Comments on: Two books on indigenous methods

By: Joshua

Joshua — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 14:10:30 +0000

Sol Tax is one of the best and most forgotton example of someone who successfullly put into practice the methodologies we label today as Community Based Participatory Research, Action Research and Indigenous Methodologies. He didnt have the discourses we have today, but in practice, his politics and methods were, in many cases, more radical and exemplary than what is going on today. Together with many of his students, especially Robert Thomas and Nancy Lurie, Tax’s legacy of collaborative anthropology and contribution to Indigenous struggles for self-determination and sovereignty is quite unrecognized today. There is much to learn from him as an ancestor of anthropology and someone who committed to the principles of collaboration beyond what is often thought possible. Many of his projects- the Summer Youth Workshops for Indigneous Students, the organization of the American Indian Chicago Conference (linked to the fight for Tribal Recognition), his work with Deloria fighting against Udall and the ongoing attempts to eradict Indigenous recognition and tribal homes, the Carnegie Cross-Cultural Project that helped revive Cherokee educational/language programs, and more. Certainly, he left behind an immense theoreitcal and methodological contribution for those of us interested in collaborative research, action research and Indigenous Methodologies. While ‘new’ materials are always exciting, it is important to revisit and honour the work that our elders, like Tax, left for us to pick up on.

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By: Die Communitas der Early Adopters at viralmythen

Die Communitas der Early Adopters at viralmythen — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 22:25:31 +0000

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By: Cathy White

Cathy White — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 18:44:59 +0000

Decolonizing Methodologies, while not available on Amazon, is available here:

http://www.palgrave-usa.com/catalog/product.aspx?isbn=1856496244

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By: MTBradley

MTBradley — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 18:29:14 +0000

Oh, you’re welcome. I particularly like his article in The archaeology of Bruce Trigger collection.

I started a Zotero group* on collaborative research last summer and a couple of the handful of readings in the library might be of interest.

*Chris Kelty, if you’re lurking might you have any thoughts at some point as to why the Zotero group thing has never really taken off?

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By: Tad McIlwraith

Tad McIlwraith — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 18:24:13 +0000

Thanks for the hat tip, Rex. As someone in the planning stages for a field school in a First Nations community, I appreciate your help in sorting through these methods books. Further, I am currently reviewing of Living Proof for BC Studies. It won’t be out for a few months but I will alert your readers to its publication. For now, readers might want to check out Mark Hume’s comments in the Globe and Mail: http://ow.ly/1uT8t.

And yes, I’d add enthusiastically Eldon Yellowhorn’s name to a list of indigenous scholars working in indigenous communities and reflecting on research in those places.

-Tad

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By: Rex

Rex — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 05:12:35 +0000

Thanks for that MTB!

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By: MTBradley

MTBradley — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 03:04:15 +0000

Eldon Yellowhorn is worth checking out.

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By: Kerim

Kerim — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 00:06:21 +0000

Thanks. This is useful. Smith’s book is a standard text at our program, but I’ve never been satisfied with it as a methodology book – for the reasons you state so eloquently. Perhaps her new book is more useful?

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By: Christopher Roy

Christopher Roy — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 21:50:13 +0000

Thanks for this post! Can’t wait to see Living Proof. I’ve taught with Chief Kerry’s Moose (http://www.ubcic.bc.ca/Resources/tus.htm) before and it worked well with methods students. Doing the same with an applied anthropology course next week. This sort of work seems much more productive than Smith’s Decolonizing Methodologies, although your take on her book as groundclearing may be a very useful way to approach it. That said, when reading Smith, I felt like anthropology had already cleared much of this particular ground. That was a long time ago, though, so I can’t offer concrete examples in support of that statement.

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