October 10, 2014 Joseph P. Gone, Ph.D. Montana State University / University of Michigan.
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Considering Indigenous Research Methodologies: Critical Reflections by an Indigenous Knower October 10, 2014 Joseph P. Gone, Ph.D. Montana State University / University of Michigan
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Transcript of October 10, 2014 Joseph P. Gone, Ph.D. Montana State University / University of Michigan.
Considering Indigenous Research
Methodologies:Critical Reflections by an
Indigenous Knower
October 10, 2014
Joseph P. Gone, Ph.D.Montana State University / University of Michigan
Opening
Introducing Myself
Who I am
What I do
Where I’m from
How I know
October 10, 2014 2014 Meeting of the American Indigenous Research Association 2
Goals of Presentation
Share preliminary reflections
Raise general questions
Offer gentle critiques
Stimulate further progress
October 10, 2014 2014 Meeting of the American Indigenous Research Association 3
Goals of Presentation
Caveats
Tailored to academic knowledge production
Based on preliminary exposure & experience
Subject to future reconsideration & revision
October 10, 2014 2014 Meeting of the American Indigenous Research Association 4
Goals of Presentation
Structure
Ten Postulates of Indigenous Research Methodologies (IRMs)
Three Key Questions for Proponents of IRMs
Eight Persistent Misgivings about IRMs
Two Take-Away Ideas about IRMs
October 10, 2014 2014 Meeting of the American Indigenous Research Association 5
Postulates of IRMsUnpacking the Rationale: Ten Statements
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Postulates of IRMs
#1. Indigenous epistemologies (IEs) existed prior to European contact
#2. Europeans brought their epistemologies with them
#3. Colonization included eradication, suppression, & displacement of IEs
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Postulates of IRMs
#4. But differentiable & distinctive IEs continue to exist today
#5. Universities have been dominated by “Western” epistemologies & associated research practices
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Postulates of IRMs
#6. Indigenous academics are poised to challenge this dominance by incorporating IEs into their research practices
#7. Research activities based on IEs require alternative methodologies & methods
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Postulates of IRMs
#8. Such IRMs prescribe distinctive ways of conducting inquiry that will yield novel insights & answers
#9. These novel insights & answers are better for improving Indigenous lives than results from Western research
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Postulates of IRMs
#10. Academic acceptance & recognition of IEs & IRMs is an important moral, ethical, & political goal
Fair & accurate distillation?Open for later discussion
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Key Questions for Proponents of IRMsRevisiting Indigenous Epistemologies
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Indigenous “Ways of Knowing”
October 10, 2014 2014 Meeting of the American Indigenous Research Association 13
Indigenous “Ways of Knowing”
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Castellano’s (2000) Indigenous Traditional Knowledges
Sources
▪ Traditional teachings
▪ Empirical knowledge
▪ Revealed knowledge
Indigenous “Ways of Knowing”
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Castellano’s (2000) Indigenous Traditional Knowledges (cont)
Characteristics
▪ Personal
▪ Oral
▪ Experiential
▪ Holistic
▪ Narratively conveyed
Key Questions for IRM Proponents
What is an Indigenous Epistemology (IE) in specific & concrete terms?
How comprehensive, coherent, constructive, & consensual must these knowledge practices be?
What are the differences between & among various basic terms within this discussion?
How distinctive must IEs be from “Western” approaches?
How could pre-contact IEs survive until today?October 10, 2014 2014 Meeting of the American Indigenous Research Association 16
Key Questions for IRM Proponents
Who is an Indigenous “knower”?
What are attributes of Indigenous knowers?
What is the relationship between identities & practices relative to IEs?
How can academic knowers access IEs?
Can non-Natives become indigenous knowers?
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Key Questions for IRM Proponents
How should we study, describe, & represent IEs?
What qualifies particular Indigenous scholars to access IEs for academic purposes?
What is the methodology by which Indigenous scholars should recover IEs?
How could IEs be so ready-made for university-based knowledge production?
What are the sociopolitical, ethical, & economic implications of studying & writing about IEs?
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Persistent Misgivings about IRMsTrue Confessions of Cautious Concern
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Persistent Misgivings about IRMs
Participates in untenable ethnoracial & cultural essentialism?
Emphasizes form much more than findings?
Promises beyond what it delivers in terms of novel insights & answers?
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Persistent Misgivings about IRMs
Insulates inquiry from skeptical interrogation?
Resituates research as identity expression rather than knowledge contribution?
Obscures intellectual debts to “Western” critical theories & approaches?
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Persistent Misgivings about IRMs
Misdirects attention from material decolonization?
Marginalizes existing (but non-academic) Indigenous knowledges?
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Take-Away Ideas about IRMsSome Concluding Thoughts
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Take-Away Ideas about IRMs
Unlikely that IEs are very well-suited for university-based knowledge production
Requires a great deal of repackaging, recasting, or reconstruction of these knowledge traditions
Who? How?
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2014 Meeting of the American Indigenous Research Association 25
Take-Away Ideas about IRMs IRMs adopted by & for Indigenous peoples are best
characterized as Métis forms of inquiry
Most of what endures as IEs is already mixed
Importing IEs into the university further mixes it
How would re-conceptualizing the IRM project as Métis change this knowledge endeavor?
How would re-labeling IRMs as Métis change our promotion of them?
October 10, 2014
Closing
For more information about my scholarship (& to download my publications), please visit my website at:
http://gonetowar.com
Thank You!
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