- [Narrator] Indigenous Ways of Knowing.
Considerations for Researchers
Working in Indigenous Communities,
Reciprocity.
Presented by the Center for Native Child
and Family Resilience.
Paulette Running Wolf, Ph.D.
Enrolled Blackfeet Tribal Member.
CEO, Running Wolf & Associates.
- [Paulette] Often the community never knows what happens.
What was the results of that?
What did we learn out of that?
What did we get back out of that?
One of the things that we've done
in our institutional review board
is request right up front on the application,
all right, how can you reciprocate back to the community?
- [Narrator] In the context of research and evaluation,
reciprocity can be thought of
as the balance, equilibrium, or congruence
that exists between researchers and research participants.
- [Paulette] You're getting this information.
We want to know what it is you can contribute.
And in some cases, it was,
and we help give them ideas,
train a data programmer to look at data in a certain way.
Data entry, right, maybe,
and leaving that data set with them.
- [Narrator] Researchers should ask themselves,
what am I bringing to, taking from,
and leaving the community?
- [Paulette] It's not just always about me, me, me.
I take the data set with me.
We examine it, we analyze it, we interpret it without input.
But involving them every step of the way
is really important,
and so, like I mentioned earlier,
it builds skills and it leaves that piece there.
So thinking about how,
maybe they do a community presentation
as a contribution back when they finish.
That's part of it.
Because if they don't do it,
then we're not going to be open
to another application from that investigator.
We've just made a decision as a board not to do that.
So we continually look for ways
to make sure that there's that element of openness
and contribution and joining and connectedness.
And if they can't make that community presentation,
well, they darn well better do something else to replace it
and within a certain period of time.
And that's just the way I feel.
I think we need to be able to empower communities
to pick this up on their own.
And they will someday.
I see it happening.
Here and there, small pieces,
community stepping up and saying,
I'm interested in looking at this aspect
of intervention in our community.
I want to try to see if this works.
If we can really provide that connection
and we can show that all of these connections
to ceremonials to naming, what have you,
if those work, we're gonna use them.
And they make those determinations, we don't.
And that knowledge builds,
and they reach out and they pull others in too.
'Cause that's the way it is in Native communities.
And that's part of the humbleness of Native people.
We don't step up and showcase ourselves.
We do not do that.
We offer suggestions.
We don't function in that way.
We don't even think in that way.
It wouldn't occur to you to take credit,
this is my theory, you know,
and start that competitive angle
that Western society insists upon.
Rather, it's ours.
And we share that credit and we join and we celebrate it.
And that's what's exciting,
and that's what we're about,
through the people we serve.
They don't serve us.
We serve them.
- [Narrator] The Center for Native Child
and Family Resilience
was funded by the Children's Bureau,
Administration for Children and Families,
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services,
under cooperative agreement Number 90CA1853.
The contents of this product are solely the responsibility
of JBS International, Incorporated
and do not necessarily reflect the official views
of the Children's Bureau.