Indigenous Research

INTRODUCTION Indigenous communities across Canada report that transformations in Indigenous health research are needed, where the benefits of research shift intentionally, collaboratively, and with transparency from the researchers directly to Indigenous communities and partners. Despite its challenges and potential for harm, research, if done ethically and with respect and partnership, can be a force for change and will strengthen the efficacy of data on Indigenous Peoples' health and wellbeing. PURPOSE To characterize the nature, range, and extent of Indigenous health research in Atlantic Canada, and to identify gaps. METHODS Eleven databases were searched using English-language keywords that signify Indigeneity, geographic regions, health, and Indigenous communities in Atlantic Canada between 2001 and May 2020. All references were reviewed independently by two reviewers. Of the 9056 articles identified, 211 articles were retained for inclusion. Data were extracted using a col...

In this article, we explore the concept of Indigenous scholar sisterhood practices and its powerful role in affirming Indigenous women to survive and thrive in the act of research and the larger academic landscape. We address how we, as Indigenous women scholars, extend beyond transactional validity practices in qualitative research and engage in a collective form of validity that is holistic and grounded in Indigenous ways of knowing. We explore what it means to live our research and reclaim academic spaces among a collective sisterhood, as we grapple with questions of what valid and rigorous research looks like from an Indigenous perspective. Recognizing that attempts to decolonize methodological spaces can be complex and tempered with struggles, we provide personal accounts of Indigenous scholar sisterhood practices of love, prayer, vulnerability, and resistance and protection used to maneuver through this space together. As Indigenous women scholars, we conclude by reimagining the value of collective work as a means to not only survive academia but lift up our communities.

Research norms in the social sciences and humanities have also undergone significant transformation in the past two decades—owing mainly to the pressure of Indigenous communities and Indigenous scholars demanding researchers adopt collaborative approaches to produce relevant scholarship in partnership with communities. These practices, now increasingly institutionalized, have led in many cases to fundamentally different kinds of academic research projects—research that has community-defined research questions, community oversight, and community engagement and underlying values. But, as the benefits of Indigenous community-engaged research become clear, I contend that researchers must also push themselves to a deeper form of engagement with community, one that further empowers Indigenous research practice and supports Indigenous peoples in creating research self-sufficiency in our communities.

For nearly 150 years, Canada’s Indian Act has been an impetus of assimilation, dispossession, and cultural genocide of First Nations peoples. Today it continues its reign as the arbiter of First Nation-Settler Canadian relationships despite its sordid history of upholding racist asymmetrical power dynamics. Vexingly, in the absence of original governance order, the Indian Act’s legitimacy is also upheld by the very First Nations it has oppressed. Using Participatory Action Research, this dissertation explores community support of a customary governance structure that departs from the Indian Act. Quantitative data collected from a survey produced in partnership with the Chippewas of the Thames First Nation (Deshkan Ziibiing) Governance Committee showed that a majority of respondents support customary dodemiwan (clan system) governance. Using logistic regression to analyze support for custom governance on full, female, and male models, this research finds that those with higher reported Anishinaabe Values are more likely to support dodemiwan governance, making an inextricable link between lived Anishinaabe ways of life and Anishinaabe political order. Qualitative data collected from participants in Deshkan Ziibiing’s 2016 Clan Gathering art table features a selection of diverse perspectives showing the rich expressions that dodemiwan resurgence invokes.

AbstrAct Until recently, the specific and unique ethics considerations of research with the large and diverse populations of Indigenous peoples living in cities have not been adequately addressed. With its emphasis on respect, responsibility, and beneficial outcomes for research participants, community-based participatory research (CBPR) has been described as intrinsically ethical, and in many cases, consistent with a generalized understanding of Indigenous moral values. Through a retrospective reflection on community-engaged research in the urban context of Toronto, this essay examines critically transformations in the conceptualization of ethical research and of CBPR with Indigenous peoples. Historical analysis of urban Indigenous community epistemologies is presented as a dynamic process which informs ethical practice in the production of both community and of knowledge. Community-initiated and implemented research highlights the complexities in urban Indigenous authority-making, complicates contemporary iterations of CBPR, and offers insights for ethical research in an urban Indigenous context.

