2007 Annual Meeting, Association
of American Geographers
April 17-21 2007, San Francisco, CA
3616: Challenging the collaborative ideal: exploring
the dilemmas in joint research with indigenous claimants to New
Zealand's Waitangi Tribunal.
[Plenary Session]
Thursday, 4/19/07, from 5:00 PM - 6:40 PM
Description:
Driven by 'benefit sharing' requirements and the institutionalisation
of research ethics, collaborative inquiry has become orthodox in
academic research with indigenous peoples. Yet, at the same time
as this strategy has ascended to normative status, cultural geographers
and indigenous academics have increasingly challenged both autochthony
and the essentialisation of indigenous peoples as singular collectives,
problematising the assumption that there is a research partner with
whom to collaborate. Despite increasing recognition of indigenous
plurality and its associated ethical dilemmas in, for example, land
claims settlement, collaborative research is typically conducted
with traditional leadership structures and may, therefore, accentuate
rather than address the justice, representativeness and ethical
consequences of academic research. The ethical dimensions of four
of the author's research projects for Treaty of Waitangi settlements
in Aotearoa/New Zealand illuminate the fallacies of the collaborative
ideal. In each case, literal implementation of contractual requirements
for collaboration would have disadvantaged particular tribal and
sub-tribal groupings, perpetuating the cultural violence of colonial
and pre-colonial power structures.
Organizer: Jay T. Johnson - University of Nebraska
Chair: Jay T. Johnson - University of Nebraska
Plenary Speaker:
Brad Coombes - University of Auckland
Challenging the Collaborative Ideal: Exploring the Dilemmas
in Joint Research with Indigenous Claimants to New Zealand's Waitangi
Tribunal
