Methodological challenges in working with Indigenous communities

Abstract

n their epistemological article, Grenoble and Osipov (2023, henceforth G&O) touch on some of the practical and ideological difficulties in working with Indigenous communities, in particular in relation to their work with the Even communities in northeastern Russia. They mention low speaker numbers and the associated challenge of obtaining sufficient data, the practical difficulties of reaching these communities (both physically and digitally), the existing skepticism in Indigenous communities towards western notions of measurement, and the need to acknowledge the difficult histories that Indigenous people have faced since being colonized. Based on our own work with the Indigenous Sámi populations in northern Norway and Sweden, we fully endorse their experiences and views, despite some differences pointed out below. We also wish to add another aspect, namely the attitudes, values and existing power struggles in our own scientific community, which not only make it hard to do research on small populations in the first place but, ultimately, prevent this research from getting the visibility it deserves.