“Indigenous Research Methodologies...describes a range of principles and values developed by Indigenous peoples themselves in response to their own unique epistemologies (ways of being), ontologies (ways of thinking) and axiologies (ways of doing). Indigenous Research Methodologies can be utilized by Indigenous researchers or by non-Indigenous researchers working with Indigenous knowledges.” (The University of Sydney)
Indigenous methodology is “’research by and for Indigenous Peoples, using techniques and methods drawn from the tradition and knowledges of those people’ (Evans, Hole, Berg, Hutchinson & Sookraj 2008).”
Indigenous methodology is also:
Sources:
Loyer, J. (n.d.). Indigenous research methods. University of Alberta. https://guides.library.ualberta.ca/indigenous-research/indigenous-research-methods
The University of Sydney. (n.d.). Indigenous methodologies. https://music-hdr-indigenous-methods.sydney.edu.au/?page_id=340#:~:text=A%20key%20scholar%20in%20this,an%20Indigenous%20standpoint%20in%20research.&text=References%3A,Paula%20Gruba%2C%20%26%20Justin%20Zobel
“Gregory Cajete, Ph.D. (Santa Clara Pueblo), [is a] Native American educator whose work is dedicated to honoring the foundations of Indigenous knowledge in education” (Native American Studies, n.d., para. 1).
Publications:
Source:
Native American Studies. (n.d.). Gregory Cajete, Ph.D. The University of New Mexico. https://nas.unm.edu/people/faculty/cajete-gregory.html
Margaret Kovach’s research focuses on Indigenous education, Indigenous healing and wellbeing, lifelong learning, and research methodologies.
Publications:
“Linda Tuhiwai Smith is an internationally recognized scholar who has significantly influenced the field of Māori education and health for decades. Her groundbreaking book Decolonizing Methodologies: Research and Indigenous Peoples (1998) remains a seminal work that serves as a foundational resource for critiques of the existing relationship between dominant institutional research protocols and Indigenous knowledge systems. Known as the Mother of Indigenous Studies, she co-developed the first undergraduate and graduate courses on Māori education and Indigenous education to be taught at a New Zealand university” (American Academy of Arts & Sciences, 2024, para. 1).
Publications:
Source:
American Academy of Arts & Sciences. (2024, August). Linda Tuhiwai Te Rina Smith. https://www.amacad.org/person/linda-tuhiwai-te-rina-smith
Shawn Wilson’s research focuses on the “application of Indigenous Research Methodologies into applied Indigenous community contexts, including the revitalization of traditional methodologies and practices” (University of British Columbia, n.d., para. 5).
Publications:
Source:
The University of British Columbia. (2023, September 18). Indigenous research methodologies. https://guides.library.ubc.ca/IndigResearch
Journals:
Canadian Journal of Native Education - “The Canadian Journal of Native Education (CJNE) was first published in 1980 with the goal of compiling and sharing the works of Indigenous Scholars in the field of education. From its inception the journal was published twice yearly: In spring/summer a theme issue was compiled by the Faculty of Education's Indigenous Education Institute of Canada (later moved to the Office of Indigenous Education, in the Faculty of Education) at the University of British Columbia” (About the Journal).
Decolonization: Indigeneity, Education & Society Journal: “Decolonization: Indigeneity, Education & Society solicits any work purposefully engaged in the decolonization process, regardless of discipline or field, encouraging work that actively seeks undisciplinary connections that work both against and beyond the Western academy. We recognize that this is a wide net to cast but feel strongly that decolonization must happen at all levels, in all fields, and all locations; decolonization seeks to explore the relationships between knowledges and tears down the artificial disciplinary demarcations of dominant ways of knowing and being. Colonial power affects all areas of life and thought - this journal seeks to engage and confront that power at every level” (About).
International Indigenous Policy Journal: “IIPJ is a peer-reviewed, policy-relevant research journal addressing issues pertaining to Indigenous Peoples throughout the world. IIPJ has a very specific set of goals:
Journal of Indigenous Research: A peer-reviewed journal with the aim to return Indigenous research back to Native peoples in a way that is accessible and understandable. This journal is part of the Kariwhahawi (Carrying the Word) Institute (KI) and is available via the Digital Commons at Utah State University.
“The Journal of Indigenous Research is designed to provide research data in a way that is understandable to the average person and will also specifically indicate an application of the material presented. These 1500-2000 word articles will be written in non-technical language, state some outcome of the research, explain the importance of the outcome for Native American, Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian, Maori people, and will be from the areas of the environment, public health, psychology, general health or education” (Aims and Scope).
