Indigenous Research Methodologies: X-Marks in the Age of Community Accountability and Protection

Abstract

In an ongoing exchange about the potency and promise of Indigenous Research Methodologies (IRMs) for academic knowledge production, I respond in this article to Windchief and Cummins. I do so by considering a challenging example of Indigenous knowledge production, clarifying additional misunderstandings between us, and complicating persistent oppositions and essentialisms that are neither intellectually defensible nor characteristic of contemporary Indigenous life and experience. Instead, I propose that IRMs are productively conceived as x-marks (or historical American Indian treaty signatures), which encapsulate the paradoxes, contradictions, and predicaments of modern American Indian life in ways that resist clean oppositions and confound rigid binaries. In this respect, the x-mark signifies that which lies between two readily identifiable options, something new and potentially promising despite the indeterminacy and ambivalence it elicits, if only we will face and embrace such ambiguity.

Stitching Together My Anishinaabe Research Paradigm: An Approach to Storytelling With Algonquin Ikwewag (Women) and Gender-Diverse People in Mattawa and North Bay, Ontario

“…Western vs. Indigenous) (Allen et al, 2021). And, in my view, there is no singular, "pure" Anishinaabe identity or knowledge system (Gone, 2022;Windchief & Cummins, 2022). Basil Johnston notes, (as rearticulated by Niigaanwewidam James Sinclair), "Anishinaabeg are a body of diverse people embodying countless subjectivities, experiences, and perspectives," who form a collective existence through the development of relationships with one another and all of Creation (Sinclair, 2013).…”

Truth and reconciliation for whom? Transitional justice for Indigenous peoples in American psychology.

“…In Canada, the CPA (2021) has introduced new accreditation standards to ensure that Indigenous histories, rights, and culturally appropriate and strengths-based approaches to psychological research and practice are integrated into psychology program curricula. While Indigenous educational “content” is necessary, educators must recognize that this requires serious engagement with Indigenous knowledge (Gone, 2022). Oftentimes, this entails moving beyond psychology to an interdisciplinary lens.…”