Indigenous Researchers

    • “To illustrate culturally responsive methodologies is to acknowledge the local histories, traditions and Indigenous knowledge systems that inform them” Chilisa, 2011:161

This quote resonates with me because it signifies the importance of recognizing indigenous knowledge and customs within western research. It also shows that indigenous methodologies are diverse between the various nations within Canada. Culturally responsive methodologies are important because you are acknowledging the intricate relationships that indigenous people have with place and language. It is understanding that indigenous culture and methodologies is a cultural process within itself that is conducted by doing rather than researching and writing about it. Illustrating is by observing, rather than sitting isolated in an office and writing about it.

Inspiration and Teachings

    • My inspiration comes from all the matriarchs of my communities who all have played an integral role in forming my identity as a Dakelh person. This includes my grandmothers, aunties, older cousins, older sisters and my mother. They have showed me the importance of the land by taking me hunting in the mountains, gathering medicines, picking berries and tea, and sharing stories of our ancestors while also sharing rituals of connections and rituals of condolences. Spending time on the land fostered a deeper appreciation for Mother Earth by learning about stories, medicines, animals, plants, clans, and all systems relating to those things.

Inspirational Readings

Indigenous Research Methodologies: 

  • Battiste, M. (2011). Reclaiming Indigenous voice and vision. UBC Press.
  • Cardinal, L. (2001). What is an Indigenous perspective? Canadian Journal of Native Education, 25(2), 180-182.
  • Chilisa, B. (2011). Indigenous research methodologies. Sage Publications.
  • Chilisa, B., & Ntseane, G. (2010). Resisting dominant discourses: implications of Indigenous, African feminist theory and methods for gender and education research. Gender and Education, 22(6), 617-632.
  • Denzin, N. K., Lincoln, Y. S and Smith, L. (2008). Handbook of critical and Indigenous methodologies. Sage.
  • Fleras, A. (2004). “Researching together differently”: Bridging the research paradigm gap.Native Studies Review, 15(2), 117-129.
  • Foley, D. (2003). Indigenous epistemology and Indigenous standpoint theory.Social Alternatives, 22(1), 44-52.
  • Hart, M. A. (2010).Indigenous worldviews, knowledge, and research: The development of an Indigenous research paradigm.
  • Kovach, M. (2005). Emerging from the margins: Indigenous methodologies. In L. Brown & S. Strega (Eds.),Research as resistance. Toronto, Canada: Canadian Scholars’ Press.
  • Kovach, M. E. (2010). Indigenous methodologies: Characteristics, conversations, and contexts. University of Toronto Press.
  • Louis, R. P. (2007). Can you hear us now? Voices from the margin: Using Indigenous methodologies in geographic research. Geographical research,45(2), 130-139.
  • Mataira, P., Matsuoka, J. K., & Morelli, P. T. (2005). Issues and processes in Indigenous research. In S. M. Kana.iaupuni (Ed.), Hulili: Multidisciplinary research on Hawaiian well-being (Vol. 2, pp. 35-45). Honolulu, HI: Pauahi Publications.
  • Prescott, S. J. (2008). Using talanoa in Pacific business research in New Zealand: experiences with Tongan entrepreneurs.AlterNative: An International Journal of Indigenous Peoples 4(1), 127-148.
  • Smith, L. T. (2012).Decolonizing methodologies: Research and Indigenous peoples (2nd ed.). London, England: Zed Books. (Original work published 1999)
  • Tuck, E. (2013). Decolonizing methodologies 15 years later. AlterNative: An International Journal of Indigenous Peoples, 9(4).
  • Tuck, E., & McKenzie, M. (2014). Place in research: Theory, methodology, and methods. Routledge.
  • Tuck, E., & Yang, K. W. (2014). R-words: Refusing research. Humanizing research: Decolonizing qualitative inquiry for youth and communities, 223-247.
  • Wilson, S. (2001). What is an Indigenous research methodology?. Canadian Journal of Native Education, 25(2), 175-179.
  • Wilson, S. (2003). Progressing toward an Indigenous research paradigm in Canada and Australia.Canadian Journal of Native Education, 27(2), 161-178.
  • Wilson, S. (2008).Research is ceremony: Indigenous research methods. Fernwood Pub..