Thread by @tuckeve

I have spent last months traveling + visiting with members of Anishinaabe, Haudenosaunee, Métis, Cree, Dene, Yukon, and Inuit Nations + communities; what I have learned is that they are totally exhausted by the new wave of clueless academics showing up to do research on them

All of these researchers show up wanting to do a study that has been approved by the university, funded by a grant, and is often on something that the community has already studied or doesn’t want to study. The researchers say the same thing: but I already have the funding!

Or the researchers say: I have everything taken care of, you won’t have to do a thing!

But this is never the case. It is always SO MUCH WORK for communities.

The research is always on the timeline and terms of the university and funders.

Communities are saying that this is just another iteration of colonial “discovery” of Indigenous peoples. White people coming in to rescue Indigenous peoples from themselves and fill up a cv while doing it.

They are not having it. They are saying no.

Meanwhile, communities have very real research needs. They have questions that can be answered by research and those answers will matter for everyday life in their communities.

They reach out to university collaborators and co-write grants, but these are not funded at the same success rates as the people who just show up at their door with the 13th study on the same thing.

How are universities/ tricouncil agencies paying attention to the real research needs of Indigenous communities?

I am hearing Indigenous communities describe something almost like having a team of researchers on retainer— who can be responsive to research needs as they arise.

Communities want long term collaborations w/ researchers who are helpers, not there to help or rescue them.

Being a helper is a very different stance than trying to help a community. I know I am seemingly using the same word here, but knowing the difference makes all the difference.