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The guidelines for authors (and for reviewers) to the edition of the Canadian Journal of Native Education that is edited by the Indigenous Peoples Education Program at the University of Alberta states, "although all submissions will be considered, preference will be given to articles that are written from within an Indigenous paradigm." Understanding some guidelines and principles that underlie an Indigenist paradigm will help as academics, graduate students, researchers and authors write from that base. We have invited Shawn Wilson, Cree scholar and author of Research is a Ceremony (in press) to answer our editorial question.
Attempting to articulate just what an Indigenist paradigm is has occupied much of my time and energy for the past decade or more. I suppose that I have built up a pretty good relationship with the whole idea of what paradigms are and why it is so important to have and use an Indigenist one. The work that was done to further advance and clarify my ideas on the topic earned me a doctorate. Just as important, the discussion and experiences I have had with other Indigenous scholars and traditional knowledge-keepers from around the world have helped me to become a better researcher and ultimately a better person. And yes, the two can coincide.
Because the editors of CJNE have asked for a response to the question "What is an Indigenous paradigm?" I need first to provide a context by saying why I attempt to answer the question in the first place.
The whole concept of Indigenous Knowledge (or traditional knowledge) as a component of Indigenous human rights has come to the fore not only in Canada, but on the international stage as the United Nations debated and adopted the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. It is important for me to step in and say, Well, how did we go about gaining all this Indigenous Knowledge? Of course, it came about through...