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This article is a reflection on research with, for, and among Indigenous peoples. The author, an anthropologist of Indigenous descent, attempts to grapple with the various challenges that confront researchers located in mainstream institutions as they pursue respectful research relationships with Indigenous peoples. The strengths and weaknesses of the anthropological method are also discussed from the point of view of the possibility of an Indigenous anthropology. The article concludes by arguing that there is a place for anthropological research in Indigenous communities, but only if anthropologists are willing to commit to participation in the process of decolonization.
Research in itself is a powerful intervention, even if carried out at a distance, which has traditionally benefited the researcher, and the knowledge base of the dominant group in society .... Research is implicated in the production of Western knowledge, in the nature of academic work, in the production of theories which have dehumanized Maori land other Indigenous peoples] and in practices which have continued to privilege Western ways of knowing while denying the validity for Maori of Maori knowledge, language and culture. (L.T. Smith, 1999, p. 183)
A group of fisheries scientists, sociologists, and anthropologists were gathered around a meeting table. The day's discussions and small-group workshops had been progressing well until one of their number asked during a workshop on Aboriginal traditional ecological knowledge, where were the representatives of local First Nations. To be fair, the organizer of the workshop has maintained a positive working relationship with the local First Nation that predates the workshop itself. A representative of the Nation had attended some of the sessions. However, it was the response of the other participants in the workshop that created the context out of which this article emerged.
The research workshop was focused on defining research designs and methodological approaches that might reconcile contending perspectives on ecological knowledge. Each day of the workshop concentrated on a different perspective toward ecological knowledge: fisheries science, social science, artisanal fish harvesters, and First Nations. Each session of the meeting was structured such that a representative from a particular perspective was there and able to speak as an insider: each session, that is, except the one concerning traditional ecological knowledge of First Nations. When the absence...