The purpose of this research was to identify the barriers and challenges faced by my
mother, an Aboriginal woman of Cree descent, and to determine how she has survived
despite the multiple oppressions she has faced. I sought to discover the experiences that
contributed to her life story; identify coping mechanisms that contributed to her
resiliency; and understand if her experiences could be situated in the context of the
encounters of other Aboriginal women. Drawing on both Western and Indigenous
research models allowed me to complete this research in a way that holds meaning for me
as an Aboriginal academic. I used Indigenous methods, to gather stories through semistructured
conversational interviews with the co-participant, my birth mother. Using a
thematic analysis of the transcripts of the conversational interviews I held with her, I
identified interconnected themes of abuse and violence, racism, addiction, health issues,
sex-trade, identity and family, and school. The findings suggest that my mother’s
experiences were not unlike the stories of many other Aboriginal women in Canada. I
was able to identify that her humour and intelligence had contributed to her resilience and
that her ability to live in the moment had sustained her. But an even more powerful and
overarching characteristic prevailed – her primal desire to live. I understand my mother
much better now. I have come to acknowledge and validate her experience, knowledge
and worldview. In recognizing her life through this research, I acknowledge and
recognize her existence: she has an important place in my life and in this world.

Since the late 1960s, the Canadian state has been challenged by the direct mobilization of Indigenous peoples, characterized by political action outside the institutions of the state. Intensified in the 1990s, including sustained physical occupations of disputed territory and blockades. Indigenous direct action has been an ongoing public policy concern but recently there has been in upsurge in popular interest driven by events. In late 2012 and early 2013, the Idle No More (INM) movement sparked direct action on a large scale, occurring throughout the country. The Canadian Security Intelligence Service counted over “400 separate protest events by Indigenous peoples and allies, in the space of approximately two months” (Morden, 2015). The INM movement propelled Indigenous anger at the lingering effects of colonialism on to the main stage of public life in Canada and internationally. Despite interest in the phenomenon of Indigenous direct action, there has been limited systematic scholarly enquiry. Indigenous politics is often studied in isolation, or solely in comparison with other Indigenous movements – “in many ways oppressed by theory” (Morden, 2015). The autonomous nature of scholarship on Indigenous peoples has been helpful in developing a more “robust and accurate image of the historical, cultural and epistemological distinctiveness of Indigenous peoples in the context of settler-colonialism” (Morden, 2015). But there are both normative and scholarly objections to studying Indigenous peoples only in isolation. This paper seeks to help close this gap in research by understanding direct action as political mobilization outside state institutions, in defense of group identity and interests. It excludes legal action and institutionalized protest, such as petitioning, lobbying and litigation. It includes land occupations, road blockades, resource extraction deemed illegal by the Canadian state, marches and demonstrations. Direct action is selected as the focus of this study first to remedy the empirical knowledge gaps described above. It will become apparent that direct-action outside dominant state institutions and irrespective of material outcomes will empower resistance, organization against colonization, the restoration of Indigenous nationhood and self-determination. Moreover, the INM movement will be employed as a case-study that confronts the fundamental question asked which is how to resist further dispossession and disconnection when the effects of colonial assaults on Indigenous existence are so pronounced and still so present in the lives of all Indigenous peoples. This paper will argue that the INM movement should not be dismissed as a name or as a movement, but rather should be discussed as an effective set of efforts to innovate and revitalize Indigenous traditions of resistance, while staying true to core precepts of place-based, third-space politics. It will reveal that the movement illustrated the systemic constraints and the false affinity of solidarity that exists within the left and the role of the media in framing Indigenous direct action.

This paper outlines how an Aboriginal researcher approached international indigenous research based on indigenous research practices and principles, indigenous worldview and Country-based ontologies. It follows on from part one (Rogers 2018), published in the previous issue of this journal, which discusses how relatedness functions as a methodology in collaborative indigenous work and how photostory, a modified version of the method termed ‘photoyarn’, was developed specifically for Kanaka Maoli young people attending boarding school with noho. This paper is written to AIATSIS style guidelines and, as such, capitalises Indigenous for the Australian context only

Recipient of the Canadian Association for Theatre Research 2014 Ann Saddlemyer Book Award Honorable Mention

"This book will be a valuable resource for scholars interested in the work of Grotowski, Polish theatre, women theatre practitioners, as well as those engaged in practice-as-research." - Review by Tanya Dean, TDR

"This is a valuable body of work... the first to give full attention to the female angle of Grotowski’s legacy." - Review by Lara Szypszak, Canadian Theatre Review

"Magnat is asking provocative and important questions, and offering access to a rich and fascinating realm of performance practice." - Review by Brian Schultis, Studies in Theatre and Performance

Watch the Companion Documentary Film Series on the Routledge Performance Archive (http://www.routledgeperformancearchive.com)

