Building Ethical Bridges Between Academic Research and Indigenous Tribal Communities: A Qualitative Auto/Ethnographic Case Study

BACKGROUND & PURPOSE: In an era of self-determination, many indigenous tribes have begun to develop their own mechanisms of research accountability and control, including institutional internal review boards (IRBs), tribal IRBs, ethics review boards, tribally owned and operated native corporation boards and institutional funding sources. Academic researchers conducting research with these tribes must now manage multiple sources of accountability, which inevitably leads to changed dynamics in the negotiation and management of ethical research. The purpose of this qualitative auto/ethnographic case study was to render visible the work and resources that were leveraged while building ethical bridges between academic research and Alaska Native tribal communities. Specifically, the author explored the everyday micro-level processes and decisions made as an academic researcher managing multiple sources of accountability while pursuing more ethical research with indigenous, tribal communities. The following research question guided the study: What are the everyday conditions, decisions and activities of an academic researcher leading to more ethical research arrangements between academic research and indigenous tribal communities?

METHODS: Data for this qualitative auto/ethnographic case study derived from auto/ethnographic field notes, where the author was simultaneously [a] participant and researcher in pursuing more ethical research with indigenous tribes. Data consisted of auto/ethnographic field notes collected between 2008-2010, including travel itineraries and receipts, professional meeting agendas and minutes, email communications, and institutional and tribal documents. Field notes based upon participant-observation were systematically coded using grounded theory methodology by Strauss & Corbin (1998) and Charmaz (2006), with the assistance of HyperResearch data analysis software. The author began with open coding to explore activities and processes of pursuing ethical research with tribal communities. Then, upon re-examining the literature and engaging in successive levels of analysis which included focused and theoretical coding, the author developed a set of selective codes. Working with selective codes while also remaining open to discovery, the author engaged in memo-writing and diagramming activities to identify salient themes in pursuing ethical research with indigenous, tribal communities.

FINDINGS: Findings yielded three key themes associated with building ethical bridges between academic research and indigenous tribal communities. These key themes centered on Trust-building and nurturing, Transitioning and Translating processes, each of which required considerable time and effort which the author designates collectively as T-Labor. Trust-building and nurturing processes required visiting, communicating and relationally engaging with others from various communities; transitioning processes included responding to unpredictable circumstances, changing plans, traveling to different geographical locations and (re)orienting to distinct discursive practices in different places; translating processes involved effective written and verbal communication with multiple constituencies.

CONCLUSIONS & IMPLICATIONS: T-Labor undergirds the work of cultural brokering within and between systems among academic and indigenous tribal communities while building ethical bridges in the research enterprise. As an activist scholar, the author advocates for including T-Labor as a line item in the research budget to support indigenous sovereignty and the building of ethical bridges between academic researchers and indigenous tribes. Funded by NIA Grant T32-AG000117