Walking the Path of Humility: White Settler Positionality in Research with Tsartlip First Nation

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Issue Date

2024

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Authors

Doehnel , Emily

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Subject

School of leadership studies

Abstract

With humility and transparency, this thesis offers insight into how white settlers may conduct research “in a good way” with Indigenous communities amongst a dominant colonial system. Through a first-person/organizational inquiry, I explored, as a non-Indigenous leader in Tsartlip First Nation, how my research process reflected the legacies of colonization. After using action research to gather data from First Nations community health centre primary care providers, I shifted my inquiry process to a first-person action research methodology to critically explore my assumptions and perspectives as they related to my initial inquiry. The findings indicate my need to consider the impact of my positionality as a white settler, barriers to doing research “in a good way,” how systemic impacts of colonization shaped my thoughts and actions as a researcher, and challenges faced when seeking to apply the principles of Indigenous research ethics due to dominant Western ways of thinking and doing.Keywords: Indigenous, positionality, humility, safety, research

Description

2024

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