Célimo Ramón Nejedeka Jifichíu, “Imi Jooi” nació en La Sabana, corregimiento de La Chorrera (Departamento del Amazonas), en el año 1969. Pertenece a la etnia Muinane, clan Cumare, linaje Sombra de Cumare. Es hijo mayor de Aniceto Nejedeka Kajutne, y Aurelia Jifichíu Kumimarima (mujer Bora del clan Oso). Luego de terminar la educación básica primaria, en 1981, Célimo se dedicó al estudio del conocimiento tradicional indígena, especialmente en el área de salud. A partir de los 17 años, luego de realizar capacitación institucional, se desempeñó durante 10 años como promotor de salud en distintas comunidades indígenas de medio río Caquetá. Desde 1998 vive en el Resguardo indígena Tikuna-Uitoto Km. 6-11, en el Municipio de Leticia, Amazonas. En 2019, junto con su familia, ha levantado e inaugurado maloka con la carrera ritual de baile Amooka: baile de conciliación de la guerra. Allí sostiene, con su palabra, pensamiento y trabajo, la continuidad del legado de su linaje y el fortalecimiento de la cultura, además de asesorar varios proyectos de investigación, indígena y no indígena. También caza, teje, cura, trabaja la chagra y conoce la selva.


Este libro ofrece una visión general de la estructura – “el árbol”– del conocimiento tradicional en el campo de la salud que poseen algunas etnias de la denominada Gente de Centro, que incluye a muinane, bora, uitoto, andoque, miraña, nonuya y okaina, en la Amazonia Colombiana. A través de relatos míticos, explicados y comentados, se presentan las pautas tradicionales que ordenan la transmisión y manejo de los conocimientos para formar a los encargados de velar por la salud, así como los requisitos que deben cumplir tanto el sabedor como el aprendiz.
El deseo del autor es que este trabajo pueda volverse una herramienta que propicie la reflexión y que permita la recuperación de los conocimientos que aún conservan los sabedores indígenas, saberes que tienden aceleradamente a olvidarse y confundirse. De igual manera, se espera que la sociedad occidental pueda beneficiarse de esta investigación como herramienta de apoyo en las actividades de planificación y articulación de programas en salud dentro de los territorios indígenas, y para el cuidado de la vida en general. Su fin es no solo contribuir a una concepción pluralista de la salud, sino recordar a la sociedad occidental que el ser humano tiene la responsabilidad y el poder de materializar el buen vivir por medio de sus pensamientos, palabras y acciones.

This document consists of an account of some biographic elements concerning the life of Prof. Poani Higino Tenório. He was a renowned Indigenous pedagogue and epistemologist from the Tuyuka People of the Tiquié River, Northwest Amazonia. He died of Covid-19 on June 18th of 2020, amid the chaotic and catastrophic Public Health Response of the Brazilian Government during this pandemic, causing what many jurists and global human rights observers are considering a genocide in the Amazon, actually being investigated by the Hague International Court of Justice. Higino has worked in many intercultural and interdisciplinary research projects with many Indigenous and non-Indigenous partnerships from several countries for the last 35 years. One of his recent fruitful research partnerships was with Amazonian Archaeology, particularly with rock art research. For those contributions, he was internationally acknowledged by the Brazilian Association of Rock Art (ABAR) and by the International Federation of Rock Art Organizations (IFRAO) as the first Indigenous Rock Art Researcher of the Amazon in Brazil.

Growing population, urbanization, increased sophistication in life, global warming, and climate change are some of the factors that can worsen the scarcity and quality of water in coming decades. Therefore, a sustainable water governance is essential across the world to face this challenge. In this paper, we study two water governance networks constructed from ground-truth using a new network analysis technique called graphlet analysis. Graphlet is gaining popularity in network analysis due to its power in exposing network structure and functions. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first work to apply graphlet analysis to study water governance network.

By presenting Shamanism as a form and tradition of indigenous knowledge, this paper aims to reduce the uncertainties attached to the concept in common approaches to indigenous research. Most indigenist researchers, who are working to blend western and non-western ways of knowing, have inadequately explored indigenous research procedures. In order to understand indigenous research procedures in the Nepali multi-cultural context, using interpretive, critical and postmodern research paradigms, the authors engaged with indigenous elders and traditional healers, and observed cultural events like shamanic performances. This paper reveals how achieving a profound understanding of indigenous knowledge traditions will be an integral part of how researchers approach indigenous communities in future studies

INTRODUCTION Indigenous communities across Canada report that transformations in Indigenous health research are needed, where the benefits of research shift intentionally, collaboratively, and with transparency from the researchers directly to Indigenous communities and partners. Despite its challenges and potential for harm, research, if done ethically and with respect and partnership, can be a force for change and will strengthen the efficacy of data on Indigenous Peoples' health and wellbeing. PURPOSE To characterize the nature, range, and extent of Indigenous health research in Atlantic Canada, and to identify gaps. METHODS Eleven databases were searched using English-language keywords that signify Indigeneity, geographic regions, health, and Indigenous communities in Atlantic Canada between 2001 and May 2020. All references were reviewed independently by two reviewers. Of the 9056 articles identified, 211 articles were retained for inclusion. Data were extracted using a col...

