Transdisciplinary Research and Aboriginal Knowledge

2006 ◽  
Vol 35 ◽  
pp. 78-89 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Christie
Keyword(s):  
Indigenous Knowledge ◽  
Knowledge Production ◽  
Aboriginal People ◽  
Indigenous Communities ◽  
Transdisciplinary Research ◽  
Indigenous Research ◽  
Research Practice ◽  
Knowledge Practices ◽  
Academic Researchers ◽  
The University

AbstractIndigenous academic researchers are involved in Indigenist, interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research, all of which present problems and opportunities for Indigenous knowledge traditions. Transdisciplinary research is different from interdisciplinary research because it moves beyond the disciplinarity of the university and takes into account knowledge practices which the university will never fully understand. Indigenous knowledge traditions resist definition from a Western academic perspective - there are Indigenous knowledge practices which will never engage with the academy, just as there are some branches of the academy which will never acknowledge Indigenous knowledge practices. In this paper I present the story of my own non-Indigenous perspective on Indigenous research and what happens to it in a university. I am not concerned here with the knowledge production work Aboriginal people do in their own ways and contexts for their own purposes, but rather turn my attention to some of the issues which emerge when transdisciplinary research practice involves Australian Indigenous communities.

Following in the footsteps of the wolf: connecting scholarly minds to ancestors in Indigenous language revitalization

2017 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 11-17 ◽  
Author(s):  
T’łat’łaḵuł Patricia Rosborough ◽  
čuucqa Layla Rorick
Keyword(s):  
Language Learners ◽  
Language Revitalization ◽  
Indigenous Communities ◽  
Indigenous Research ◽  
Research Practice ◽  
Long Term Effects ◽  
Continuous Part ◽  
Indigenous Language Revitalization ◽  
Adult Language Learners

The authors’ respective experiences as Indigenous people, scholars, language activists, and Kwak’wala (Kwakwa̱ka̱’wakw/Kwakiutl language) and ḥiḥiškʷiiʔatḥa (Hesquiaht dialect of the Nuu-chah-nulth/Nootka language) adult language learners and teachers are discussed in relation to the literature on spirituality and the supernatural. Using dialogic and autoethnographical voices, the authors highlight the long-term effects of metaphysical interaction on learning, as well as acknowledging its role in Indigenous research as a foundational and continuous part of Indigenous search for knowledge. Indigenous cultural principles and the narrative research practice of Indigenous scholars guide the authors in drawing on the traditions of teaching through story, centering relationships, and practicing reciprocity in the context of where Indigenous researchers stand in continual relationship to their Indigenous communities.

The Challenge of Oral History to Environmental History

2020 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 207-231 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian Williams ◽  
Mark Riley
Keyword(s):  
Oral History ◽  
Environmental History ◽  
Knowledge Production ◽  
Environmental Knowledge ◽  
Research Practice ◽  
Environmental Practices ◽  
Knowledge Practices ◽  
Colonial Archives ◽  
Environmental Histories ◽  
Key Interventions

Oral history has much to offer environmental history, yet the possibilities and promises of oral history remain underutilised in environmental history and environmental studies more broadly. Through a reflection on work in environmental history and associated disciplines, this paper presents a case for the strength and versatility of oral history as a key source for environmental history, while reflecting on questions of its reliability and scope. We identify three major insights provided by environmental oral history: into environmental knowledge, practices and power. We argue that, rather than being a weakness, the (inter)subjective and experiential dimensions of oral accounts provide a rich source for situating and interrogating environmental practices, meanings, and power relations. Oral history, moreover, provides a counterweight to a reliance on colonial archives and top-down environmental accounts, and can facilitate a renewal - and deepening - of the radical roots of environmental history. Furthermore, as a research practice, oral history is a promising means of expanding the participatory and grassroots engagement of environmental history. By decentring environmental expertise and eroding the boundaries (both fictive and real) of environmental knowledge production, oral environmental histories can provide key interventions in pursuit of a more just, sustainable world.

