Researching indigenous groups

Cargo et al (2008: 904-905) discuss an ideal level of participation in research with communities, but warn that in practice such ideals are difficult to achieve:

“Despite efforts to democratize knowledge creation and utilization, power differentials between community and academic stakeholders remain a challenge to partnerships in indigenous community health research. The extant power differential has been attributed to a legacy of colonization in which externally driven research and intervention, in the absence of appropriate local involvement, has come to be viewed by many indigenous stakeholders with distrust. This distrust has resulted in a proliferation of codes of research ethics and memoranda of understanding and greater support for community participation in research to ensure that academic researchers respect the rights and interests of indigenous peoples.”

Cargo, M., Delormier, T., Lévesque, L., Horn-Miller, K., McComber, A., & Macaulay, A. C. (2008). Can the democratic ideal of participatory research be achieved? An inside look at an academic-indigenous community partnership. Health Education Research, 23(5), 904-914. doi: 10.1093/her/cym077

Cargo and colleagues argue that:

“Conducting academically controlled or directed research with indigenous peoples is becoming politically less tenable as it can undermine authentic community participation and capacity building.”

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