This is a selection of titles that relate to indigenous research methods, which might help inform your research style. There are additional books on related topics, that can also be found in our library catalog,
Decolonizing Research by
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.
Giving Back: Research and Reciprocity in Indigenous Settings by
How can scholars best give back to the communities in which they conduct their research? This critical question arises from a long history of colonial scholarship that exploited study subjects by taking knowledge without giving anything in return. It is a problem faced by all field researchers, even those working in their own communities. Over the past several decades--and especially since the evolution of feminist methodologies, participatory research, and the postcolonial turn in the 1990s--there have been calls for research to be less exploitative, but also for researchers and for the research itself to give something back. Giving Back: Research and Reciprocity in Indigenous Settings addresses the need for reciprocity in the research process, especially (though not exclusively) in regard to indigenous communities. The twelve case studies in this volume demonstrate that giving back can happen through the research itself--through the careful framing of questions, co-production of knowledge, and dissemination of results--but also through the day-to-day actions and attitudes of researchers that inevitably occur in the field. It can range from everyday give-and-take to the sharing of research materials to larger and longer-term engagements. As practitioners of community-based research gain greater awareness of these issues, scholars and institutions need guidance and strategies for ensuring reciprocity in the research process. This volume presents a variety of situations from a wide range of research contexts, discusses what has and hasn't worked, and explores what issues remain. CONTRIBUTORS: Jennifer Carter Julia Christensen Claire Colyer David Crew Erica A. D'Elia Maria Fadiman R.D.K. Herman Richard Howitt Stephanie Hull Gwyneira Isaac Chris Jacobson Meredith Luze Catrina A. MacKenzie Lea S. McChesney Kendra McSweeney Janice Monk Roxanne T. Ornelas Tristan Pearce Matthew Reeves Chie Sakakibara Wendy S. Shaw Sarah Turner John R. Welch
Indigenous Methodologies: Characteristics, Conversations, and Contexts by
"An innovative and important contribution to Indigenous research approaches, this revised second edition provides a framework for conducting Indigenous methodologies, serving as an entry point to learn more broadly about Indigenous research."--Provided by publisher.
Indigenous Statistics: a Quantitative research methodology by
In the first book ever published on Indigenous quantitative methodologies, Maggie Walter and Chris Andersen open up a major new approach to research across the disciplines and applied fields. While qualitative methods have been rigorously critiqued and reformulated, the population statistics relied on by virtually all research on Indigenous peoples continue to be taken for granted as straightforward, transparent numbers. This book dismantles that persistent positivism with a forceful critique, then fills the void with a new paradigm for Indigenous quantitative methods, using concrete examples of research projects from First World Indigenous peoples in the United States, Australia, and Canada. Concise and accessible, it is an ideal supplementary text as well as a core component of the methodological toolkit for anyone conducting Indigenous research or using Indigenous population statistics.
Research As Resistance: Revisiting Critical, Indigenous, and Anti-Oppressive Approaches by
Research as Resistance brings together the theory and practice of anti-oppressive approaches to social science research. Emphasizing meaningful involvement of research subjects in the research processes and critical reflexivity, this book describes both theoretical foundations and practical applications of socially just research. The book covers some of the ontological and epistemological considerations involved in such research, including researcher positionality, and offers examples across a range of methodologies, including storytelling and Indigenous research. This is a unique text in that it is firmly anchored in the Canadian context, and the featured researchers occupy marginalized locations."--Provided by publisher
Research Is Ceremony by
Indigenous researchers are knowledge seekers who work to progress Indigenous ways of being, knowing and doing in a modern and constantly evolving context. This book describes a research paradigm shared by Indigenous scholars in Canada and Australia, and demonstrates how this paradigm can be put into practice. Relationships don't just shape Indigenous reality, they are our reality. Indigenous researchers develop relationships with ideas in order to achieve enlightenment in the ceremony that is Indigenous research. Indigenous research is the ceremony of maintaining accountability to these relationships. For researchers to be accountable to all our relations, we must make careful choices in our selection of topics, methods of data collection, forms of analysis and finally in the way we present information. I'm an Opaskwayak Cree from northern Manitoba currently living in the Northern Rivers area of New South Wales, Australia. I'm also a father of three boys, a researcher, son, uncle, teacher, world traveller, knowledge keeper and knowledge seeker. As an educated Indian, I've spent much of my life straddling the Indigenous and academic worlds. Most of my time these days is spent teaching other Indigenous knowledge seekers (and my kids) how to accomplish this balancing act while still keeping both feet on the ground.
Words matter and show understanding.
There is terminology that should and shouldn't be used when discussing or referring to Native Americans. This a very short list of frequently used terminology.
According to the Native American Journalism Association, either is acceptable when referring to two or more people with different tribal affiliations.
Indian Country is legally defined in Title 18 of the U.S. Code as any land within the limits of an Indian reservation, all independent Indian communities within U.S. borders, and all Indian allotments. It is also used to describe any Native-occupied space. The National Congress of American Indians offers, "[w]hen used appropriately, Indian Country takes on a powerful meaning, legally and symbolically, for all tribal nations. Indian Country is wherever American Indian spirit, pride, and community are found."
Many organizations offer definitions of Indigenous or Indigenous peoples -- the United Nations, the World Bank, the World Health Organization. The Native American Journalism Association reminds writers to capitalize the I when referring to Indigenous peoples or nations to distinguish from informal uses of indigenous plants. animals, or flowers.
Per the U.S. Justice Department, "Recognition" is a legal term meaning that the United States recognizes a government-to-government relationship with a Tribe and that a Tribe exists politically in a "domestic dependent nation" status. Federally-recognized Tribes possess certain inherent powers of self-government and entitlement to certain federal benefits, services, and protections because of the special trust relationship.
Currently there are 574 federally recognized tribes. In addition, there are tribes that are recognized by states that may not be federally recognized. The National Council of State Legislatures provides a list of federally and state recognized tribes.
Tribal sovereignty refers to Native American rights to self govern. The National Congress of American Indians offers information about tribal governance.
Keywords are important for finding the information you want - whether you're searching in the library catalog, in a research database, or on the open web.
In addition to figuring out the words that match the words used in the items you're trying to find, it is important to consider how broad or specific your focus is. For instance:
You may need to try multiple spellings, such as: Kalapuya or Calapooia or Calapooya or Kalapooya -- some search engines will cross-reference various spellings, but many will not.
Similarly, historical (and in some cases, offensive) terms are sometimes still the only terms tagged on a particular item. More and more, modern terms are added by culturally competent catalogers to help searching work better, but some catalogs and databases have not updated every item yet.
And you should always feel welcome to email your librarian for help with terminology, or other aspects of your research. - Miriam, rigby@uoregon.edu
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