Indigenous Knowledge, Perspectives, and Design Principles in the Engineering Curriculum

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcia R. Friesen ◽  
Randy Herrmann
Keyword(s):  
Indigenous Knowledge ◽  
Indigenous Communities ◽  
Design Principles ◽  
First Year ◽  
Infrastructure Development ◽  
Conceptual Approach ◽  
Indigenous Students ◽  
History Of ◽  
Energy Independence ◽  
The University

Canadians live with a legacy of troubled relationships between Indigenous Canadians and non-Indigenous Canadians, rooted in a history of colonialism and racism. Aligned with the Truth & Reconciliation Commission's Calls to Action and the University of Manitoba's Strategic Priorities 2015-2020, The Faculty of Engineering is planning curriculum initiatives to incorporate Indigenous Knowledge, perspectives and design principles.The paper reviews the conceptual approach which encompasses both the culture of the institution as well as specific curriculum initiatives. These curriculum initiatives include redeveloping three core courses, first-year Design in Engineering, third year Engineering Economics, and third year Technology & Society for explicit inclusion of Indigenous knowledge, perspectives, and design principles; integrating Indigenous design emphases in capstone design courses, including Indigenous design principles and design application of importance to Indigenous communities, such as infrastructure development, energy independence, and food security; increasing the participation of Indigenous students in the Coop/Industrial Internship Program (IIP), and using the Coop/IIP to build authentic linkages to Manitoba Indigenous communities and environments; and, fostering linkages between teaching and existing faculty research programs

Decolonizing Research Practice

2014 ◽  
pp. 178-192 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Evans ◽  
Adrian Miller ◽  
Peter J. Hutchinson ◽  
Carlene Dingwall
Keyword(s):  
Traditional Knowledge ◽  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
Indigenous Communities ◽  
Knowledge Systems ◽  
Indigenous Research ◽  
Research Practice ◽  
Research Results ◽  
Dissemination Of Research ◽  
General Improvement ◽  
Indigenous Methods

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.

Thesis as kin: living relationality with research

2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 163-170
Author(s):  
Lauren Tynan
Keyword(s):  
Knowledge Production ◽  
Short Form ◽  
Indigenous Research ◽  
Research Practice ◽  
Doctoral Studies ◽  
Research Paradigms ◽  
Latin Word ◽  
Asking Questions ◽  
Relational Accountability

As a trawlwulwuy woman of tebrakunna country, Australia, I invite scholars to embrace research and writing as kin, extending an ethic of relational accountability to all relations, including the thesis. “Thesis as kin” derives from an Aboriginal ontological translation of the English (originally Latin) word “thesis,” broken into two parts, “the” “sis”, revealing the short form for sister “sis” as the primary entity. “Thesis as kin” can similarly be translated as “thesis askin,” an agentic provocation that situates knowledge production with the thesis itself and suggests the thesis is askin’ (asking) questions. Not limited to doctoral studies, imagining thesis as kin respectfully and humbly responds to scholars’ calls that Indigenous research paradigms centre relationality. This article advocates for a research practice beyond consumerist reproduction, towards a process of kinship. It is an attempt to caretake all our relations by living the processes of relationality with research.

Indigenous Anthropology

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bernard Perley
Keyword(s):  
Strategic Planning ◽  
Social Science ◽  
Indigenous Knowledge ◽  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
Knowledge Production ◽  
Indigenous Communities ◽  
Human Experience ◽  
Systemic Racism ◽  
The Social

Indigenous anthropology is an emergent praxis of Indigenous knowledge production that can be vaguely translated and tentatively identified as approximating anthropological enquiry in the Western sense of the social science. The decolonizing practices by Indigenous scholars have outlined contours of critical Indigenous praxis that seek to liberate Indigenous communities from colonial and settler hegemonies of knowledge production, dissemination of knowledges, and the ongoing constraints colonial systems of systemic racism have imposed on Indigenous peoples as a global phenomenon. The growing call for a world anthropology inadvertently imposes an uncritical ventriloquism on Indigenous peoples who are attempting to contribute to the discipline of anthropology from the situated perspectives of diverse Indigenous communities. The UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) provided a catalyzing moment for a global Indigeneity that brings the diverse experiences together for mutual consultation and strategic planning. Indigeneity as a global phenomenon also creates the potential for the discipline of anthropology to shed its colonial roots and consider the prospects for a vibrant anthropology that truly reflects a shared human experience and does not privilege one knowledge over another.

Reframing research in Indigenous countries

2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 36-57
Author(s):  
Aedan Alderson
Keyword(s):  
Best Practices ◽  
Knowledge Production ◽  
Indigenous Communities ◽  
Research Process ◽  
Indigenous Research ◽  
Canadian History ◽  
Indigenous Literature ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Indigenous Territories ◽  
Preliminary Research

