Collaborative untangling of positionality, ownership, and answerability as white researchers in indigenous spaces

Abstract

Decentering whiteness and decolonizing educational research is not a simple matter for researchers who may (initially) be unaware of their social locations. This paper begins by describing the three authors’ individual work within indigenous populations and subsequently explores the impact of their critical journey together as a community of scholars working to decolonize their research practice. Following an overview of their individual stories, the authors share principles of ethical scholarly engagement within indigenous communities, particularly positionality, ownership, and answerability, that they hope will be valuable to others who may embark upon similar critically reflective journeys. Alongside each of these principles, they pose “unanswered questions” so as not to uphold their journey as a model, but rather to illuminate how this work is messy, challenging, eye-opening, unsettling, and ongoing. The authors conclude that it is the “methodological responsibility” of white scholars to do the ethical work to understand, untangle, and dismantle potentially harmful dispositions, orientations, and practices before engaging with indigenous communities, and suggest that such transformation may be most powerfully pursued in a purposeful and collaborative space.