The shelves of local shops are filled with an abundance of imported beverages. Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Fanta, Sprite, Frooti, and Red Bull among others have made the way to rural Nepal, where agriculture is still the primary source of income. As the result of increasing access to imported goods and products in rural markets, local products are gradually losing ground. This paper shows that tailored consumer education can assist de-cocacolising the market and increase the competitiveness and diversification of local products. It does so by imparting knowledge and skills to individuals to be critical and responsible consumers who start seeking an equal share of local products in the rural market. For this paper, extensive desk review, rural market observations and interviews with consumers of different age groups, vendors and youth were used as data generation techniques.

This article is based on indigenous research focusing on a group located on the margins of Sami society. This group is called the Non-Status Sami referring to their current juridical status. The theme of the study was very sensitive as many conflicting issues concern this group of Sami-speaking people. This article is based on previous research describing the identification of the non-status Sami in the Sami community. The purpose of this article is to discuss how to pay attention to sensitivity in indigenous research and why sensitivity in this specific context is important. According to the results, the construction process of Sami identity within the boundaries of Sami society was experienced as problematic. Therefore, sensitivity in researching this group played a salient role.

Chapter Four
Traditional storytelling: An effective Indigenous research methodology and its implications for environmental research

The chapters in this volume collect together perspectives on Indigenous epistemologies. These Indigenous ways of knowing pay particular attention to the relational aspects of language, culture, and place. They are not identified as specific themes, but as integrated parts of a philosophy, for Indigenous epistemologies think within a relational framework, so that all aspects are best understood from this perspective. Indigenous ways of knowing have resisted colonization and oppression, and as such, Indigenous research perspectives exemplify a commitment to social justice, one that recovers knowledges that have been silenced or subjugated. When such knowledge is shared, we can see how to challenge oppressive regimes. We can see how to seek truth in a relational way that’s attendant to being together. Indigenous Research takes up issues of social justice in a way that is informed by Indigenous epistemologies, an important practice in contemporary research, particularly qualitative inquiry.

This paper explores different ways of conceptualising Indigenous/non-Indige- nous research collaboration and partnerships. It begins with a brief outline of the problem of current conceptualisations within the critical paradigm in qualitative research. It proposes the idea of the contact zone (Pratt, 1992) as a useful way to theorise the site, and border work (Haig-Brown & Archibald, 1996) as a way to understand the emotional and intellectual work, of intercultural collaboration. We apply these ideas to the analysis of a series of conversations between team members involved in a research partnership between an Australian Aboriginal corporation and a university. This analysis suggests that the way borders are conceived differently by different team members depends on their particular political investments. A range of border maintenance and border crossings is necessary for the task of achieving effective collaboration. The ‘discomfort’ zone of cultural contact is usefully conceived as an area of productive tension in which differences can generate hybrid outcomes such as team produced books for the organisation’s ecotourism enterprise.

by Lévesque, C., Cloutier, É., Sirois, T., Radu, I, and Labrana, R.

Over the past twenty years, research partnerships between universities and Aboriginal organisations and communities have flourished across both Québec and Canada. Whether they are inspired by the premises of collaborative or participatory research, emphasise the voices and knowledge of Aboriginal people themselves, aim for a well-grounded and situated understanding of Aboriginal realities, or seek to document Aboriginal approaches and perspectives in the areas of education, the environment or health, these partnerships necessarily lead to new joint research practices that often have tremendous potential for social change. It was in this context that the ODENA Research Alliance (www.odena.ca) was set up in 2009, thanks to a grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) under the Community-University Research Alliance (CURA) program.

Welcome to ResearchCrowd. We are an independent Indigenous research agency. We specialise in culturally informed, evidenced-based research and evaluation for clients and communities in Australia.

We deliver a creative suite of innovative research services tailored to the needs of clients and communities across urban, rural and remote Australia.

We creatively co-design processes to co-deliver innovative, rigorous and culturally relevant research and evaluation results that help our clients and communities thrive.

We are skilled academic researchers and evaluators, and community storytellers, who creatively combine convention and custom for innovative Indigenous research.

ResearchCrowd: Strengthening cultural integrity in Indigenous research

The focus of this paper is on the nature of research with whanau (Maori (Indigenous peoples of Aotearoa New Zealand) famiies) and the ethical issues that should be considered within a Kaupapa Maori (by Maori, for Maori) approach. Common themes in the research methods are explored, including the relationship between research, facilitating whanau change and social justice. The end result is a kete (woven basket) of methods that researchers may wish to access according to their usefulness and appropriateness for research with whanau.