Abstract
Ongoing colonial power has long been ascribed to government bureaucracy and institutions of higher learning. By consequence, Indigenous communities today are still experiencing challenges regarding the function, foundation and fabric of research that impacts Indigenous peoples, including in the arena of social work education. Writing as an Indigenous scholar and Director of a Master of Social Work programme at a university in the Pacific region, the author’s goal in this article is twofold. On the one hand, he aims to contribute to critical self-reflection of Western research methodologies, while on the other hand offering a reconceptualisation of research tools and techniques that empower the researched and create reciprocal learning opportunities. Through discussion of Indigenous and allied or “co-conspirator” partnerships, and drawing on the example of a model called strengths-enhancing evaluation research (SEER), the author outlines observations regarding the tensions between Indigenous and non-Indigenous researchers and processes. He challenges the established norms of social science research, and offers theoretical and practical examples and questions – including the notion of the researcher as a guest –, that demonstrate how higher education institutions and Indigenous and non-Indigenous collaborations can provide critical responses to historical tensions regarding research and Indigenous peoples. The conduct and behaviour of researchers can have long-lasting, unintended consequences on communities at multiple levels of well-being. The author argues that both Indigenous and non-Indigenous researchers must collaboratively work with communities for change.
Résumé
Transformer la recherche autochtone : réponses concertées aux tensions historiques dans la recherche – La persistance du pouvoir colonial est depuis longtemps imputée à la bureaucratie gouvernementale et aux institutions d’enseignement supérieur. En conséquence, les communautés autochtones rencontrent aujourd’hui encore des défis relatifs à la fonction, au fondement et à la structure du travail de recherche, qui ont des répercussions sur les populations indigènes, y compris dans le domaine de la formation en travail social. Universitaire autochtone et directeur d’un programme de mastère en intervention sociale dans une université de la région Pacifique, l’auteur poursuit dans cet article un double objectif. Il entend d’une part contribuer à une auto-réflexion critique sur les méthodologies scientifiques occidentales; il propose d’autre part une reconceptualisation des instruments et techniques de recherche en vue d’autonomiser les sujets de l’étude et de créer des opportunités réciproques d’apprentissage. À partir du débat sur les autochtones et leurs partenariats alliés ou « co-conspirateurs », et prenant en exemple le modèle dit de Recherche évaluative de renforcement des atouts (strengths-enhancing evaluation research, SEER), l’auteur fait part de ses observations relatives aux tensions existant entre chercheurs et démarches autochtones et non-autochtones. Il remet en question les normes établies dans la recherche en sciences sociales et propose des exemples et questions tant théoriques que pratiques, dont la notion du chercheur considéré comme invité. Cette réflexion démontre que les institutions d’enseignement supérieur ainsi que les coopérations autochtones et non-autochtones peuvent fournir des réponses critiques aux tensions historiques quant à la recherche sur les peuples indigènes. La conduite et le comportement des chercheurs peuvent avoir des conséquences durables et involontaires sur les communautés, dans de nombreux aspects du bien-être. L’auteur préconise que chercheurs autochtones et non-autochtones travaillent en concertation et avec les communautés afin d’induire un changement.
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Notes
The work of even well-intentioned scholars can be referenced here, including American cultural anthropologist Margaret Mead (e.g. Mead 1928) and her mentor, German-American anthropologist Franz Uri Boas, leading Western scholars whose work is among the most well-known and classical examples of the type of scrutiny I describe.
Another term for “strengths-based” would be “expertise-centred”, i.e. approaches which draw on the respective expertise of both researchers and researched and strive to combine the resulting insights in the best possible way.
Agencies like the Office of Hawai’i Affairs (OHA), whose focus is on Native Hawaiian ‘āina (land), culture, economic self-sufficiency, education, and health development; The Lili’uokalani Trust (LT), whose aim is to provide direct services to orphaned and destitute Hawaiian children and their families; and Kamehameha Schools, a private school trust set up to educate Hawaiian children, are all engaged in developing their own localised evaluation research methodologies to better guide their decisions, strengthen their community engagement and relationships, and to gather relevant and reliable data that serve their constituents and beneficiaries.
Hawaiian pidgin is an official language in the state of Hawai’i. It is spoken by local residents in everyday conversation and considered a nativised and stable “creole” language.
In my field of social work and as an Indigenous researcher, I find qualitative and quantitative research equally valuable when taking the considerations outlined in the previous section into account. Moreover, both quantitative and qualitative data have been subject to common pitfalls in research, including reliability, validity, and bias issues. I appreciate mixed-methods research, as I consider fieldwork should not be set out in incremental steps where one approach out-manoeuvres the other. Rather, qualitative and quantitative approaches should be complementary activities supporting a broad dataset that is triangulated and entwined into a mosaic-like data profile. In my view, this plan also reflects the nature of Indigenous communities as proximal multi-layered systems, whereas data sourcing can be reductionist and linear.
The programmes were Ho‘oulu ‘Aina (established in 2004 and still running today) and Na Kamalei (established 1997). For more information, visit Ho’oulu Aina at http://www.hoouluaina.com/ [accessed 16 January 2019] See also MBTSSW (2010a). Na Kamalei shut its doors in 2014. For an overview of the programme, see MBTSSW (2010b).
Talk story is the Hawaiian pidgin original for what becomes talking story in English. It means to engage in casual, relaxed conversations with friends, family, close acquaintances and, at times, strangers.
The term lifeway refers to “a way through life, a course of life; a way or manner of life, (in later use) especially one that is customary or traditional” (OED n.d., emphasis added).
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Mataira, P.J. Transforming Indigenous research: Collaborative responses to historical research tensions. Int Rev Educ 65, 143–161 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11159-019-09766-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11159-019-09766-5