7DMW™) Model
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.3138/cjpe-2024-0037Keywords:
entrepreneur, ethics, evaluation, Indigenous, Indigenous evaluation, Lunaape, Medicine Wheel, MMIW, Mohican, Seven Directions, sovereignty, UNDRIPAbstract
As part of decades of Indigenous evaluation scholarship in the global North and South this article highlights how decolonized, culturally responsive, and Indigenous evaluation frameworks, theories, and methods can be developed and refined over time. Using a Lunaape Medicine Wheel framework, the author builds on the four directions and extends it to a Seven Directions Lunaape Medicine Wheel (7DMW™) model using traditional teachings and language, educational and career pathways development, and real-world applications. The article offers multiple examples of how the 7DMW framework has been used in contemporary ways to evaluate entrepreneurial business values, ethics, philosophy, and operations an has been applied to evaluation projects and initiatives. The article concludes with reflections on capacity building and strategies for bridging Indigenous and non-Indigenous contexts and evaluators. The reader should leave with professional, academic, and personal insights that should be considered for future evaluative thinking, professional development, equitable and sustainable resource allocation, policy, and practice at the program, organizational, systems, and nation-to-nation (First Nation and public government) levels.
References
Abeyta, A. A. (2021). In J. Hausdoerffer, B. P. Hecht, M. K. Nelson, & K. K. Cummings (Eds.), What kind of ancestor do you want to be? (pp. 7–11). University of Chicago Press. https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/W/bo86433618.html
Bowman, N. (2020). Nation-to-nation in evaluation: Utilizing an indigenous evaluation model to frame systems and government evaluations. New Directions for Evaluation, 2020(166), 101–118.
Bowman, N. R. (2021). Praxis makes perfect? Transcending textbooks to learning evaluation in cultural contexts. Canadian Journal of Program Evaluation, 35(3), 320–329.
Bowman, N. R. (2022). Knowledge gatherers & caretakers: A research guidance document for MMIW/R. Wisconsin Department of Justice. https://www.doj.state.wi.us/sites/default/files/ocvs/2_7_23%20Edited_Final_WI_MMIWR_DataSubCmte_Research%20GuidanceDoc_FromBPC.pdf
Bowman, N. R. (in press). Annotated bibliography: Indigenous evaluation. Oxford University Press.
Bowman, N. R., & Dodge Francis, C. (2018). Culturally responsive Indigenous evaluation and Tribal governments: Understanding the relationship. New Directions for Evaluation, 2018(159), 17–31.
Bowman, N. R., Dodge-Francis, C., & Tyndall, M. (2015). Culturally responsive Indigenous evaluation: A practical approach for evaluating Indigenous projects in Tribal reservation contexts. In S. Hood, R. Hopson, & H. Frierson (Eds.), Continuing the journey to reposition culture and cultural content in evaluation theory (pp. 335–360). Information Age.
Boyce, A. S., Neubauer, L. C., Bowman, N. R., & Hall, M. E. (Eds.). (2023). We know your name: 25 years later, the rooted history, legacy, and future of CRE [Special issue]. New Directions for Evaluation, 2023(180). https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/toc/1534875x/2023/2023/180
Bremner, L. & Bowman, N. R. (2020). EvalIndigenous origin story: Effective practices within local contexts to inform the field of practice of evaluation. Canadian Journal of Evaluation, 34(3), 425–441.
Bremner, L., & Bowman, N. R. (2023). Roots and relations: Celebrating good medicine in evaluation [Permanent special section]. Canadian Journal of Evaluation, 38(1), 1–3.
Carroll, S. R., Rodriguez-Lonebear, D., & Martinez, A. (2019). Indigenous data governance: Strategies from United States Native Nations. Data Science Journal, 18, Article 31.
Chilisa, B. (2020). Indigenous research methodologies. Sage.
Chilisa, B., & Bowman, N. R. (Eds.). (2023). Decolonizing evaluation: Towards a fifth paradigm. [Special issue]. Journal of MultiDisciplinary Evaluation, 19(44). https://journals.sfu.ca/jmde/index.php/jmde_1/issue/view/77
Chouinard, J. A., & Cram, F. (2019). Culturally responsive approaches to evaluation: Empirical implications for theory and practice. Sage.
Cram, F., Tibbetts, K., & LaFrance, J. (Eds.). (2018). Indigenous evaluation. [Special issue]. New Directions for Evaluation, 2018(159).
Deloria, V. (1997). Red earth, white lies: Native Americans and the myth of scientific fact. Fulcrum Publishing.
The Evaluation Center. (2023, 11 December). Evaluation Café featuring Bagele Chilisa, Nicky Bowman, and Michael Harnar [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=127jI-8En-w
Grande, S. (2015). Red Pedagogy (10th anniversary ed.). Rowan and Littlefield. https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781610489881/Red-Pedagogy-Native-American-Social-and-Political-Thought-10th-Anniversary-Edition
Grenz, J. (2024). Medicine Wheel for the planet: A journey toward personal and ecological healing. University of Minnesota Press. https://birchbarkbooks.com/products/medicine-wheel-for-the-planet
Hood, S., Hopson, R., & Frierson, H. (Eds.). (2005). The role of culture and context in evaluation: A mandate for inclusion, the discovery of truth, and understanding. Information Age.
