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Resources for Decolonizing Your Teaching

This list offers resources to support a path towards decolonizing our teaching.

Indigenous Approaches to Research

Archibald, J., & Smith, L. (2019). Decolonizing research : Indigenous storywork as methodology.

Assesmblly of First Nations. First Nations ethics guide on research and Aboriginal traditional knowledge.

Chilisa, B. (2012). Indigenous research methodologies

Chong, R. (2021). Indigenous Information Literacy: Outlines best principles for working with Indigenous print and oral sources in academic research. Topics include evaluating Indigenous print sources for credibility and authenticity, finding Indigenous authors, and respectfully working with Elders..

Datta, R. (2018). Decolonizing both researcher and research and its effectiveness in Indigenous researchResearch Ethics14(20), 1-24.  

Evans, M., et al. (2009). Common insights, differing methodologies: Toward a fusion of Indigenous methodologies, participatory action research, and white studies in an urban aboriginal research agenda. Qualitative Inquiry, 15(5), 893–910. “research by and for Indigenous peoples, using techniques and methods drawn from the traditions of those peoples.”

Lambert, L. (2014). Research for indigenous survival : Indigenous research methodologies in the behavioral sciences. Salish Kootenai College Press.

Minthorn, R.et al. (2018). Reclaiming Indigenous research in higher education.

Decolonizing methodologies book coverSmith, L. T. (2012). Decolonizing methodologies: Research and Indigenous peoples (2nd ed.). Concerned “not so much with the actual technique of selecting a method but much more with the context in which research problems are conceptualized and designed, and with the implications of research for its participants and their communities.” (p. 19-20).Research is Ceremony book cover

Wilson, S. (2008). Research is ceremony : Indigenous research methods.   

Wilson, S., et al. (2019). Research and reconciliation : unsettling ways of knowing through Indigenous relationships .

Younging, G. (2018). Elements of Indigenous style: A guide for writing by and about Indigenous peoples.  

 

Key Reading

Wilson, S. (2001). What is an Indigenous research methodology? Canadian Journal of Native Education, 25(2): 175-179. Describes context of "relational accountability". Indigenous Research Paradigm:

  • Reflects Indigenous contexts and worldview
  • Knowledge is relational and shared with all creation
  • Connecting people and community
  • Beneficial to the world and the community

The First Nations principles of OCAP® are a set of standards that establish how First Nations data should be collected, protected, used, or shared. They are the de facto standard for how to conduct research with First Nations in Canada.

  • Ownership
  • Control
  • Access
  • Possession

Kirkness, V. J., & Barnhardt, R. (1991). First Nations and higher education: The four R's—Respect, relevance, reciprocity, responsibilityJournal of American Indian Education, 1-15.