Prologue

Introduction

Part I Chapter 1 - Indigenous Methodologies and Qualitative Inquiry Chapter 2 - Indigenous Conceptual Framing in Indigenous Methodologies

Part II Chapter 3 - Epistemology and Research: Centring Tribal Knowledge Chapter 4 - Indigenous Ethics and Axiology: Miýo (A Good Way) Chapter 5 - Engaging the Community Chapter 6 - Situating Self, Culture, and Purpose in Indigenous Methodologies

Part III Chapter 7 - Indigenous Theorizing Chapter 8 - Story and Method in Indigenous Methodologies Chapter 9 - Interpretation and Working with the Findings Chapter 10 - Mobilizing the Findings: Representation, Oral Dissemination & Giving Back

Part IV Chapter 11- A Call to Decolonizing the Academy

Concluding Thoughts

References

Indigenous Methodologies: Characteristics, Conversations, and Contexts was first published in 2009. At that time, Indigenous-informed research methodology was new to many. Since 2009, a momentum in Indigenous research has inspired local, national, and international discourse and practice. Indigenous methodologies are being talked up in classrooms, community halls, conference venues, and public gatherings. Publications on Indigenous methodologies are many, and Indigenous research is burgeoning. In light of this growth, the second edition updates and expands upon the first edition in several ways with one pivotal difference. In 2009, the first edition arose from an ache and call for a research culture, a moral ethos, in which Indigenous methodologies could thrive. This new edition finds Indigenous methodologies strong and offers strategy for this evolving, unfolding research approach. The aim of the second edition of Indigenous Methodologies is to honour the past, heed the now, and envision the future.

Indigenous Methodologies (2009) arose from a Nêhiyaw value of giving back. From my doctoral research, I sought to offer the knowledges gifted to me so they might assist others. As a graduate student, I was aware that the public dissemination of my research was an expectation. Once I wrote and defended my dissertation, I could no longer evade disseminating the findings. I was wishing to share but hesitant. I worried that publishing in academic journals would make my research vulnerable to a colonial-infused degradation. I questioned the risk of subjecting a relational, oral-based knowledge system to academic publishing with a history of being hostile to it. Conducting, defending, and publishing Indigenous-informed research in academic venues exposed Indigenous knowledges to risk. Once they were in the public domain, could I protect the knowledges? This was not a fear I alone carried. In general, Indigenous scholars articulated the fear of misinterpretations, appropriations, manipulations, and dismissals accompanying Indigenous knowledges in the academy. The transformative potential for academia in welcoming diverse knowledges is significant, but what does this “welcoming” mean and at what cost to Indigenous peoples? In accepting the responsibility of publishing a book on Indigenous methodologies in research, I needed to be clear on why I chose to persist.

At its core, my purpose for writing this book is to serve Indigenous culture. Upholding Indigenous methodologies is about Indigenous cultural sustainability. Cultural longevity depends on the ability to sustain cultural knowledges. At the heart of a cultural renaissance, Indigenous or otherwise, is a restoration and respectful application of that culture’s knowledge systems. Colonial history and contemporary racism persist in disrupting the ability of Indigenous peoples to uphold knowledges by cultural methodologies. While colonialism and racism, both past and present, have interrupted this organic transmission, many Indigenous peoples recognize that for our cultural knowledge to thrive, it must live in many sites, and so we cannot, will not, disengage. These sites include education and research. At present, there is more space, more Indigenous methodological literature to call upon, and more familiarity with Indigenous methodologies. Still, there is risk in bringing Indigenous knowledges into the academy while individual and systemic racism persist; however, proceed we must because much is at stake.

I proceed with a book on Indigenous methodologies because it has a social justice imperative that impacts Indigenous people, one that influences policy and practice. Policy and programming grow out of research. While the influence of research methodologies is not always visible in the research-policy-practice cycle, the influence of research methodology on how research questions are asked, to whom, the findings that are found, and whether knowledge will be shared with communities cannot be understated. Methodology influences research outcomes. Research outcomes create policy. Policy generates programs. Programs guide practice. It turtles all the way down. There has been a crisis in Indigenous educational, child welfare, and criminal justice policy (among other sites) in this country. Why? Because the research that influences policy and shapes practices impacting Indigenous communities most often emerges from knowledges not of Indigenous culture and context. When we begin to unpack the research-policy-practice phenomenon, we find methodological choices deeply implicated in the interpretation of research and the recommendations made. Indigenous methodologies are well positioned to unpack and unsettle the research-policy-practice cycle influencing Indigenous life. On a positive note, change is happening as Indigenous researchers make inroads in transforming policy and practice – although it’s an uphill climb.