Decolonizing spaces of inquiry: indigenous research and engagement without the colonial matrix of power

Abstract

This chapter argues that research, as any other academic endeavour, is a highly charged and contested space. It posits that research as it currently stands, is a dictated process that is given direction and life through acceptance and acknowledgement by western scholarship that has bothered not just the indigenous and formerly colonized, but has also dictated what research is and how it is supposed to be carried out. The chapter points out that research is not new to indigenous communities as they have through observations and experiments, carried out research prior to the onslaught of colonialism and its research approaches. It posits that research that is devoid of putting place as part of the research methods risks coming up with inadequate data. It further observes that while there are similarities that may exist between indigenous and western research methods, especially when looked at from a qualitative paradigm, there are also substantial differences. The chapter notes that the starting point of any indigenous research methods is the place of the self, the researcher in the whole research matrix because indigenous inquiry is relational. It argues that relationship is important especially with the person telling the research story or providing the data. This, the chapter argues, does not exclude others who may be listening in to the discussion. The chapter, informed by the author’s experiences in the field, additionally advances the idea that the researcher who is supposed to be indigenous is part of the story and his/her being part of the story contributes to how data are interpreted, which is quite contrary to the western research system where the researcher is an outsider who does not belong to the group.