Researchers that only use academic markers of authority (peer review, academic credentials, etc.) to evaluate information will find a one-sided perspective because academic sources are most often written about Indigenous communities rather than by them. Reliance on academic authority effectively silences many of the voices of Indigenous people on their own culture. Under this colonialist construction of knowledge, interpretation of Indigenous cultures is denied to members of that culture and reserved for those with academic authority. As Linda Tuhiwai Smith (2012) so searingly recounts in the introduction to her book, Decolonizing Methodologies, the Western monopoly on interpretation is incredibly painful to Indigenous cultures:
"It galls us that Western researchers and intellectuals can assume to know all that is possible to know of us... It appalls us that the West can desire, extract, and claim ownership of our ways of knowing, our imagery, the things we create and produce, and then simultaneously reject the people who created and developed those ideas....”
Western systems of knowledge appropriate and at the same time devalue information created by Indigenous ways of knowing. When working with Indigenous Knowledge in an academic context, it is vital to respect Indigenous Knowledge's authority, agency, and voice. Do not treat Indigenous authorities as mere "informants," but rather as equals in the knowledge creation process.
It is vital for students and scholars to consider their practices of citing sources, as these practices are part of how we attribute knowledge and ideas. These practices reflect whose voices are heard and prioritized, what counts as "knowledge," and who can be creators and holders of knowledge. There is growing movement around citational justice or citation politics to #CiteIndigenousAuthors, a parallel to #CiteBlackWomen. For a list of readings and resources, please see this citation politics guide for First Nations and Indigenous Studies from the University of British Columbia:
"Indigenizing curriculum and research can start with reading and citing Indigenous voices. When the same authors and titles are cited in papers it reinforces an echo chamber, and who is deemed to have authority. It’s important to critically examine where you are getting your information, and whose voices aren’t included. This can be a challenging practice, because how can you tell if an author is Indigenous?
It is also important to define what is meant by Indigenous scholar and scholarly output. Indigenous scholarly output may often be found in peer reviewed journals, however there are concerns about bias within the peer review system. Within Indigenous communities, Indigenous scholars/researchers/knowledge keepers/Elders do not have to be credentialed by or affiliated with the academy in order to be regarded as citable experts, though many are. It may be beneficial to your work to look beyond academic publishing to find Indigenous perspectives and/or knowledge on your topic. "
(Edwards, n.d)
Read the author information in database records and journal articles to learn more about the author. If you can’t find much information about the author, go outside the source and search for university profile pages, blogs, social media, and other online projects the author may be involved in. Don't make assumptions about a scholar's background based on name, appearance, etc., but pay attention to how they self-identify.
Change the order of your search results in databases and search engines. “Relevance" is often the default setting for displaying search results, but you can change it to “Date Newest” to find the most current research available.
Consider geography/location in your searching.
Find out where scholars in your field share ideas less formally (such as blogs, Twitter, YouTube etc.), to find conversations happening outside of traditional forms of scholarly communication.
Check faculty pages of post-secondary institutions in your discipline to find Indigenous scholars in your field, and their bibliographies.
Look for Indigenous publishers or journals that cover Indigenous research.
Explore new sources of news. For example, Ethnic News Watch can be used to find publications featuring Indigenous voices.
Explore professional association conference programs, committee lists, and membership rosters to identify scholars and their interests. Some databases even have a filter that allows you to look at conference papers.
Explore Open Education Resources (OER), like Open BC Campus, for scholarly material that functions outside of traditional publishing houses
Talk with your professors about how they diversify their reading and reference lists and who they think are exciting new voices in the field.
Found an author and/or article that you are interested in? Who have they cited? You can use search strategies like reviewing the cited references and using a database's "cited by" tool, to find related content.
