Gender and/in indigenous methodologies: On trouble and harmony in indigenous studies

Abstract

Gender and indigeneity themselves are contested terms and fields of conflict. In this article, I bring the fields of gender studies and indigenous studies into conversation with each other. Starting from indigenous studies, I aim to let insights and perspectives from gender studies challenge and shed light on the methodology of indigenous studies. An outspoken gender perspective would contribute to, as well as challenge, the research on indigenous issues and thus, also, indigenous methodologies. I argue that gender and, following gender, also intersectional perspectives, are important in order to bring difference and disharmony to the table.

This Word is (Not?) Very Exciting: Considering Intersectionality in Indigenous Studies

“…I start out with introductions to gender in indigenous studies and intersectionality, before discussing the potential contributions of the latter to the former. As such, the article is also a contribution to gender studies (see also Olsen, 2015;2017a;2017b).…”

“…Still, indigenization, particularly in the shape of indigenous methodologies, seems to have the (unwanted?) effect of downplaying gender (Olsen, 2017a). Without negating the importance and necessity of the movement of the different decolonizing and indigenous methodologies, I have previously (Olsen, 2017a;2017b) argued that there is a tendency within the academic movement of indigenous methodologies to de-emphasize other aspects of power and identity besides indigeneity, in particular gender.…”

“…effect of downplaying gender (Olsen, 2017a). Without negating the importance and necessity of the movement of the different decolonizing and indigenous methodologies, I have previously (Olsen, 2017a;2017b) argued that there is a tendency within the academic movement of indigenous methodologies to de-emphasize other aspects of power and identity besides indigeneity, in particular gender. Porsanger (2004), Kovach (2010), Deloria (1992) and Wilson (2008) do not explicitly discuss gender in their work.…”

From indigenous education to indigenising mainstream education

“…Kincheloe and Steinberg (2008) argue that by creating romanticised images of the past, the dichotomies between "indigenous" and "the West" are emphasised. The creation of such dichotomies is problematic, especially when internal differences are downplayed and external differences enhanced (Olsen, 2016). Bjørklund (2016) argues that the use of strategic essentialism may have more severe consequences, as creating an "imagined community" purely on a symbolical level may challenge indigenous peoples' rights internationally.…”

“We’ve Been Researched to Death”: Exploring the Research Experiences of Urban Indigenous Peoples in Vancouver, Canada

“…Feminist and critical Indigenous researchers, attentive to the ways that conventional research is implicated in the colonial process and marked by unequal power relations, have proposed decolonizing methodological approaches (Chilisa, 2012;Olsen, 2017;Smith 1999). As dominant methodologies are constitutive of a Western worldview, some Indigenous scholars have advocated for the recognition of and support for Indigenous methodologies, such as conversational methods developed from oral traditions of knowledge sharing grounded in Indigenous perspectives and epistemologies, or ways of knowing (Kovach, 2010;Wilson, 2001).…”