An Ethical Inquiry To Improve Research About Indigenous People

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A Tlingit shaman circa 1900
Tlingit shaman This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published (or registered with the U.S. Copyright Office) before January 1, 1928.
From time of first contact, researchers have studied Indigenous people as imperfect, naiive and childlike reflections of vastly superior European culture. This perspective persists even today as a foundation of study. It is far from the truth. Learn more about this person and his descendents here

Let’s be clear up front. This post is not going to be for everyone. It’s about a rather boring aspect of research: ethics and research methods. At the same time, we ignore it at our peril. Without ethics and scrupulous research methods, we produce faulty information and cause harm. So let’s dive in.

The subject of the linked article is research about Indigenous people. Generally speaking, it can be said that research on this subject:

    • has not benefited Indigenous people
    • has produced harms for Indigenous people and
    • is notoriously difficult to access.

The authors of the article linked to this post undertook research as part of a commitment to fulfill the recommendations from the Truth And Reconciliation Commission1, which documented the harms of residential schools and its legacy effects for Indigenous people in Canada.

Within the current research systems, there are two standards that guide research about Indigenous people. In the linked article, the authors discuss some of the limitations of these standards, which

“set the bare minimum standard for assessing and conducting ethical Indigenous research.”

The bulk of the article is taken up in discussing a research project, which sought to improve on the bare minimum. The research was completed to inform practices at a single university. The authors’ aspirations were broader:

“Developing recommendations for culturally based and culturally safe Indigenous ethics policies, protocols, and guidelines for research involving and impacting Indigenous Peoples/communities was paramount to this work.”

An Elders Advisory Council as well as Traditional Knowledge Holders from diverse Nations worked alongside the research team throughout the project. The research included a consultation phase, during which 50 interviews were held. The article sorts recommendations for Indigenous research in three areas:

    • following spiritual practices
    • establishing an Indigenous Research Ethics Committee
    • establishing Indigenous Research Policies

The article gives some examples of how their study would affect research going forward.

This article is specifically applicable to Canada, but may also prove useful in other countries with Indigenous populations. The article is published in Research Ethics: Systemic disruptions: decolonizing indigenous research ethics using indigenous knowledges

Footnotes

  1. The Commission’s report is posted at the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation: Truth and Reconciliation Commission Reports