Hood, S., Hopson, R., & Frierson, H. (Eds.). (2014). Continuing the journey to reposition culture and cultural context in evaluation theory and practice. Information Age. https://www.infoagepub.com/products/Continuing-the-Journey-to-Reposition-Culture-and-Cultural-Context-in-Evaluation-Theory-and-Practice
Hurworth, R., & Harvey, G. (Eds.). (2012). Indigenous evaluation. [Special issue]. Evaluation Journal of Australia, 12(1).
Indigenous Insights: An Evaluation Podcast. (2023, January 9). Nicky Bowman (No. S1E07). iHeart Podcasts. Retrieved from https://www.iheart.com/podcast/338-indigenous-insights-an-eva-104057306/episode/s1e07-indigenous-insights-nicky-bowman-107010694/
Kukutai, T., & Taylor, J. (2016). Indigenous data sovereignty, towards an agenda. Australian National University Press. https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt1q1crgf
LaFrance, J., & Nichols, R. (2010). Reframing evaluation: Defining An Indigenous evaluation framework. The Canadian Journal of Program Evaluation, 23(2), 13–31.
Māori Evaluation Association. (2024). Mā Te Rae. https://www.maaterae.maori.nz/
Mertens, D., Cram, F., & Chilisa, B. (2013). Indigenous pathways into social research: Voices of a new generation. Routledge. https://www.routledge.com/Indigenous-Pathways-into-Social-Research-Voices-of-a-New-Generation/Mertens-Cram-Chilisa/p/book/9781598746969
NZCER. (n.d.). Evaluation matters: New Zealand Council for Educational Research (NZCER) and Aotearoa New Zealand Evaluation Association (ANZEA) journal. Retrieved October 1, 2024, from https://www.nzcer.org.nz/nzcerpress/evaluation-matters
Native Governance Center. (n.d.). Principles of Native nation rebuilding. Retrieved October 1, 2024, from https://nativegov.org/resources/principles-of-native-nation-rebuilding/
Native Nations Institute (n.d.). Native nation building. Retrieved October 1, 2024, from https://nni.arizona.edu/what-native-nation-building
Oneida Nation of Wisconsin. (n.d.). Our ways. https://oneida-nsn.gov/our-ways/
Patton, M. Q., McKegg, K., & Wehipeihana, N. (2015). Developmental evaluation exemplars: Principles in practice. Guilford Press.
Rutter, A. (2023). Evaluator perspective: Meet an Australian Evaluation Society Fellow—Nan Wehipeihana. Evaluation Journal of Australia, 24(1), 70–75.
Shotton, H. J., Lowe, S. C., & Waterman, S. J. (2013). Beyond the asterisk: Understanding Native students in higher education. Stylus Publishing.
Stockbridge-Munsee Tribe. (n.d.). A brief history of the Stockbridge-Munsee Tribe. Retrieved October 1, 2024, from https://www.mohican.com/brief-history/
Symonette, H. (2009, August). Cultivating self in evaluation. https://h-pea.org/resources/2009/
United Nations. (2008). United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP). http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/unpfii/documents/DRIPS_en.pdfHPEAConference2009_SymonetteCultivatingSelf.pdf
Waapalaneexkweew (Nicole R. Bowman-Farrell). (2015). Wunj iin Daaptoonaakanum Niiloona Eelaachiimwuyeengwu (Our story told from my voice): Indigenous educational policy development with tribal governments: A case study. [Doctoral dissertation, University of Wisconsin–Madison]. University of Wisconsin–Madison Libraries. https://asset.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/Q5MWKTPVB6ONO86/R/file-f3d96.pdf
Waapalaneexkweew (Nicole R. Bowman-Farrell). (2018). Looking backward but moving forward: Honoring the sacred and asserting the sovereign in Indigenous evaluation. American Journal of Evaluation, 39(4), 543–568.
Wehipeihana, N. (2019). Increasing cultural competence in support of Indigenous-led evaluation: A necessary step toward indigenous-led evaluation. Canadian Journal of Evaluation, 34(2), 368–384.
Wehipeihana N., Bailey R., Davidson E. J., & McKegg K. (2014). Evaluator competencies: The Aotearoa New Zealand experience. Canadian Journal of Program Evaluation, 28(3), 49–69.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Nicole Bowman
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
Authors contributing to The Canadian Journal of Program Evaluation agree to release their articles under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 (CC-BY-NC) license. This licence allows this work to be copied, distributed, remixed, transformed, and built upon for any purpose provided that appropriate attribution is given, a link is provided to the license, and changes made were indicated.
Authors retain copyright of their work and grant the journal right of first publication.
Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
