Most research methodologies are rooted in colonial pedagogies and are based on western pragmatism, in which researchers study the ‘Other’; the subject that cannot reply or contribute to the research.
The panel thus proposes the praxis of various decolonial-based, community-integrated, and indigenous methods such as ‘Participatory Learning Action’ or ‘Collaborative Ethnography’ to reject the reductionist approach of one method and place more emphasis on empirical evidence to decolonise knowledge produced in the context of various research activities.
We invite articles from scholars who will initiate conversations on challenges of ethical integrity and precarious positionality that Humanities and social science researchers must acknowledge and address, especially when working with marginalised communities. Terms such as “field-based research experts” and “data collection” indicate the unequal relationship between the researcher and the researched and how exploitative a research design can be. How does “critical” research impact the autonomy of people who are often treated as research subjects? And how we can truly start decolonising our research - further investigating the concepts of collaborative research, community integration, and knowledge co-production.
The goal of this panel is to start a dialogue in which humanities and social science scholars around the world consider not only adopting local norms of working with, by, and for Indigenous/Native communities within research programs but also how this work ultimately diverges from epistemological research of western and colonial space of knowledge, and scientific gaze. It must encourage seeing the world through the lens of the Global South, such as Latin America, Africa, and Asia, combining ideas from indigenous areas and marginalised institutions to challenge the generalisation of hegemonic assumptions that undermine other kinds of knowledge (Schulz, 2017 & Tuhin Smith, 2014).
