Culture writes the script: On the centrality of context in indigenous evaluation

Abstract

Context grounds all aspects of indigenous evaluation. From an indigenous evaluation framework (IEF), programs are understood within their relationship to place, setting, and community, and evaluations are planned, undertaken, and validated in relation to cultural context. This chapter describes and explains fundamental elements of IEF epistemology and method and gives several examples of these elements from evaluations in American Indian communities. IEF underscores the importance of putting context ahead of method choice and suggests that context exerts an even greater impact than previously recognized.

The Strength of Indigenous Australian Evaluators and Indigenous Evaluation: A Snapshot of “Ways of Knowing and Doing” Reflecting on the 2014 Darwin Conference of the Australasian Evaluation Society

“…The practice on show at the 2014 conference also resonated strongly with international Indigenous frameworks for evaluation, highlighting trust, community, holistic thinking, and the centrality of a sense of place . The fundamental concerns of a framework developed by American Indian educators (La France, Nichols, & Kirkhart, ) are the nature of credible evidence, the way knowledge is produced, and the benefit evaluation processes and findings provide for communities. This “expands beyond empirical knowledge to include traditional knowledge and revealed knowledge” (La France et al., , p. 69).…”

“…The fundamental concerns of a framework developed by American Indian educators (La France, Nichols, & Kirkhart, ) are the nature of credible evidence, the way knowledge is produced, and the benefit evaluation processes and findings provide for communities. This “expands beyond empirical knowledge to include traditional knowledge and revealed knowledge” (La France et al., , p. 69). It gives respect to place‐based experiential knowledge because this supports learning and improvement.…”

Navigating "place" in evaluation design and practice

“…We know that context grounds all aspects of indigenous evaluation (LaFrance, Nichols, & Kirkhart, 2012) and that, in indigenous contexts, programmes are understood within their relationship to place, setting, and community. In an indigenous evaluation framework, evaluations are planned, undertaken, and validated in relation to cultural context.…”

“…This recognition of place continues in Kirkhart's (2010) argument that evaluation should be "explicitly understood as place-specific" (p. 407), and that evaluators should draw on community values, traditions, and customs to address issues of power, status, culture, and context. LaFrance et al (2012) assert that a place-conscious methodology should be informed by core values that honour place and relate to a community's lived experiences and spiritual expressions, and that honouring a sense of place requires evaluation to fit within the contours of the location, including history and contemporary realities. Anderson and Jones (2009) argue that place can be harnessed to enrich the research encounter and that the influence of place has often been overlooked.…”

Graphic Recording

“…As a process and a tool, its relevance and usefulness to an evaluator' s work is as much a matter of personal choice and values as the determination of what types of data collection and analysis methods, presentation styles, and evaluation approaches an evaluator may include as part of his or her repertoire. That being said, it can contribute to particular evaluation approaches in unique ways, for instance, empowerment (Fetterman, Wandersman, & Millett, 2004), culturally responsive (Frierson, Hood, & Hughes, 2002), and indigenous (LaFrance, Nichols, & Kirkhart, 2012) evaluations. Additionally, the recently adopted Statement of Cultural Competence by the American Evaluation Association (AEA, 2011) provides yet another reason for evaluators to consider adding graphic recording to their toolbox.…”