I don't know the book you talk about - will check it as soon as possible.

But there happens to be a similar discussion in Latin America and Latin American Studies - what is coloniality, how to decolonize anything?

While a direct answer would be a radical form of action research - you go there and do what the people there want you to do (not a good starting point if you're a sociologist and no-one knows what that is)- I personally try to decolonize my research (or to prevent it from becoming part of coloniality) by taking serious the position of the actors I study. So, working on the indigenous movement, I don't declare them to be nationalists or ethnicists, or understand the movement as such as an ethnic and not a social movement, but try to listen to what the movement says - in its texts and in the contributions of (and sometimes interviews with) its members. Well, that is not really different from the democratic research of the 1970s - but I think both types of "opening" research address the same problem.

Dear Hugo..here is an example of an Indigenous Tribal bulletin to address Smith's critique. Best Wishes.

Aboriginal approach to mental health promotion could be conceptualized as a process of enabling individuals and communities to express consciously constructed (cultural) identities and aspirations through access to capacities such as culture, land, language, housing, economic resources and decision making institutions in ways that are mutually empowering. Gone (2011) provides an academic definition of decolonization as the reflective, intentional and collective self-examination undertaken by a formerly colonized people that actively sustains their reassertion of continuity with the precolonial past toward a distinctive and purposeful post-colonial future. Williams and Mumtaz (2007) provide another definition of decolonization as the process of claiming back that which was for lost as a result of colonization. Particularly for Aboriginal peoples mental health promotion could be viewed as a decolonization practice that involves re-naming and re-claiming cultural space and access to mental health capacities or determinants that enable the assertion of cultural identities and related aspirations in ways that support cultural integrity. Decolonization is an individual and group process and should be based in Aboriginal worldview and cosmology, using Aboriginal culture as a catalyst (Williams & Mumtaz). Culture refers to shared systems of meaning, symbols and worldviews, it consists of dynamic, and complex networks of meaning enmeshed within historical, spiritual, social, economic and political processes; it shapes peoples worldviews and ways of being in the world and is reciprocally shaped by these processes. In this sense, culture is not static, but rather dynamic and changing (Williams & Mumtaz). According to Guerin (2010) efforts to address the colonial histories and transgenerational transmission of disparity in Indigenous peoples, they are confronted by two types of interventions; (1) changing the way some descendants of colonizers think and act about towards Indigenous peoples; (2) changing the way that some Indigenous people think and act about themselves. A decolonization and historic trauma framework would target both interventions with the purpose of changing long-term ingrained patterns (Guerin).

Wilson (2008) states that many residents of Indigenous communities in North America have become disillusioned with current research paradigms and believe that Indigenous people are the most studied on earth, and many have said that Aboriginal communities have been researched to death (O’Neil, Reading, & Leader, 1998). O’Neil, Reading and Leader also identified another reason for this disillusionment among Aboriginal people as the ownership of the epidemiologic narrative in the production of public understanding of the nature of Aboriginal communities. In Canada, and elsewhere epidemiologic portraits of Aboriginal sickness and misery act as powerful social instruments for the construction of Aboriginal identity, which then can be used to justify paternalism and dependency (O’Neil, Reading & Leader). Duran and Duran (1995; Wilson, 2008; Smith, 2012) have called for alternative research paradigms as a necessity for the implementation of research in Indigenous communities. This parallels, and at times, intersect with other methodological developments in the area of Participatory Action Research (PAR) (O’Connor, & Gibson, 2003; Cargo & Mercer, 2008). PAR approaches, like phenomenology, are intended to provide alternatives that are intended to give voice and prominence to communities previously marginalized in contemporary research practices and many these approaches are qualitative by nature (Baydala, Plascko, Hampton, Bourassa, McKay-McNabb 2006; Fletcher, 2003; Meadows, Lagendyk, Thurston, & Eisener, 2003; Patricia, Cochran, Marshall, Garcia-Downing, Kendall, Cook & McCubbin, 2008;Wallerstein & Duran, 2006; Wilson, 2008; Smith 2012). The interpretive tradition is more suited to participant engagement in Aboriginal communities, specifically the IPA of Smith and Osborn. In addition, another method inquiry that offers promise in Aboriginal health promotion is Critical Hermeneutics (CH) for the following reasons. Laverty states hermeneutic research is interpretive and concentrates on historical meanings of experience and their development and the accumulative effects on individual and social levels. This includes explicit statements of historical movements or philosophies that are guiding interpretation as well as presuppositions that motivate the individuals who make the interpretations. (Laverty). The biases and assumption of the researcher are not bracketed or set aside, they are considered essential to the interpretive process. The researcher is expected to give considerable thought to their own experience and to explicitly claim the ways in which their personal position or experience relates to the issue of the inquiry (Laverty).