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to address some of the implications for methodology and ethics that arise when researchers in Indigenous territories locate their research projects as taking place within Indigenous countries. Centering the argument that ethical research with Indigenous communities must be rooted in upholding the primacy of Indigenous sovereignty, numerous considerations to improve qualitative research practices in Indigenous countries are discussed. Design/methodology/approach The author starts by introducing his relationship to Indigenous research as a mixed-Indigenous researcher. Moving onto discussing preliminary research considerations for working in Indigenous territories, the author argues that qualitative researchers must become familiarized with the historical and geographical contexts of the Indigenous countries they plan on working in. Using Canadian history as an example, the author argues that settler-colonial nationalisms continue to attempt to erase and replace Indigenous countries both in historical and geographical narratives. Building on Indigenous literature, the author then outlines the necessity of being aware of nation-specific protocols in law, culture, and knowledge production. Findings Drawing on this discussion, the author proposes a framework for preliminary research that can be used by qualitative researchers looking to ensure their projects are grounded in the best practices for the specific Indigenous countries they want to work with. Originality/value The author concludes that researchers should not expect Indigenous knowledge keepers to contribute large amounts of labour towards debunking colonial mythology and proving the existence of Indigenous countries. By doing this work as part of the preliminary research process, researchers create space for better collaborations with Indigenous communities.

scholarly journals Try Bravery for a Change: Supporting Indigenous Health Training and Development in Canadian Universities

2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Chantelle Richmond
Keyword(s):  
Structural Changes ◽  
Indigenous Health ◽  
Indigenous Communities ◽  
Training And Development ◽  
Indigenous Research ◽  
Health Training ◽  
Canadian Universities ◽  
Research Environments ◽  
The University

The persistence of egregious inequities signals that we are at a critical juncture regarding the health of Canada’s Indigenous peoples. Now is the time to seriously reflect on the relationships between Indigenous realities, public policy, and the role of Indigenous research environments therein. Addressing the complexity of contemporary Indigenous health inequity requires a fundamental reorientation in the ways we conduct and think about research. This commentary explores the transition currently taking place in Indigenous health training and development in Canadian universities, with a focus on Ontario’s Indigenous Mentorship Network. At the heart of the Ontario Network is the Anishinabe philosophy Mno Nimkodadding Geegi (“We Are All Connected”).  In our attempts to address Indigenous health inequality in Canada, we take the perspective that the most important answers will come when we take the time to listen to Indigenous communities. This commentary closes with a discussion on bravery. Just as Indigenous scholars push to make space for their scholarship within the university environments, so too must our institutions have the bravery needed to address the structural changes required to foster that success.

scholarly journals Collaborative Indigenous Knowledge Research: Acknowledging and Reclaiming Traditional Practices

2016 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 173-182
Author(s):  
Georgina Martin
Keyword(s):  
Indigenous Knowledge ◽  
Indigenous Communities ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation Commission ◽  
Indigenous Research ◽  
Community Based ◽  
Reconciliation Commission ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation ◽  
Sensitive Topics ◽  
Collaborative Community ◽  
Commission Report

This article follows on the heels of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission report to redress the residue of residential schools by enhancing harmony between Indigenous communities and universities. My collaborative community-based Indigenous Knowledge(IK) research attended to the struggle for Secwepemc reclamation, revitalization, and renewal of culture, language, and land. An IK theoretical framework initiated con dence to articulate a Secwepemc worldview within a Eurocentric research context especially while responding to the deeply personal and sensitive topics of cultural identity and language. The aim of knowledge creation is to work from an Indigenous research paradigm through self-location, storytelling, and community relevant protocols.

Talanoa: Tongan epistemology and Indigenous research method

2018 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 156-163 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arcia Tecun (Daniel Hernandez) ◽  
‘Inoke Hafoka ◽  
Lavinia ‘Ulu‘ave ◽  
Moana ‘Ulu‘ave-Hafoka
Keyword(s):  
Indigenous Knowledge ◽  
Research Methods ◽  
Knowledge Production ◽  
Research Method ◽  
Academic Research ◽  
Indigenous Research ◽  
The Past ◽  
Indigenous Research Methods ◽  
Informal Discussion

Story dialogue known as talanoa is increasingly finding its place as a Pacific research method. The authors situate talanoa as an Indigenous concept of relationally mindful critical oratory. Approaching talanoa from mostly a Tongan lens, it is argued that it can contribute to broader discussions of Indigenous research methods and epistemology. The authors address the talanoa literature that has defined it as an open or informal discussion, and respond to questions that have emerged from challenges in implementing it practically in academic research. Indigenous Oceanic thought is used to interpret talanoa as a mediation between relations of Mana (potency), Tapu ( sacred/restrictions), and Noa (equilibrium), which is a gap in the talanoa literature. Talanoa is grounded as a continuum of Indigenous knowledge production and wisdom present from the past that is adaptable to research settings. Centring Moana (Oceanic) epistemology in talanoa challenges dominant research methods to adapt to Indigenous paradigms, rather than attempting to Indigenize a Western one.

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