Paradigm shifting: centering Indigenous research methodologies, an Anishinaabe perspective

ABSTRACT

This paper showcases the importance of Indigenous research paradigms and, by extension, Indigenous research methodologies for Indigenous peoples within sociology of sport. Indigenous research methodologies are explored to highlight their specific components, including the engagement of decolonization, privileging Indigenous voices, the utilisation of Indigenous worldviews, and relational accountability. Building upon an Indigenous research methodology as a foundation, the paper presents an Anishinaabeg research paradigm that is used to assist the author in connecting mindfully and spiritually to their role as a researcher with the field of sociology of sport. By applying an Anishinaabeg research paradigm, a tribal identity is privileged, which is an enactment of decolonization within the academy and disrupts settler normativity within academia.

KEYWORDS:

• Indigenous research
• decolonization
• Indigenous health
• Indigenous sport
• research frameworks

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. In Canada, the term Indigenous peoples broadly refers to First Nations, Métis, and Inuit peoples. For the purposes of this article, I use the term Indigenous peoples to specifically refer to First Nations peoples. I do this to not conflate the unique identities and traditions of the Métis peoples and Inuit peoples with the tribal perspective I am using.

2. The 2019 North American Sociology of Sport Conference theme is Sport Sociology and the Responsibility for Decolonial Praxis: Decolonizing Minds, Indigenising Hearts. It is this recent theme, coupled with the draft programme that features many panels on decolonization, that shows the desire of the sociology of sport field to address such issues.

3. Settler is defined by Barker (2009), a settler colonial theorist, as ‘people who occupy lands previously stolen … from their Indigenous inhabitants or who are otherwise members of the “Settler society”, which is founded on co-opted lands and resources’ (p. 328).

4. Some education and feminist disciplines have disrupted settler normativity by including land-based pedagogies, anti-colonial, anti-racist, and intersectional analyses.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Tricia D. McGuire-Adams

Dr. Tricia McGuire-Adams (from Bingwi Neyaashi Anishinaabek in Robinson Superior Treaty territory) conducts community-driven research in Indigenous health and wellbeing. She earned her doctorate from the University of Ottawa in Human Kinetics in 2018, and is now an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Education at the University of Ottawa. Using Indigenous research paradigms, her current program of research looks to Anishinaabeg land-based learning, physical activities, and gikendaasowin (knowledge) about Indigenous sport and disabilities, to further amplify Indigenous peoples’ practices of health and well-being.