Reciprocal Inuit and Western research training: facilitating research capacity and community agency in Arctic research partnerships

ABSTRACT

Engaging community partners to work as co-researchers and research assistants for research involving Inuit communities or regions helps to ensure the equitable recognition of community and researcher priorities, mutual trust and respect, participation by local participants, inclusion of local knowledge and local uptake of research findings. However, research knowledge still in development among community members has been described as a barrier to effective Arctic community research partnerships. This paper describes two 3-day, cross-cultural research training workshops held in the Nunavut communities of Arviat and Iqaluit during Spring 2017. The purpose was to encourage reciprocity as a basis for research training that incorporates both Western and Inuit approaches and that emphasises relationship building to benefit both Inuit and non-Inuit research communities. A review of participant responses to the workshops suggests value in using an integrated Western–Inuit framework of educational objectives to guide the training. Responses suggest the workshops helped improve understanding of research practices and ethics rooted in different traditions for participants interested in assisting with or conducting research in Canada’s Arctic communities.

KEYWORDS:

• Research training
• Indigenous and Western ethics
• Inuit and Western ethics
• Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit
• research methods
• community agency
• research capacity
• research partnerships
• Arctic

Acknowledgements

We wish to acknowledge the support of the Nunavut Research Institute, the University of Alberta Faculty of Rehabilitation Medicine Technology Group, the Law Society of Nunavut, the Nunavut Arctic College and the Nunavummi Disabilities Makinnasuqtit Society.

We also thank the presenters elder Louis Angalik, elder Martha Okotak, Nathaniel Pollock, Gwen Healey, Nalini Vadappalli, James Morton, Mary-Ellen Thomas, Mosha Cote and Caroline O’Keefe-Markman. We would also like to acknowledge Reneé Doherty, Karin Werther, Liz Dennett, Sharla King, Brock Ostrom, Nick Arnalukjuak, Joni Gibbons and Martha Pingushat.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Supplemental material

The supplemental data for this article can be accessed here

Additional information

Funding

This workshop series was funded by the University of Alberta Indigenous Community Engagement, Research and Learning Grant, sponsored by the FGSR and the Provost. The larger project to which the research training relates is funded by The Law Foundation of Ontario and the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada.