Institutional Barriers to Community-Based Research

Abstract

Participatory Action Research (PAR) is a method of conducting research, understood to be consistent with a decolonizing research agenda. Drawing on experiences from the Nanivara (‘I found it!’) Project, undertaken with youth in Gjoa Haven and Naujaat, Nunavut Territory (2013-2016), institutional barriers to these objectives are explored. While universities and granting agencies have increasingly emphasized the importance of participatory methods and applied research to benefit and help develop the capacity of Indigenous communities, institutional barriers to accomplishing these objectives exist. Research funding bodies and universities have yet to address adequately the significant structural barriers that perpetuate unequal and inequitable relations in the conduct of PAR. This has serious implications for researchers and institutions funding research, where policies and procedures do not easily accommodate the material, social, and geographical realities of Inuit youth.

Keywords

• decolonization
• Nunavut
• Participatory Action Research
• colonialism
• social justice