Topic outline
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This section presents insights into Indigenist and decolonising research methodologies. Supervisors of Aboriginal HDR candidates need to cultivate understandings of and respect for Aboriginal research pedagogies, methodologies and practices which are fundamentally different from Western ways of conducting research and thinking. Indigenist methodologies have been well established within Aboriginal ways of knowing (for example, Moreton-Robinson 2020, Phillips et al. 2007), albeit less well known by non-Aboriginal researchers. These methodologies apply Aboriginal ways (such as yarning) and connect with community and place by engaging Aboriginal Peoples to lead research.
A shift towards formalising Aboriginal research is the focus of Philips et al.’s (2007) paper which highlights tensions inherent in re-contesting Indigenous knowledge and perspectives. This tension is summarised by the editors of The Australian Journal of Indigenous Education as:
For non-Indigenous Australians, the formalisation of Indigenous Knowledges, Indigenous Studies and Indigenous perspectives within the Academy in Australia means that the ontological ground is shifting. The non-Indigenous academics here have written of the tensions they experience on the shifted ground and some insight to resolution is offered. Indigenous Standpoint encourages them though to recognise their own subject positions in the development and presentation of and interaction with our Indigenous Knowledges (p.10). For many Indigenous Australians – those in pursuit of scholarly and other community objectives – the consolidation of scholarship in the field of Indigenous Knowledge and Indigenous Studies is inherently linked to issues of cultural survival, human rights, and economic and political self-determination. The academics who are Indigenous to Australia and other places reveal the tensions they experience through their work in the academy and offer some clear signposts to anticipation and resolution (Philips et al. 2007, p. 11).
Importantly supervisors need to keep learning about Indigenist methodologies and ways of thinking, so the candidate can lead the project and supervisors still understand the candidate’s perspective. Candidates will want to know that they can ask questions of the supervisors, although supervisors do not have all the knowledge. Of importance is that Aboriginal HDR candidates are supported, even if an Aboriginal-based research project might take longer and may use methodologies unfamiliar to the supervisor.
Aboriginal perspectives, methodologies/epistemologies and knowledges complement and support Western approaches to knowledge. As Singh and Major (2017, p. 5) explain in their abstract:
Indigenous methodologies have become an important element of qualitative research and have been increasingly taken up by both Indigenous and non-Indigenous researchers. Indigenous methodologies seek to ensure that the research is culturally safe and culturally respectful through recognition of Indigenous worldviews, respect, and accountability. It is no longer research on or about Indigenous people, rather it is becoming research for and with Indigenous people.
These are important considerations for supervising Aboriginal HDR candidates. To think about this more deeply, critically examine scholarship in Indigenous research. The following works by Indigenist researchers are recommended:
- Moreton-Robinson, A 2020, Talkin’ up to the white woman: Indigenous women and feminism, The University of Queensland Press, St Lucia, Qld.
- Phillips, A, Phillips, J, Whatman, S & McLaughlin, J 2007, ‘Introduction: Issues in (Re)contesting Indigenous knowledges and Indigenous studies’, The Australian Journal of Indigenous Education, vol. 36, Supplement, pp. 1-6.
- Tuhiwai Smith, L 2012, Decolonising methodologies: Research and Indigenous people, Zed Books, London.
- Walters, M (ed) 2020, Social research methods, 4th ed., Oxford University Press, Oxford.
- Wilson, S 2008, Research is ceremony: Indigenous research methods, Fernwood Publishing, Black Point, NS, Canada. ISBN: 9781552662816.
To learn more about Aboriginal research methodologies, engage in this course from the University of Technology Sydney: Supervising Indigenous Higher Degree Research (https://open.uts.edu.au/uts-open/study-area/education/supervising-indigenous-higher-degree-research/). The course focuses in-depth on Indigenous research methodologies and use of Indigenous research guidelines, ethics and protocols. This course is recommended for supervisors unfamiliar with Indigenous research.
Reflection: Identify your own epistemological positions, which may be Western, dominant and white. What is your own privileged positioning, including taken-for-granted life situations? Challenge your own epistemological positioning.