Indigenous Researchers

Many Knowledge Holders and Knowledge Makers have come before us. They share wisdom that can help us on our own journey into research. Please look at the quotes below and choose one to reflect on, or share your own quote from an Indigenous Knowledge Holder or Knowledge Maker that inspires you.

  1. Here are some quotes from Indigenous Researchers – which one inspires you and why? Or if you have your own Indigenous research quote why does it inspire you?
  • “On the other hand, if one starts from an Indigenous paradigm, then one can choose to use any tool from within that paradigm that may be effective” Wilson, 2008:39
  • “We know what we know from where we stand… …this writing comes from the heart, it comes from who I am and all that I am – nothing more, or less for that matter” Kovach, 2011:7
  • “To illustrate culturally responsive methodologies is to acknowledge the local histories, traditions and Indigenous knowledge systems that inform them” Chilisa, 2011:161
  • “Research is also purposive activity towards community good, rather than merely a good thing to do. It is pragmatic and is not a stand-alone activity, but one that is integral to the ways of life and practice of Pacific communities and influenced by these” Penetito, & Sanga, 2002:25
  • “If we as Indigenous people walk away from and disengage from the academy [it is] at our own peril given that the academy performs a vital societal role of producing the elite knowledge in society” Smith, G. in Kovach, 2011:89
  • Indigenous research “is both in contrast to and complementary with Western research models” Sauni, 2011: 54 

 

Inspiration and Teachings

There are people around us who have shaped who we are, they inspire us to achieve and reflecting on their values can help us recognize our own. Please share with us somebody in your life who inspires you and what values or teachings you think they exhibit.

  1. Share a story or person in your community that inspires you.
  2. What values does this story or person exhibit?

 

Inspirational Readings

Indigenous Research Methodologies: 

  • Battiste, M. (2011). Reclaiming Indigenous voice and vision. UBC Press.
  • Cardinal, L. (2001). What is an Indigenous perspective? Canadian Journal of Native Education, 25(2), 180-182.
  • Chilisa, B. (2011). Indigenous research methodologies. Sage Publications.
  • Chilisa, B., & Ntseane, G. (2010). Resisting dominant discourses: implications of Indigenous, African feminist theory and methods for gender and education research. Gender and Education22(6), 617-632.
  • Denzin, N. K., Lincoln, Y. S and Smith, L. (2008). Handbook of critical and Indigenous methodologies. Sage.
  • Fleras, A. (2004). “Researching together differently”: Bridging the research paradigm gap.Native Studies Review, 15(2), 117-129.
  • Foley, D. (2003). Indigenous epistemology and Indigenous standpoint theory.Social Alternatives, 22(1), 44-52.
  • Hart, M. A. (2010).Indigenous worldviews, knowledge, and research: The development of an Indigenous research paradigm.
  • Kovach, M. (2005). Emerging from the margins: Indigenous methodologies. In L. Brown & S. Strega (Eds.),Research as resistance. Toronto, Canada: Canadian Scholars’ Press.
  • Kovach, M. E. (2010). Indigenous methodologies: Characteristics, conversations, and contexts. University of Toronto Press.
  • Louis, R. P. (2007). Can you hear us now? Voices from the margin: Using Indigenous methodologies in geographic research. Geographical research,45(2), 130-139.
  • Mataira, P., Matsuoka, J. K., & Morelli, P. T. (2005). Issues and processes in Indigenous research. In S. M. Kana.iaupuni (Ed.), Hulili: Multidisciplinary research on Hawaiian well-being (Vol. 2, pp. 35-45). Honolulu, HI: Pauahi Publications.
  • Prescott, S. J. (2008). Using talanoa in Pacific business research in New Zealand: experiences with Tongan entrepreneurs.AlterNative: An International Journal of Indigenous Peoples 4(1), 127-148.
  • Smith, L. T. (2012).Decolonizing methodologies: Research and Indigenous peoples (2nd ed.). London, England: Zed Books. (Original work published 1999)
  • Tuck, E. (2013). Decolonizing methodologies 15 years later. AlterNative: An International Journal of Indigenous Peoples9(4).
  • Tuck, E., & McKenzie, M. (2014). Place in research: Theory, methodology, and methods. Routledge.
  • Tuck, E., & Yang, K. W. (2014). R-words: Refusing research. Humanizing research: Decolonizing qualitative inquiry for youth and communities, 223-247.
  • Wilson, S. (2001). What is an Indigenous research methodology?. Canadian Journal of Native Education25(2), 175-179.
  • Wilson, S. (2003). Progressing toward an Indigenous research paradigm in Canada and Australia.Canadian Journal of Native Education, 27(2), 161-178.
  • Wilson, S. (2008).Research is ceremony: Indigenous research methods. Fernwood Pub..