Indigenous Pathways in Social Research: Addressing Inequities Part I

Indigenous populations live the issues of human rights violations as part of their legacy of colonialism. The ray of hope that emerges in relation to this experience is that indigenous people from many different countries have successfully negotiated the Northern educational system without losing their indigneous cultural heritage The indigenous researchers and their allies in this group of papers frame culturally responsive research to confront regimes that have restricted their rights in the past. The voices of indigenous researchers explore their pathways into social research and the use of research to address human rights in their communities. Shawn Wilson, a First Nations member of the Cree tribe, provides insights into how research can be used to address human rights through an indigenous lens in his presentation: Conducting the Ceremony of Research. exploring the sacredness of relationships in research with consequences for supporting human rights. The second presentation will be Research and Indigenous Knowledge Systems by Motheo Koitsiwe, a member of the Batlhako tribe from South Africa. His research in Indigenous Knowledge systems challenges the restrictive educational and governmental systems and supports the realization of human rights, not only in his tribal community, but more broadly in South Africa. The third presentation will be by Teresa Sorde, a research from Spain, who works with the indigenous Roman community by building their capacity to work as co-researchers to address issues related to the injustices experienced by Roma. The fourth presentation will be "Coloniality of Knowledge and Indigenous rRsearchers and Epistemic Violence, by Cesar Cisneros from Mexico; the historical consequence of the global dynamics of capitalism is discussed in relation to a knowledge divide that is associated with epistemic violence. Donna Mertens, a transformative researcher from the United States, will provide the final commentary in a presentation titled: Indigenous Researchers and Social Transformation.