Articles:
Barcham, M. (2019). Towards a radically inclusive design-Indigenous story-telling as codesign methodology. International Journal of CoCreation in Design and the Arts 19(1), 1-13. https://doi.org/10.1080/15710882.2021.1982989
Botha, L. (2009). Mixing methods as a process towards Indigenous methodologies. International Journal of Social Research Methodology, 14(4), 313-325. https://doi.org/10.1080/13645579/2010.516644
Cameron, L. (2022). Reclaiming their stories: A study of the spiritual content of historical cultural objects through an Indigenous creative inquiry. Australian Archaeology, 1-12. https://doi.org/10.1080/03122417.2024.2323244
Martin, K., Mirraboopa, B. (2009). Ways of knowing, being and doing: A theoretical framework and methods for Indigenous and Indigenist re-search. Journal of Australian Studies, 27(76), 203-214. https://doi.org/10.1080/14443050309387838
Sumida Huaman, E. (2024). Kawsaypaq (for life): Indigenous research for the freedom to become. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1080/09518398.2024.2318291
Christian, D. (2017). Gathering knowledge: Indigenous methodologies of land/place-based visual storytelling/filmmaking and visual sovereignty [Doctoral dissertation, University of British Columbia]. https://hdl.handle.net/2429/61166
Sage, F. (2017). Indigenous knowledge system and decolonizing methodology interwoven into higher education experiences: Autoethnography [Doctoral dissertation, University of North Dakota]. https://commons.und.edu/theses/2141/
Stone, A. B. (2024). Kumeyaay mental health: Healing, trauma, and resistance (Order No. 30694796). [University of California, San Diego, United States - California].
Ünal, D. (2021). Native voices: Changing the narrative (Publication No. 2614684459) [Doctoral dissertation, Widener University]. ProQuest Dissertations & Theses. https://www.proquest.com/dissertations-theses/native-voices-changing-narrative/docview/2614684459/se-2
Wootton, C. K. K. (2024). Communion with cacao: Working with cacao as a sacred medicine in a modern therapeutic context (Order No. 31140408). [Pacifica Graduate Institute, United States – California].
Karen Martin & Booran Mirraboopa:
“My belief as an Aboriginal researcher is that I actively use the strength of my Aboriginal heritage and do not position myself in a reactive stance of resisting or opposing western research frameworks and ideologies. Therefore, I research from the strength and position of being Aboriginal and viewing anything western as 'other', alongside and among western worldviews and realities. I have therefore expanded Lester's principles to highlight this standpoint and the proactive, progressive and visionary purposes that both structure and guide my research. These principles are:
Martin, K., & Mirraboopa, B. (2009). Ways of knowing, being and doing: A theoretical framework and methods for Indigenous and Indigenist re-search. Journal of Australian Studies, 27(76), 203-214. https://doi.org/10.1080/14443050309387838
Linda Tuhiwai Smith
“The research agenda is conceptualized here as constituting a programme and set of approaches that are situated within the decolonization politics of the Indigenous peoples’ movement. The agenda is focused strategically on the goal of self-determination of Indigenous peoples. Self-determination in a research agenda becomes something more than a political goal. It becomes a goal of social justice which is expressed through and across a wide range of psychological, social, cultural and economic terrains. It necessarily involves the processes of transformation, of decolonization, of healing and of mobilization as peoples. The processes, approaches and methodologies—while dynamic and open to different influences and possibilities—are critical elements of a strategic research agenda” (p.132).
Smith, L. T. (2021). Decolonizing methodologies: Research and Indigenous peoples (3rd ed.). Zed Books.
Elinor Assoulin
“The merit of the Art Yarning method lies in the observation that relationality is a shared
paradigm and value across Indigenous knowledge systems and within art therapy. Post-colonial theories focus on the creation and legitimisation of the intellectual space from which the unique experiences of Indigenous peoples can be included (Nakata 2007a; Moreton-Robinson 2013). As such, these theories are concerned with prioritising Indigenous research paradigms, governed by views of ontology, epistemology, axiology, and methodology as relational (Smith 1999; Martin 2003; Nakata 2007a; Wilson 2008). Within relational ontologies, Indigenous people view themselves in terms of multiple relations and connections binding the living with the non-living, with land, sky, animals, and plants – with all that is earth and beyond (Chilisa 2012). Subsequently, Indigenous epistemologies hold collective views of the nature of knowledge (Wilson 2008), where knowledge is constructed in complex, multilayered, and continuous ways (Christie 2006; Nakata 2007a; Martin 2010). Indigenous research paradigms prioritise axiologies that involve relational accountabilities” (p.736).
Assoulin, E. (2022). Art yarning: On an integrated social science research method. Journal of Intercultural Studies, 44(5), 734-759. https://doi.org/10.1080/07256868.2023.2229103
Margaret Kovach
“Indigenous inquiry is a relational methodology: its methods are dependent upon deep respect for those (or that) which it will involve, and those (or that) which will feel its consequence. In re-examining relationships that serve knowledge, Indigenous inquiry calls forth inherent stewardship responsibilities. In both its procedure and consequences, Indigenous methodologies ask researchers to demonstrate how research gives back to the individual and collective good. Research in service of social and ecological justice is inseparable from this value.” (p. 268)
Kovach, M. (2021). Indigenous methodologies: Characteristics, conversations, and contexts (2nd ed.). University of Toronto Press.
Sweeney Windchief & Timothy San Pedro
“Indigenous methodologies is a methodological approach that has its foundation in Indigenous knowledge systems” (page 34).
Windchief, S. & San Pedro, T. (2019). Applying Indigenous research methods : Storying with peoples and communities. Routledge.
