Indigenous research and ethics

Abstract

Many Euro-Western researchers have not heard of Indigenous research. In my view, this needs to change, for two main reasons. Indigenous research and researchers have been oppressed and marginalised from the birth of colonial history to the present day. Continuing to ignore the work of Indigenous researchers effectively colludes with this oppression and marginalisation. Indigenous research is a long-standing system of thought and action which includes ideas that are unusual to most Euro-Western researchers. Reflecting on this system and its ideas can be educational for Euro-Western researchers. This book is informed by Indigenous research literature, interviews with some Euro-Western researchers who work with Indigenous researchers and direct contact with a small number of Indigenous researchers. However, I am not an expert on Indigenous research; only Indigenous researchers can be experts in their field. I am a student of Indigenous research methods and ethics, and I find that Indigenous researchers have much to teach me through their written and spoken words. When I assert that reflecting on Indigenous research can be educational for Euro-Western researchers, I do not mean that Euro-Western researchers can learn to do Indigenous research. I would never attempt to conduct, or claim to have conducted, Indigenous research. Euro-Western researchers can think about such things as: a holistic style of thought and life which is very different from our ways of segmenting and compartmentalising; a different ontological and epistemological mindset which may shed useful light on our own; egalitarian methods which might be transferable to some types of research such as participatory or activist research; an approach to research ethics based on the Indigenous way of life and mindset which provides nourishing food for thought.