Therefore, object of CH inquiry is to make these marginalized voices heard. This is important to Aboriginal people in their quest in decolonization of their meanings, psyches, communities and research methods and to develop Indigenous methodologies that as assist in this process (Duran & Duran, 1995; Smith, 2012; Wilson, 2008). The narratives generated using CH can be interpreted to challenge practice, research, social policy and provide action to support culturally grounded programs in mental health promotion and health research with Aboriginal people. CH may be considered a decolonizing methodology as it has the potential to assist Aboriginal people towards for the overall goal of decolonization (Duran & Duran; Smith; Wilson).

I don't know if this will help, but I have written a bit about using decolonisation as a framework for research. My book is coming out in May - in Australia, maybe it can sent overseas. I was unsure if I should self promote, but I strongly believe that decolonisation offers a great deal to respectful research. Here is the link.

http://mailcast3.atwww.com/em/message/email/view.php?id=1079340&u=18037

or another one:

Pre-orders now available - A Theory for Indigenous Australian Health and Human Service Work

http://www.booktopia.com.au/a-theory-for-indigenous-australian-health-and-human-service-work-lorraine-muller/prod9781743317198.html

A Theory for Indigenous Australian Health and Human Service Work

www.booktopia.com.au

Booktopia has A Theory for Indigenous Australian Health and Human Service Work by Lorraine Muller.

http://www.booktopia.com.au/a-theory-for-indigenous-australian-health-and-human-service-work-lorraine-muller/prod9781743317198.html

I write about decolonisation as a framework for research in my book, due out in May - but only in Australia at the moment I think. Perhaps it can be bought in Australia and sent overseas, or via ebook.

I hesitated to promote my book, but I strongly believe that decolonisation offers a framework for respectful research and can be adapted to suit many situations.

http://mailcast3.atwww.com/em/message/email/view.php?id=1079340&u=18037

Sorry for the double post above. I thought that the first one was lost in the ether as it did not appear straight away.

I had challenges during field work on conducting my qualitative research project which explored perspectives and subjective experiences of adults with epilepsy and their carers in an urban Black township in Cape Town. I struggled with issues such as language, translation and interpretation and have shared these in my published reflective article entitled: The tortoise under the couch'- An African woman's reflections on negotiating insider-outsider positionalities and issues of serendipity .........

On reading published literature, I became aware of a need for decolonizing research methodologies.

To all those interested to know more on concrete ways to decolonize research, a themed issue on that topic has been published (open access) in ACME An International Journal for Critical Geographies:

https://www.acme-journal.org/index.php/acme/issue/view/110

I saw some examples where new biological expeditions include women teams, you can see old photos (male researchers) vs new photos of teams (woman or mixed teams), inclusion and integration of indigenous or local people into the research teams (and with coauthored publications). Also with the designation of names for the new species (or even petitions to change vernacular names) reflecting names of local regions or tribute to an indigenous group using names or words in their language with an important cosmovision and significance (i.e. with birds: Chamí Antpitta or Muisca Antpitta [https://www.facebook.com/andres.cuervo.35/posts/10157450084188161] )

Considering authors from the global South, speaking our own languages in science and being proud of our accents when we speak English. Being interested in diverse epistemologies, methodologies, and objects of study, specially from the global South. Leaving eurocentrism behind.

Sorry, I forgot the example. One way is by choosing subjects that identify themselves as decolonial (artists, activists, researchers). i.e. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/0969725X.2017.1322816

… 

The only true way to decolonize research is to stop doing research.

Research agendas are set by funders. Decolonized funding will lead to decolonized research.

One small idea: return all Type specimens to collections in the country of their original collection event!

Most researches and studies in host countries are funded by external bodies or international organizations, and usually the researchers who conduct those studies are only there to fulfil their own career interest than creating authentic solutions toward real life problems affecting local communities. Its more on academic writing and getting desired qualifications than developing a foundation for applied research based on the findings of those studies. If we can centralize researches that are applied and site-specific ,that would definitely help in decolonization of research. I believe in carrying out a research that is more applied than the one which is only on the paper to satisfy my career goals.

I think the better answer to this is probably to make research more international and research institutions more truly international. I agree with Peter Apps that funding determines the kind of research that gets done. Currently most research institutions (both Universities and others) are funded (at least partly) by governments. And if the government of a certain country is funding research, it can be expected that it wants research that will somehow benefit that country. Decolonizing runs the risk of simply inverting this, so that the previously disadvantaged country now becomes the primary beneficiary of new research (or of research done there). I think that both goes against the basic principle that research should truly be international. And the solution is probably to have international research institutions which are funded independently and can truly function independently from any government (or eurocentric or colonizing) influences. How you are going to do this in practice? That is the more difficult question.

