An Echo of Northern Reflections
An Echo of Northern Reflections
Jerrelei N. Jumalon
11133317
Native Studies 107
Denise Fuchs
February 01, 2013
In the article, “Our Responsibility to Keep the Land Alive”: Voices of Northern Indigenous Researchers, the authors explore how the “experiences, views, and stories shared by workshop participants shed new light on the nature of an alternative Indigenous research paradigm to inform Indigenous governance” (2010, 45). McGregor, Bayha and Simmons successfully argue their thesis by being objective in presenting their paper and by discussing the limitations of performing research the Indigenous way. The authors, however, weaken their argument by using only a small, localized number of participants in their workshop. Despite this weakness, they still effectively communicate their argument that a new paradigm should be considered for researching Indigenous groups in the future.
Throughout their paper, McGregor, Bayha and Simmons objectively review the past and current ways of researching Indigenous groups. During their critique of the current method of researching Indigenous people, they expose its weaknesses rather than directly attack its non-Indigenous creators. They review multiple literary sources to conclusively state that “many current research approaches and methods serve to perpetuate colonization processes” (2010, 48). They also recognize that an “in-depth knowledge and experience with colonizing and subsequently decolonizing processes” (2010, 48) is required for future research. They show how the literature demonstrates the need of Indigenous research in governance and go on to suggest a new paradigm to overcome the weakness of current Indigenous research. Unlike other researchers, they believe that knowledge is shared among the people and “not extracted or owned” (2010, 49). To be successful, Indigenous researchers must “approach it holistically and maintain responsibilities to family, communities, the environment, and the spirit world”
Jerrelei N. Jumalon
11133317
Native Studies 107
Denise Fuchs
February 01, 2013
In the article, “Our Responsibility to Keep the Land Alive”: Voices of Northern Indigenous Researchers, the authors explore how the “experiences, views, and stories shared by workshop participants shed new light on the nature of an alternative Indigenous research paradigm to inform Indigenous governance” (2010, 45). McGregor, Bayha and Simmons successfully argue their thesis by being objective in presenting their paper and by discussing the limitations of performing research the Indigenous way. The authors, however, weaken their argument by using only a small, localized number of participants in their workshop. Despite this weakness, they still effectively communicate their argument that a new paradigm should be considered for researching Indigenous groups in the future.
Throughout their paper, McGregor, Bayha and Simmons objectively review the past and current ways of researching Indigenous groups. During their critique of the current method of researching Indigenous people, they expose its weaknesses rather than directly attack its non-Indigenous creators. They review multiple literary sources to conclusively state that “many current research approaches and methods serve to perpetuate colonization processes” (2010, 48). They also recognize that an “in-depth knowledge and experience with colonizing and subsequently decolonizing processes” (2010, 48) is required for future research. They show how the literature demonstrates the need of Indigenous research in governance and go on to suggest a new paradigm to overcome the weakness of current Indigenous research. Unlike other researchers, they believe that knowledge is shared among the people and “not extracted or owned” (2010, 49). To be successful, Indigenous researchers must “approach it holistically and maintain responsibilities to family, communities, the environment, and the spirit world”
Cited: Deborah McGregor, Walter Gayla and Deborah Simmons, “Our Responsibility to Keep the Land Alive”: Voices of Northern Indigenous Researchers,” 44-66.