Relationality as “Rigor”: Indigenous Methods as a Contribution to Sociological Research Design

• In Event: The Future of Indigenous Sociology

Abstract

Indigenous sociologists and sociologists interested in topics related to Indigenous issues may have encountered narratives that the work they do is not sociological or that they are not an appropriate institutional “fit” because of their interests. While these sentiments are discouraging, they can also lead to less Indigenous sociologists. This paper focuses on what is lost when we exclude Indigenous Peoples and work on Indigenous Peoples in the discipline and what is gained when Indigenous Peoples do work on Indigenous Peoples. I argue that Indigenous methods and knowledge (Jacob 2017; Mackay 2022; Wilson 2020) strengthen sociological intellectual inquiry, particularly by focusing on relationality as a key influence in sociological knowledge production. By drawing on my experiences in the academy and the field I argue that Indigenous Method’s focus on relationality in research design, data collection, and analyses are important ways that sociology can adopt this tenant.

Author

• Kiana Kristine Wilkins, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign