Abstract
Collaborative and community-based research (CCBR) is well defined and discussed in the literature; however, there are few discussions about graduate students doing CCBR with Indigenous communities. This project report features insights from nine graduate students attending six universities in Canada, the United States, and Brazil. These students are a part of a multi-year research partnership grant involving fishing communities from three major watersheds, the Mackenzie River Basin, the Amazon River Basin, and the lower Mekong River Basin. Each student engaged in collaborative research around the themes of Indigenous fishing livelihoods and the role of local and traditional knowledge in river basin governance. This project report presents reflections of graduate students on developing relationships and enacting CCBR during the following three stages of research with Indigenous communities: research project design, research project implementation, and post-project engagement. Best practices have been developed from graduate student reflections on issues, challenges, and needs of graduate students doing CCBR. The findings suggest that a diversity of factors contribute to effective CCBR. This includes the needs and interests of the community partner, the quality of supervisor support, the skillset of the student, their disciplinary background, and their capacity to work in complex sociopolitical contexts.
Highlights
Collaborative and community-based research (CCBR) is a growing methodological approach in Canada and globally [1]
Guided by histories and principles of participatory action research (PAR), CCBR calls for the creation of more equitable relationships in the production and sharing of knowledge, including the knowledge of Indigenous peoples
Written reflections arose from a collaboration between nine graduate students from six universities; this includes both non-Indigenous [6] and Indigenous scholars [3] who were networked together as part of a multi-year research partnership focused on fishing livelihoods in the Mackenzie River Basin, Amazon River Basin, and the lower Mekong River Basin (Tracking Change: Local and Traditional Knowledge in Watershed Governance. www.trackingchange.ca)
Summary
Collaborative and community-based research (CCBR) is a growing methodological approach in Canada and globally [1]. There is a gap in understanding the perspectives of these graduate students, including students who are networked together in large team projects This project report presents reflections of graduate students on developing relationships with Indigenous communities and enacting CCBR during the following three stages of research: research project design, research project implementation, and post-project engagement. Written reflections arose from a collaboration between nine graduate students from six universities; this includes both non-Indigenous [6] and Indigenous scholars [3] who were networked together as part of a multi-year research partnership focused on fishing livelihoods in the Mackenzie River Basin, Amazon River Basin, and the lower Mekong River Basin Common themes relate to balancing time in the field with the realities of academic timelines, willingness to adapt to the community context as well as ensuring opportunities for co-creation of knowledge at all stages of the research process
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