TY - JOUR
T1 - Synergy of systems theory and symbolic interactionism
T2 - A passageway for non-Indigenous researchers that facilitates better understanding Indigenous worldviews and knowledges
AU - Ali, Tahir
AU - Buergelt, Petra
AU - Paton, Douglas
AU - Smith, James
AU - Maypilama, Lawurrpa Elaine
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
Copyright:
Copyright 2021 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2022
Y1 - 2022
N2 - Historically, non-Indigenous researchers have contributed to colonisation by research based on Western positivistic philosophical frameworks. This approach led to disembodying knowledge from Indigenous people’s histories, worldviews, and cultural and social practices, thus perpetuating a deficit-based discourse which situates the responsibility of problems within Indigenous peoples and ignores the larger socio-economic and historical contexts in which problems are rooted. Rectifying this position requires decolonising Western positivistic research by shifting to basing research on social constructionist paradigms that lead to strength-based approaches. Based on our experiences gained exploring disaster risk reduction perspectives with two remote Indigenous communities in Australia and Pakistan, we suggest in this conceptual paper that a synergy of systems theory and symbolic interactionism offers an appropriate philosophical lens to non-Indigenous researchers for gaining a more comprehensive and deeper understanding of Indigenous holistic and relational perspectives, experiences, interpretations and actions/interaction. Research based on these philosophical worldviews promotes a strength-based approach that aligns with and empowers Indigenous ways of facilitating health and wellbeing. We offer our experiences of utilising these two frameworks and of how they could assist other non-Indigenous researchers to discover valuable insights into Indigenous perspectives and interpretations that might otherwise be ignored or neglected.
AB - Historically, non-Indigenous researchers have contributed to colonisation by research based on Western positivistic philosophical frameworks. This approach led to disembodying knowledge from Indigenous people’s histories, worldviews, and cultural and social practices, thus perpetuating a deficit-based discourse which situates the responsibility of problems within Indigenous peoples and ignores the larger socio-economic and historical contexts in which problems are rooted. Rectifying this position requires decolonising Western positivistic research by shifting to basing research on social constructionist paradigms that lead to strength-based approaches. Based on our experiences gained exploring disaster risk reduction perspectives with two remote Indigenous communities in Australia and Pakistan, we suggest in this conceptual paper that a synergy of systems theory and symbolic interactionism offers an appropriate philosophical lens to non-Indigenous researchers for gaining a more comprehensive and deeper understanding of Indigenous holistic and relational perspectives, experiences, interpretations and actions/interaction. Research based on these philosophical worldviews promotes a strength-based approach that aligns with and empowers Indigenous ways of facilitating health and wellbeing. We offer our experiences of utilising these two frameworks and of how they could assist other non-Indigenous researchers to discover valuable insights into Indigenous perspectives and interpretations that might otherwise be ignored or neglected.
KW - Indigenous research
KW - philosophical paradigms
KW - systems theory
KW - symbolic interactionism
KW - non-Indigenous researchers
KW - Indigenous worldviews
KW - Indigenous knowledges
KW - Indigenous practices
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85099718585&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - https://www.mendeley.com/catalogue/5a6cfd8d-897f-3f3b-9215-3518a920dba4/
U2 - 10.1080/13645579.2021.1876300
DO - 10.1080/13645579.2021.1876300
M3 - Article
SN - 1364-5579
VL - 25
SP - 197
EP - 212
JO - International Journal of Social Research Methodology: Theory and Practice
JF - International Journal of Social Research Methodology: Theory and Practice
IS - 2
ER -