an essay about indigenous methodology

An Essay about Indigenous Methodology

Jelena porsanger.

In this essay the author intends to articulate methodological issues, which are primarily important for indigenous researchers in the light of the indigenous perspective.

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Nordlit: Tidsskrift i litteratur og kultur (Jul 2004)

An Essay about Indigenous Methodology

• Jelena Porsanger

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In this essay the author intends to articulate methodological issues, which are primarily important for indigenous researchers in the light of the indigenous perspective.

• Indigenous methodologies
• epistemology
• power relations in research
• indigenous research
• research ethics

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10 Decolonizing Research Practice: Indigenous Methodologies, Aboriginal Methods, and Knowledge/Knowing

Mike Evans is Professor of Community, Culture, and Global Studies at UBC Okanagan. He is also Adjunct Professor at Southern Cross University, Australia.

Adrian Miller is Professor, Indigenous Research Unit, Griffith University, Australia.

Peter J. Hutchinson is Adjunct Professor, Faculty of Health and Social Development, School of Health and Exercise Sciences, UBC Okanagan; Chronic Disease Surveillance Program Manager, Metis Nation British Columbia.

Carlene Dingwall is affiliated with the Department Community, Culture and Global Studies, University of British Columbia Okanagan.

• Published: 04 August 2014
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Indigenous approaches to research are fundamentally rooted in the traditions and knowledge systems of Indigenous peoples themselves, although Indigenous methodologies and methods have become both systems for generating knowledge and ways of responding to the processes of colonization. Very specific Indigenous methods emerge from language, culture, and worldview. This chapter describes two such Indigenous research approaches drawn from the work of two Indigenous scholars with their communities in Australia and Canada. Although creative and new, these approaches draw deeply from their communities and thus express and enact traditional knowledge systems in contemporary terms. This approach may result in more pertinent research, better take-up and dissemination of research results, and a general improvement in the situations of Indigenous communities and peoples.

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Indigenous and Decolonizing Research Methodology

• First Online: 27 October 2022

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This chapter presents an introduction to alternative approaches to research based on indigenous worldviews and knowledge. This approach also emphasizes decolonizing research methods that are developed from a Eurocentric view of the world. It argues for the urgent need to apply methods that are meaningful to non-Euro-western people as part of mental decolonization and liberation. When research is conducted from a Euro-western perspective, it privileges a single worldview and ignores and marginalizes others. How research is designed implemented and interpreted and who has a say in these processes have a bearing on the outcome. An indigenous and decolonizing paradigm prioritizes collective identity, sharing of knowledge, respect of people’s history, culture, spirituality, and relationships as seen from their perspective. It is concluded that while the indigenous and decolonizing methodology is still evolving, there is a rich body of work that attests to its viability.

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School of Social Sciences, Charles Sturt University, Wagga Wagga, Australia

Ndungi wa Mungai

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Correspondence to Ndungi wa Mungai .

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Centre for Family and Child Studies, Research Institute of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Sharjah, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates

M. Rezaul Islam

Department of Development Studies, University of Dhaka, Dhaka, Bangladesh

Niaz Ahmed Khan

Department of Social Work, School of Humanities, University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg, South Africa

Rajendra Baikady

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wa Mungai, N. (2022). Indigenous and Decolonizing Research Methodology. In: Islam, M.R., Khan, N.A., Baikady, R. (eds) Principles of Social Research Methodology. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-5441-2_23

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DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-5441-2_23

Published : 27 October 2022

Publisher Name : Springer, Singapore

Print ISBN : 978-981-19-5219-7

Online ISBN : 978-981-19-5441-2

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Let’s Talk About Indigenous Research Methodologies

Happy (belated) Indigenous Peoples Days! Let’s talk about indigenous research methodologies (IRM). Jelena Porsanger defines IRM as

. . . a body of indigenous and theoretical approaches and methods, rules and postulates employed by indigenous research in the study of indigenous peoples. The main aim of indigenous methodologies is to ensure that research on indigenous issues can be carried out in a more respectful, ethical, correct, sympathetic, useful and beneficial fashion, seen from the point of view of indigenous peoples. (Porsanger, Jelena. (2004). An Essay about Indigenous Methodology . Nordlit. 8(1): 105-20. 10.7557/13.1910.)

Want to learn more? Here are a few resources on indigenous research methodologies.

Bagele Chilisa’s book Indigenous Research Methodologies provides an extensive overview of IRM and how to use them. Chilisa, from Botswana, describes post-colonial perspectives, indigenous knowledge systems, culturally sensitive and responsive research methods, and decolonizing the research process.

Call #: GN380.C494 2012

“From Oceania to North America, indigenous peoples have created storytelling traditions of incredible depth and diversity. The term ‘indigenous storywork’ has come to encompass the sheer breadth of ways in which indigenous storytelling serves as a historical record, as a form of teaching and learning, and as an expression of indigenous culture and identity. But such traditions have too often been relegated to the realm of myth and legend, recorded as fragmented distortions, or erased altogether. Decolonizing Research brings together indigenous researchers and activists from Canada, Australia and New Zealand to assert the unique value of indigenous storywork as a focus of research, and to develop methodologies that rectify the colonial attitudes inherent in much past and current scholarship. By bringing together their own indigenous perspectives, and by treating indigenous storywork on its own terms, the contributors illuminate valuable new avenues for research, and show how such reworked scholarship can contribute to the movement for indigenous rights and self-determination.” –Publisher description of Decolonizing Research: Indigenous Storywork as Methodology .

Call #: GN378.D43 2019

“To the colonized, the term ‘research’ is conflated with European colonialism; the ways in which academic research has been implicated in the throes of imperialism remains a painful memory. This essential volume explores intersections of imperialism and research – specifically, the ways in which imperialism is embedded in disciplines of knowledge and tradition as ‘regimes of truth.’ Concepts such as ‘discovery’ and ‘claiming’ are discussed and an argument presented that the decolonization of research methods will help to reclaim control over indigenous ways of knowing and being.

Now in its eagerly awaited second edition, this bestselling book has been substantially revised, with new case-studies and examples and important additions on new indigenous literature, the role of research in indigenous struggles for social justice, which brings this essential volume urgently up-to-date.” –Publisher description of Decolonizing Methodologies: Research and Indigenous Peoples

Call #: GN380.S65 2012

Call #: E76.7.I53 2018

Call #: GN380.W554 2008

Want to see IRM in action? The library has access to many articles produced by researchers using IRM. Speak to your friendly reference librarians today if you’d like more information!

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