Conducting Sacred Research: An Indigenous Experience

Worldviews and perceptions of reality may differ from one culture to another (Leininger 1995). What is naturally known or constitutes proof in one culture may not be understood or considered relevant in another culture. As a consequence, there are different ways of gathering, understanding, and/or applying information. These variations can influence researchers of diverse cultures to conduct and guide the research process in a fashion atypical to the linear, quantitative research studies. This article is a description of one American Indian researcher's experience prior to and while conducting research for a phenomenological nursing doctoral thesis, "The Lived Experience of Ojibwa and Cree Women Healers" (Struthers 1999). This author's intention is to share a personal approach to research that was culturally sensitive, balanced, harmonious, circular, sacred, natural, holistic, and unfolded with fluidity and grace for the researcher and research participants. ("American Indian" is used synonymously with "Native American," "Native," "aboriginal," and "indigenous.")

A problem identified by the researcher was that the research process is customarily designed to occur in a linear fashion. This includes selecting a research topic, reviewing literature related to the subject, formulating a research question, choosing a research design, conducting the research, analyzing data, forming a conclusion and implications, plus potentially publishing the research results. Additionally, research studies are reported in a linear construct that includes the following sections: an introduction, a literature review, a section on methodology, research findings, and conclusions, discussions, and implications. As discovered by this researcher, conducting research on or about Native peoples in a culturally sensitive manner can be extremely rewarding to the researcher and the participants, especially if done by another Native.

Aboriginal Researchers in Aboriginal Communities

Many people conduct research in indigenous communities. One opinion states it is fitting that aboriginal people conduct research on aboriginal topics. These researchers should be from indigenous communities, be passionate (Indermaur 1998), be dedicated regarding the survival of tribal nations (Crazy Bull 1997), and allow Native people to set the research agenda (Christensen and Peacock 1997). An indigenous researcher has permission to ask new questions that originate from an aboriginal perspective (Indermaur 1998) versus a nonaboriginal viewpoint.

Aboriginal researchers in their communities may use atypical research methods. These may include talking to elders before utilizing consultants. Also, the primary use of oral knowledge as compared to written information is customary among indigenous cultures. Everything does not have to be written down to be true (Jones 1995). Representatives of many indigenous cultures argue that writing absolves individuals from remembering and, therefore, dilutes the complexity of knowledge that can be kept alive within any society (Thorne 1993). Oral knowledge brings a metaphysical presence and a natural, holistic, intuitive, and spiritual response to the research context. Thereby, a qualitative research approach is more compatible with traditional ways of knowing, as it examines relationships and the whole (Crazy Bull 1997).

Nonaboriginal Researchers

There is very little published in the health science literature regarding research within indigenous communities (Cook and Petit de Mange 1995; Jacobson 1994). Nonaboriginal researchers have traditionally conducted the vast majority of any kind of research regarding aboriginal people. While the number of aboriginal people with advanced degrees continues to grow, aboriginal Native communities will continue to depend on nonaboriginal researchers (Ambler 1997; Cook and Petit de Mange 1995). In Canada, it was difficult to become an aboriginal researcher. An 1880 amendment declared that any First Nations person obtaining a university degree would be automatically disenfranchised from aboriginal tribal membership. Fortunately, this unjust ruling was finally overturned in 1951 by the Canadian government (Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development 1996).

Ambler (1997) states that much of the research conducted by nonaboriginals has not been managed in a germane manner. As a result, aboriginal scholars refer to them as "research poachers." These poachers come into the aboriginal community for cultural information, or "gems of knowledge" (10), and use the tribe's knowledge for their...