Research through art and storytelling, as exemplified by Assoulin (2022):
Assoulin (2022) studied the intersection of Indigenous yarning and art therapy tools as a way to mirror the complexities “between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people and researchers in Australia” (p. 734). Assoulin affirms that the complex, relational nature of yarning requires that researchers adjust data collection and analysis to reflect this, thus data is not isolated, but viewed within the layers of context within which it was observed and shared (p. 741). To accomplish this, data was collected through artistic creation of masks using blank pre-formed masks and plaster to represent participants’ inner and outer identities. Researchers recorded each session, photographed each piece of art, and kept research journals (Assoulin, 2022, p. 741). Assoulin then attempted to honor the complexity of the yarning shared during artistic creation by “indwelling” while listening to each recorded session, denoting where she interpreted a theme and where the participants did themselves “to minimise an ‘ethnocentric interpretation” of findings (pp. 641-642).
We included this article to show how Indigenous research methodologies include deep contextual placement, honoring relational engagement, and community connection within the research process.
Assoulin, E. (2022). Art yarning: On an integrated social science research method. Journal of Intercultural Studies, 44(5), 734-759. https://doi.org/10.1080/07256868.2023.2229103
Relational Research, as reviewed by Mbah et al. (2023):
Mbah et al. (2023) conducted a literature review of studies with Indigenous people that employed a relational research method. This study focused on literature from 2012 to 2021, and each included study was screened by a researcher to evaluate whether a relational method was reported or employed (p. 435). We included this article to provide a broader view of how relational methods are used within Indigenous Methodology.
Mbah, M. F., Bailey, M., & Shingruf, A. (2023). Considerations for relational research methods for use in Indigenous contexts: Implications for sustainable development. International Journal of Social Research Methodology 27(4). https://doi.org/10.1080/13645579.2023.2185345
Thematic Analysis
“The organizing researcher used a thematic analysis using the following themes drawn from the literature review as well as other themes that were unanticipated. These themes included: how the clinicians felt about the integration, feedback received from the client’s perspective, ethical issues, training and supervision experiences, the decolonization process and the ancestor guidance” (Mejia, 2019, pg. 78).
Mejia, V. (2019). We are here: The narrative experience of clinicians of color using ancestral wisdom (Order No. 13884389). [California Institute of Integral Studies, United States – California].
Narrative Description & Synthesis
In this dissertation A. B. Stone interviews elders in the Kumeyaay Indigenous Nation. She synthesizes her findings by writing a narrative description of what she learned from each interview participant – 5 in total. She summarized her findings to include information about bird songs, bird singing and local plant harvesting. Her research shows the therapeutic value of bird singing. Her findings also include descriptions of ceremonies for grief and healing.
Stone, A. B. (2024). Kumeyaay mental health: Healing, trauma, and resistance (Order No. 30694796). [University of California, San Diego, United States - California].
This volume on arts-based research explores the transformative power of arts for qualitative inquiry and beyond. The chapters address multiple approaches from within arts-based research and suggest that art can be mobilized to reorient the political, especially when we find the political aim straying from its proper target of truth and justice. Artistic representation is never an end in itself, for the goal is to change the way we think about people and their lives. Arts-based research makes the world visible in new and different ways, in ways ordinary scholarly writing does not allow. The Arts develops a utopian idea of belonging, illustrating how moments of history, biography, culture, politics and lived experience come together in the aesthetic. Ultimately, the content of the book examines how artistic insights resonate in arts-based research, something that not only gives us criteria for assessing the quality of ethical engagement in arts-based research practice, but also provides a conceptual framework for living more just lives through art.
Indigenous Methodologies is a groundbreaking text. Since its original publication in 2009, it has become the most trusted guide used in the study of Indigenous methodologies and has been adopted in university courses around the world. It provides a conceptual framework for implementing Indigenous methodologies and serves as a useful entry point for those wishing to learn more broadly about Indigenous research.
The second edition incorporates new literature along with substantial updates, including a thorough discussion of Indigenous theory and analysis, new chapters on community partnership and capacity building, an added focus on oracy and other forms of knowledge dissemination, and a renewed call to decolonize the academy. The second edition also includes discussion questions to enhance classroom interaction with the text. In a field that continues to grow and evolve, and as universities and researchers strive to learn and apply Indigenous-informed research, this important new edition introduces readers to the principles and practices of Indigenous methodologies.
To the colonized, the term 'research' is conflated with European colonialism; the ways in which academic research has been implicated in the throes of imperialism remains a painful memory. This essential volume explores intersections of imperialism and research - specifically, the ways in which imperialism is embedded in disciplines of knowledge and tradition as 'regimes of truth.' Concepts such as 'discovery' and 'claiming' are discussed and an argument presented that the decolonization of research methods will help to reclaim control over indigenous ways of knowing and being.
Now in its eagerly awaited second edition, this bestselling book has been substantially revised, with new case-studies and examples and important additions on new indigenous literature, the role of research in indigenous struggles for social justice, which brings this essential volume urgently up-to-date.
