Relationality and legitimacy : learning to negotiate meaningful research among aboriginal and non-aboriginal researchers

• Main Authors: Garakani, Tatiana, Peter, Émilie
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: French
• Published: University of California Press 2016
• Subjects: Participatory research; critical indigenous methodologies; Inuit context; ethics of research; relational inquiry; recherche participative; méthodologie autochtone critique; Inuit; éthique de la recherche; enquête relationnelle; Nunavik; inuit
• Online Access: https://espace.enap.ca/id/eprint/145/; https://espace.enap.ca/id/eprint/145/1/031382130.pdf

This paper describes the ethical issues involved when research is conducted in a Inuit context by non-Inuit researchers. It draws on the experience of a three-year participatory action research project in Nunavik. It describes the strategies and approaches deployed and adapted by the "Other" researchers to apply the principles of critical Indigenous methodologies. The paper is a reflection on our relationship with the research participants and stakeholders and how our approaches and actions facilitated or hindered their meaningful participation in and ownership of the research. Participants' feedback and reactions to the research process were elicited and are reflected in the paper. This article is of significance for researchers who are thinking of working in Aboriginal communities or other communities to which they are outsiders. While focusing mainly on the role of researchers and their approach, the paper also questions the challenge of bridging Western research practices and critical Indigenous research methods.