PODCAST
Indigenous Insights: An Evaluation Podcast
with Gladys Rowe
Tansi, greetings, welcome, my name is Gladys Rowe, I am so grateful that you are here.
What is Indigenous evaluation? Who is doing this work? How are we doing this work and what have we learned so far?
Each episode I sit in conversation with Indigenous evaluation practitioners, leaders, researchers, and scholars who are working in, thinking about, and supporting Indigenous evaluation to share how they are doing their work and the challenges and insights they’ve experienced along the way.
It is my hope that this podcast will feel like a deep breath – where we invite you to grab a cozy beverage and settle in. Join me and my guests as we open up our evaluation bundles – to share the gifts, knowledges, and hopes that we have gathered in our journeys and bring them together in this space. I hope in these stories you will find resonance in the critical contributions that Indigenous evaluation can make as we work towards decolonial futures and strengthening Indigenous resurgence.
I would also like to extend an invitation. If you are someone who has an interest in Indigenous evaluation and would like to have a conversation on this podcast, I would love to hear from you. Please send me a note and we can connect about your work, what you are learning, and the questions you are thinking about.
LATEST EPISODE
S05E02 Relational Evaluation, Story, and the Responsibility to Be Changed with Dr. Chesleigh Keene
In this episode, Gladys sits down with Dr. Chesleigh Keene, Diné (Navajo) scholar and Vice President of Research and Evaluation at a Native-owned organization, to explore her journey into Indigenous evaluation. What began in relationship with her students supporting them in grounding their research in community evolved into a career shaped by cultural values, storytelling, and relational accountability.
Dr. Keene reflects on teaching during the pandemic, navigating academia as an Indigenous scholar, and shifting from traditional academic models toward community-centered research and evaluation. Together, Gladys and Chesleigh explore what it means to let stories “touch us” as evaluators, to move beyond rigid templates, and to resist flattening the complexity of community experiences. They discuss the importance of slowing down, asking better questions, honoring seasonal rhythms, and tending to the emotional impact of the work on ourselves and our teams.
This episode is an invitation to practice evaluation as relationship, to be changed by the work, and to carry that responsibility with care.
Podcast Swag
Profit from the sales of the podcast swag will be deposited into an Indigenous evaluation development fund. Once enough funds are available a call will be announced seasonally for Indigenous evaluators to apply through a letter of interest to support wholistic capacity development.
