Research Is Ceremony: Indigenous Research Methods

Research Is Ceremony: Indigenous Research Methods

by Shawn Wilson
ISBN-10:
1552662810
ISBN-13:
9781552662816
Pub. Date:
09/01/2008
Publisher:
Fernwood Publishing
ISBN-10:
1552662810
ISBN-13:
9781552662816
Pub. Date:
09/01/2008
Publisher:
Fernwood Publishing
Research Is Ceremony: Indigenous Research Methods

Research Is Ceremony: Indigenous Research Methods

by Shawn Wilson

Paperback

$25.0 Current price is , Original price is $25.0. You
$25.00 
  • SHIP THIS ITEM
    Qualifies for Free Shipping
  • PICK UP IN STORE
    Check Availability at Nearby Stores
  • SHIP THIS ITEM

    Temporarily Out of Stock Online

    Please check back later for updated availability.


Overview

Indigenous researchers are knowledge seekers who work to progress Indigenous ways of being, knowing and doing in a modern and constantly evolving context. This book describes a research paradigm shared by Indigenous scholars in Canada and Australia, and demonstrates how this paradigm can be put into practice. Relationships don’t just shape Indigenous reality, they are our reality. Indigenous researchers develop relationships with ideas in order to achieve enlightenment in the ceremony that is Indigenous research. Indigenous research is the ceremony of maintaining accountability to these relationships. For researchers to be accountable to all our relations, we must make careful choices in our selection of topics, methods of data collection, forms of analysis and finally in the way we present information. I’m an Opaskwayak Cree from northern Manitoba currently living in the Northern Rivers area of New South Wales, Australia. I’m also a father of three boys, a researcher, son, uncle, teacher, world traveller, knowledge keeper and knowledge seeker. As an educated Indian, I’ve spent much of my life straddling the Indigenous and academic worlds. Most of my time these days is spent teaching other Indigenous knowledge seekers (and my kids) how to accomplish this balancing act while still keeping both feet on the ground.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781552662816
Publisher: Fernwood Publishing
Publication date: 09/01/2008
Edition description: New Edition
Pages: 144
Sales rank: 286,746
Product dimensions: 5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.40(d)

About the Author

I am Opaskwayak Cree from northern Manitoba. My personal roles include being father to three boys, being a son, uncle, husband, teacher, student, world traveller, knowledge keeper and knowledge seeker. In my professional roles as community psychologist, researcher and educated Cree, I’ve spent much of my life straddling the Indigenous and mainstream worlds. Most of my time these days is spent teaching other Indigenous knowledge seekers (and my kids) how to accomplish this balancing act while still keeping both feet on the ground. In addition to being a full-time dad, I also work part-time for the Northern Rivers University Department of Rural Health in Lismore, NSW Australia, building research capacity with primary health care workers. Travelling and meeting people from other nations and cultures has been a big part of my life, as has my work with traditional Healers, Elders and Knowledge Keepers. In my previous book Gwitch’in Native Elders: Not Just Knowledge but a Way of Looking at the World, I began to document some ideas about just what an Elder is and how they can be supported. I am currently working on documenting my parents’ life stories. Next year my family and I will be undertaking an overland journey around the world to visit with Indigenous Healers; video-documenting their stories, with the goal of building international connections to country and identity. (Not sure yet how we’ll manage the over-water parts!) In addition to further articulating Indigenous philosophies and research paradigms, my research focuses on the inter-related concepts of identity, health and healing, culture and wellbeing.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements 5

Foreword and Conclusion 6

My Writing Style 8

Sequencing of the Book 9

1 Getting Started 12

Introduction 15

Purpose of the Book 19

Research Question 20

2 On the Research Journey 22

Beginning My Research Saga 22

Researcher Background-Introducing the Storyteller 32

Definition of Terms 33

How I Searched for an Answer to the Question 35

Overview of the Dominant Research Paradigms 35

Strategy of Inquiry 39

3 Can a Ceremony Include a Literature Review? 43

The Progression of an Indigenous Research Paradigm 44

A Chronology of Aboriginal Research 45

The Development of an Indigenous Paradigm 52

A Shift in Terminology, a Shift in Understanding 54

The Criterion for Indigenous Research 55

4 The Elements of an Indigenous Research Paradigm 62

On a Journey with My Friends 62

Introducing an Indigenous Research Paradigm 69

Elements of an Indigenous Research Paradigm 71

Indigenous Ontology and Epistemology 73

Indigenous Axiology and Methodology 77

5 Relationality 80

Building Relations at the Indigenous Scholars Conference 81

Relations with People 84

Relations with the Environment/Land 86

Relations with the Cosmos 89

Relations with Ideas 91

6 Relational Accountability 97

Ways of Applying an Indigenous Research Paradigm 100

Topic: How We Choose What to Study 108

Methods: How We Gather Information 110

Analysis: How We Interpret Information 116

Presentation: How We Transfer Knowledge 122

7 Articulating an Indigenous Research Paradigm 126

An Indigenous Research Paradigm in Action 127

Conclusions 135

References 139

From the B&N Reads Blog

Customer Reviews