INDIGENIST METHOD
Doing Theological Research with Indigenous Peoples
Keywords:
Indigenism, Indigenous Peoples, Postcolonial Theory, Research Method, TheologiansAbstract
This paper proposes an indigenist research methodology that interfaces the indigenous and western knowledges but prioritizes the former in knowledge production promoting the self-representation of the indigenous peoples in their communities. Documents on the United Nations Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) fully support the indigenous peoples in their right to self-determination and self-representation. Instead of helping the indigenous peoples recover from colonization, scholars using western methodological and theoretical frameworks reinforce the re-colonization in their cognitive paradigms. As the indigenous communities reclaim their rights to self-determination and self-representation, scholars are challenged to relearn from the indigenous peoples in their communities and to devise methodologies that represent the indigenous peoples in their scholarship and publication. To execute this research, theologians ought to engage into reflexivity as they face the indigenous peoples and to involve into teamwork collaborations with them and their spokespersons. They should work together to rescue the indigenous worldviews and reassert their contributions in knowledge production.
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