Multidisciplinary Indigenous research: Preliminary findings of a scoping review of Canadian scholarship (1997 to 2020)
Research in Indigenous contexts has historically been associated with colonialism. To counter this, recent Indigenous research re-centers knowledge production on Indigenous worldviews and voices. As a settler ally, I have conducted a scoping review of Canadian Indigenous research using a mixed method approach (Western and Indigenous), adopting Arksey and O’Malley (2005) scoping methodology (for initial five steps) and Kovach’s (2010) Indigenous conversational method for consultations. The aim of this scoping review is to map out the praxis of Indigenous research by examining current epistemological trends, the diversity of Indigenous methods used and the role of researcher positionality in Indigenous research. Preliminary findings (before consultations) based on 46 papers across disciplines, point out to an increase in the number of Indigenous research projects conducted in Canada in the last five years. There is also evidence of substantial efforts by scholars to engage in respectful and reciprocal research partnerships with Indigenous partners.