In reflecting upon two qualitative research projects incorporating an Indigenous methodology, this article focuses on the use of the conversational method as a means for gathering knowledge through story. The article first provides a theoretical discussion which illustrates that for the conversational method to be identified as an Indigenous research method it must flow from an Indigenous paradigm. The article then moves to an exploration of the conversational method in action and offers reflections on the significance of researcher-in-relation and the inter- relationship between this method, ethics and care.

In reflecting upon two qualitative research projects incorporating an Indigenous methodology, this article focuses on the use of the conversational method as a means for gathering knowledge through story. The article first provides a theoretical discussion which illustrates that for the conversational method to be identified as an Indigenous research method it must flow from an Indigenous paradigm. The article then moves to an exploration of the conversational method in action and offers reflections on the significance of researcher-in-relation and the inter-relationship between this method, ethics, and care.

Last spring, an email request landed in my inbox. The area editor for Religious Studies Review, Dr. Lisa Stenmark, wrote that she was editing a Special issue of Religious Studies Review highlighting several Indigenous and decolonial methodologies texts. She was inviting a variety of individuals, including theologians, ethicists, social scientists, and natural scientists, to review the selected texts. My publication, Indigenous Methodologies: Characteristics, Conversations, and Contexts, Second Edition (2021) was among them. I was invited to provide a response. I accepted the invitation. Early in 2023, I received two reviews of my book, one by

This essay contemplates the context of treaty and the values it offers as a way to imagine anew a just relationship between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples within the particular context of education. It begins with a theoretical meandering of sorts, a ‘thinking it through piece’, and asks, ‘What does the treaty relationship, as envisioned by Indigenous peoples, teach us about critical and respectful pedagogy? What are the tensions and contradictions involved in teaching from and through treaty. The essay then explores the implications of a treaty lens within formal schooling through including both Indigenous and non-Indigenous perspectives. Situating treaty within identity, relationship, and a sacred dialogue, the focus is less on treaty or treaties themselves and but rather explores the spirit and possibility of ‘treaty’, as imagined by Indigenous peoples, in thinking about transgressive pedagogies and practicing transformative dialogue.

Indigenous scholars have articulated that Indigenous research methodologies require Indigenous paradigms. Through a circle process at the International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry in 2012, our team members facilitated a talking circle on the importance and implications of self-location in research projects that are either fully incorporating Indigenous research methodologies or in alignment with principles of Indigenous knowledge systems. We asked: “Given the intersection between the practice of Indigenous paradigms and identity, how do individuals with diverse identities and partial understandings take up Indigenous methodological approaches?” Through locating ourselves personally in the context of a nationally funded research project entitled “Removing the Invisibility Cloak,” we seek to explore the tensions and complexities of engaging Indigenous methodologies informed by our various social positions. We conclude that Indigenous approaches to research for many may not simply be about research—they are more holistic, experiential, and spiritual than that. They are something more. That “something more” is found in our stories.