Which conceptual framework did you use for your research and why?

In the second year of my graduate program, I attended a course called “Indigenous Research Methods” taught by Professor Jennifer O'Neill in the Indigenous, Race, and Ethnics Studies department at the UO. I had been inspired to do so after seeing the thoughtful reflection and critical analysis going into the work of my fellow classmates, Jenna Witzelben and Grace Graham, who had taken the course the previous year. 

To my delight, it was one of the most influential courses that I took in graduate school. I felt a strong sense of connection with the Indigenous beliefs about knowledge creation (Indigenous epistemologies). The Indigenous perspective provided language for patterns and ideas that I had experienced in my years as an educator, advocate, dancer, and artist. I’d spent more than a decade searching for an adequate framework for the social and environmental justice work I was interested in. I felt a renewed sense of hope and enthusiasm about my role as a student researcher after discovering the Indigenous conceptual framework.

But not being Indigenous myself, I spent the better part of the term working with my professor to understand how I might incorporate Indigenous knowledge and practice into my work at the academy. After more than two decades of a Western, Eurocentric model of education and research, I knew that the application of the Indigenous methodologies would take time and practice for me. Despite potential failures in translation or application, I was inspired to try a new way of doing research. And lucky for me, it felt quite natural to shift my perspective to a relational model. The goals for a trauma-informed design process were synergistic with that of an Indigenous research paradigm—specifically the focus on wholeness, healing, and community connection.