In the past many European researchers worked and published in their own languages and only fairly recently have English become so dominant (although before this, Latin functioned in much the same way in Europe). Working, learning and publishing in your own language makes that research instantly more accessible to speakers of that language (i.e. the "locals" in this context). Perhaps the same foot-up should be given to local researchers with more multi-lingual publications and the research only later on being translated into English (rather than as often happen, first published in English and then translated (or more often not) so that the locals can also benefit from the new information)? Perhaps the UN should start and fund a number of international universities with a "no strings attached" research budget (and equal input from researchers in previously disadvantages countries)?

Hi, here is attached an investigation that can help answer your question. This refers to the incorporation of the ecological knowledge of artisanal fishermen in the governance of fishing resources (in Chile). On this type of topic, I recommend reviewing the academic production of political ecology from Latin America.

Article Una reflexión intelectual, moral y política sobre la partici...

A recent paper in Nature Geoscience on this topic:

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41561-021-00861-7

Thanks a lot for sharing this interesting op-ed, Jose Antonio Sierra-Huelsz !

Dolors Armenteras wrote an important piece on the subject "Decolonizing ecology and evolution is a long road.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-021-01549-2

Emancipate yourself to your own constraints - set by institutions carrying colonial remanences - and to yourself - as a product of these institutions. Concretely, navigating slowly with long-standing fieldwork and being respectful before being efficient through promoting openness and taking care of relationships.

First as self-determination, then as counterpoint (to top down theories and positivistic methodologies). See an application of this transdisciplinary approach in this book, a pdf of which is freely available on adademia. edu for the duration of the pandemic (which seems never-ending): https://www.academia.edu/42747815/Book_Disrupting_Denial_Analysing_Narratives_of_Invisible_Visible_Violence_and_Trauma_2018_Full_copy

I had to think about desire. For eg, how the desire to be recognized by some scholars affected my work and my career decisions. Once you do that, a path is open to think who you don't want to be. The hard part is to create new desires and new ways of being beyond the colonial imaginaries. My point is it is not enough to include non-White people in the syllabus, we have to reframe the entire academic system to acknowledge that the references of quality and what an "ideal scholar" looks like are colonial.

I think it is important to first present and reflect on one's own privileged position. It always represents a limitation of scientific work. The fact that we are able and capable of writing a scientific paper shows that we can already speak of a privileged position. The power dynamics are already at work. It is also important to recognise that you can never 100% decolonise a paper. One should also be open to unconscious processes. An example: a lecturer I know from a Bavarian university is strongly committed to postcolonial perspectives. For her, however, universities and thus university professors are more important than universities of applied sciences and the staff there. There, something classicist is handed down, which she actually likes to argue against. Another thing is that postcolonial theories are received and their contradictions and sometimes problems with the philosophy of science are named. Postcolonial theories are not a golden calf. Pointing out their limitations can also help.

It would also be great if the voices of the people affected could be heard in the sense of a qualitative study. But that is possible.

Rauna Kuokkanen from the University of Lapland has written some interesting work on indigenous self-determination. https://rauna.net/. She also wrote the book "Reshaping the University: Responsibility, Indigenous Epistemes, and the Logic of the Gift". https://www.ubcpress.ca/reshaping-the-university

'How We Became Human' is an interesting book because it talks about the reflected practices people employ that means behaviours and modes of operating are repeated over and over. It looks at mimesis and Girardian theories on what fuels behaviours that results in antagonism. It is the breaking down and understanding of where antagonisms begin i.e. in the binarism that occurs in language. Binary comparators cannot be avoided altogether as we are always ultimately described by what we are not, and as academics we occupy a privileged location to begin with, but at least to understand better what impact this has and work to revise it to achieve greater balance. Also 'Pedagogy of the Oppressed' is another essential text in my view because it discusses fundamental changes to teaching practices, to employ a conversational exchange rather than knowledge being poured from an elevated standpoint towards those considered subordinate. In my opinion decolonisation starts with the words we use everyday and what we do as individuals to change language and its use to reflect our understanding of the problems it innately carries within it, being a system that relies on the recognition of general signs and symbols. For me decolonisation is about discovering all the nuances. Things that remain hidden invite supposition rather than direct questioning which can lead to assumptions being made that are misleading. The task of academics is to reveal what informs the formation of opinion and ideas, and as such are in a prime location to use that privilege to facilitate decolonisation.

A pdf copy of 'The Pedagogy of the Oppressed' is available via this link: https://envs.ucsc.edu/internships/internship-readings/freire-pedagogy-of-the-oppressed.pdf

Another suggestion is Ilarion (Larry) Merculieff and Libby Roderick's book "Stop talking: Indigenous ways of teaching and learning and difficult dialogues in higher education". This useful book gives voice to Indigenous ways of being, engaging with knowledge, and showing up in higher education. It's available free online here:

https://www.uaa.alaska.edu/academics/institutional-effectiveness/departments/center-for-advancing-faculty-excellence/difficult-dialogues/_documents/Stop_Talking.pdf

I realize that the original question is about decolonializing research methods, but there is great value in reflection about how decolonizing can occur in all aspects of higher education.

