Co-Producing Community and Knowledge: Indigenous Epistemologies of Engaged, Ethical Research in an Urban Context

Abstract

Until recently, the specific and unique ethics considerations of research with the large and diverse populations of Indigenous peoples living in cities have not been adequately addressed. With its emphasis on respect, responsibility, and beneficial outcomes for research participants, community-based participatory research (CBPR) has been described as intrinsically ethical, and in many cases, consistent with a generalized understanding of Indigenous moral values. Through a retrospective reflection on community-engaged research in the urban context of Toronto, this essay examines critically transformations in the conceptualization of ethical research and of CBPR with Indigenous peoples. Historical analysis of urban Indigenous community epistemologies is presented as a dynamic process which informs ethical practice in the production of both community and of knowledge. Community-initiated and implemented research highlights the complexities in urban Indigenous authority-making, complicates contemporary

Grassroots waste picker organizations addressing the UN sustainable development goals

“…It relies on strong relationships with community members and the establishment of partnerships with research participants which actively engage in knowledge creation processes (Kovach, 2009). CBR acknowledges multiple sources and ways of generating learning, including traditional and indigenous epistemologies (Clement, 2019;Howard, 2016). CBR seeks diverse voices, equitable and collaborative relationships with research participants and supports empowering relations benefiting the individual and the partnership levels (Hutchinson & Lovell, 2013).…”

Decades of Doing: Indigenous Women Academics Reflect on the Practices of Community-Based Health Research

“…“Gold standards” of CBPR, as most appropriately matched to the expectations of Indigenous communities, include the goal of mutual beneficence and the conscious equitable distribution of power between university researchers and community-based partners over research design, methods, data collection, ownership, and dissemination of findings. (Howard, 2016, p. 207)…”

“…In 2004, the Journal of Aboriginal Health introduced health researchers working with Indigenous communities in Canada to something called OCAP®, which the National Aboriginal Health Organization determined as a key step forward in developing "self-determination applied to research" (Schnarch, 2004). This article came out in the midst of Indigenous-led responses to egregious research processes that have been conducted in Indigenous communities, including "helicopter research," a practice in which outsider researchers extracted information from communities 1 University of Guelph, Ontario, Canada 2 The University of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada for their own benefit (Brown, 2005;Howard, 2016). Although OCAP® focuses specifically on research in First Nations communities, it certainly had widespread impact in Metis, Inuit, and urban Indigenous communities in terms of how research is conducted in ways that resituate power structures.…”

Modeling Skills for Survival: Hidden Curriculum in Rural Fiji Education

“…One of the additional findings of this study is a need for indigenous Fijians to publish post-colonial scholarship on their country as a means to reclaim and reimagine the curriculum. The role of non-indigenous researchers, also known as ally scholars, can be to support the scholarship of indigenous researchers, to facilitate spaces for critical dialogue for indigenous educators, and to promote a need for more indigenous research (Brophey & Raptis, 2016;Burarrwanga et al, 2013;Charles, Harris, & Carlson, 2016;Davis & Shpuniarsky, 2010;Howard, 2016;McGloin, 2009;Phillips, Phillips, Whatman, & McLaughlin, 2007;Stairs, 2004). In Fiji, there is a need to return to indigenous knowledge in the school curriculum as a means of preserving the cultural past and present as Fiji moves into the future.…”