Decolonizing Approaches to Research at uAlberta (DARA)
In 2022, with funding support from the Situated Knowledges and Indigenous Peoples and Place signature area and the Kule Institute for Advanced Study (KIAS), iiQM brought together an interdisciplinary team of scholars to find out how researchers across the University of Alberta understand and practice “decolonization” in their research.
Some forty faculty from diverse disciplines shared their stories and perspectives in a survey, one-on-one conversations, and a Kitchen Table conversation. The final DARA Report was completed in 2024, and is housed on the Indigenous Initiatives Resources page of the Vice-Provost (IPR).
This work is part of iiQM’s commitment to practicing good relations and helping to ask good questions about the Eurocentric assumptions of qualitative research.
The DARA Report aims to:
- Understand how researchers conceptualize decolonization
- Learn about their approaches and methodologies
- Create community and conversation
- Illuminate joys and challenges in doing this work, and
- Identify changes and actions to support decolonizing research at the U of A.
Team: Cindy Gaudet, Jordana Salma, Sara Dorow Melissa Tremblay, Nancy Van Styvendale, Audrey Medwayosh; with support from Dwayne Donald (not pictured)
Decolonizing Methods: Unsettling Research (event March 8, 2024)
Dr. Lana Whiskeyjack, Associate Professor, Faculty of Arts – Women’s & Gender Studies,University of Alberta
Dr. Stephanie Montesanti, Professor, Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in Health System Integration, School of Public Health,University of Alberta
Dr. Shirley Anne Tate, Professor, Faculty of Arts – Sociology Department,University of Alberta
Dr. Nancy Van Styvendale (Moderator), Associate Professor, Faculty of Native Studies and Associate Dean (Research), University of Alberta
Audrey Medwayosh (Moderator), Graduate Research Assistant, Faculty of Arts – Sociology Department, University of Alberta