I am more frequently reviewing what I mean when I think about excellence. Academic science has a narrow view of excellence. I think it human nature to do well (technae). Separately, it is easy to talk about "raging against the machine" of colonialism without confronting the issue of career risk (fear of losing livelihood). in my estimation, career risk is one of the biggest obstacle to positive change but is very real for a large number of people. It should not be used as an excuse but if ignored then we are talking in the abstract and not on the personal and human level and people's fears.

There are diverse pathways to decolonisation of research. I think it depends on the context of the research. A one-size-fits-all decolonisation framework for research cannot apply to all indigenous communities because they are inherently diverse. One way I have applied decolonising and decolonized research methods is to consider the Indigenous philosophy of Ubuntu as an organising principle in research. This consideration of Ubuntu has had implications for methods of designing researches, processes and procedures of collecting data, ways of embodying and valuing ethics and creed, systems on analysing data, styles and language of writing and disseminating research data, and reimagining and rethinking impact of research output. Anchoring research in Indigenous philosophies of various Indigenous people frames, flips and shifts the vintage point from where the researcher conducts research.

This is a really relevant question which I am to some extent trying to address in my own (collaborative auto-)ethnographic research. In brief, if I can address it, I think empowering all research participants by embracing their L1 is one means - a starting point perhaps - to enhancing the agency/voice. An English-only research process/design can bring with it an overwhelming sense that western norms of doing research prevail. I've written a chapter in Uwe Flick's recently published handbook:

Adamson, J.L. (2022). Designing Qualitative Research for Studies in Asia: Decentering Research Practices for Local Norms of Relevance. In U. Flick (Ed.). The Sage Handbook of Qualitative Research Design. (pp. 1048- 1062). London: Sage.

However, there are different ways to deceneter research practices which I alone cannot grasp or articulate. I like some comments on this thread by Pierre-Carl LInk about recognizing one's own privileged status in the research process.

I agree, Prof., with your view concerning L1/ mother languages/indigenous languages, as we call them here, in South Africa. I have read the chapter referred to and found it very inspiring and empowering.

A similar talking point has risen during the discussions following a lecture on curriculum transformation in higher education in South Africa, where a student-teacher nostalgically bemoaned the English language as limiting her. This comment inspired me to pen a paper on curriculum decolonisation in a South African university, an intrinsic ethnographic case study.

In it, I attempt to connect third Space (through Gutiérrez’s eyes) to the university’s envisioned curriculum as a theoretical framework. This slice is also an effort to respond to the worldwide reported 2015-2016 student protests on South Africa’s university campuses, where many were unsure how to respond to the demands of the students to crack epistemic violence and decolonise the curriculum. I also think that viewing our mother languages as a strength in learning a new language is imperative and offers an alternative to accommodating diverse linguistic repertoires, particularly the indigenous languages in the case of South Africa, which were previously marginalized.

A few years ago, I evaluated a research program that tried really hard... The entire research program was jointly designed and jointly-led, with a local director in Ghana. It funded locally led, demand-driven studies that had to be aligned to a carefully set national research agenda, in which representatives of marginalized groups were actively engaged. Grassroots NGOs were also encouraged to submit research proposals and were actively supported with proposal development and there was also some space for alternative methodologies. It was really innovative and very successful...

Article Towards fair and effective North-South collaboration: Realis...

Article Which health research gets used and why? An empirical analys...

Do check out Leonie Sandercock's work on First Nation peoples in Canada, and planning with them / learning from them. You can also see this just-off-the-print Chapter by her: "Once Upon a Planet: Planning for Transition from Ego-Driven to Eco-Driven Economies" in the book Post-Growth Planning: Cities Beyond the Market Economy, Routledge, Edited by myself and Federico Savini and António Ferreira

https://www.routledge.com/Post-Growth-Planning-Cities-Beyond-the-Market-Economy/Savini-Ferreira-von-Schonfeld/p/book/9780367751012

Great question. As an indigenous/indigenist practitioner scholar I am experimenting with ways to acknowledge the co-production of knowledge in a variety of ways. I'm beginning to understand that it is not only about methodology, but about thinking that informs how methodology can serve the function of humane knowledge production (meaning all knowledge is co-produced and we have to find ways to elevate co-producers to more than a footnote), but as co-authors with copyright over their knowledge.

I attempted this Approach in a book published during 2018 where the process of knowledge production is explained in the foreword: https://www.academia.edu/42747815/Book_Disrupting_Denial_Analysing_Narratives_of_Invisible_Visible_Violence_and_Trauma_2018_Full_copy