A Pragmatic Approach to Ethical Research Collaboration with BIPOC Communities: A Case Study with the Penan People of Long Lamai, Malaysia

Keywords: Indigenous Geography, Research Ethics, Participatory Mapping, Community-Action Research
Session Type: Virtual Paper Abstract
Day: Monday
Session Start / End Time: 2/28/2022 09:40 AM (Eastern Time (US & Canada)) - 2/28/2022 11:00 AM (Eastern Time (US & Canada))
Room: Virtual 24

Abstract

Several academic professional societies have committed themselves to conducting research with Black, Indigenous, or People of Color communities in an ethical manner. However, they do not address many specifics of what that research looks like or how research can be enriched through an ethical research approach. In 2010, the Association of American Geographers’ Indigenous Peoples Specialty Group wrote a Declaration of Key Questions About Research Ethics with Indigenous Communities http://www.indigenousgeography.net/ipsg/pdf/IPSGResearchEthicsFinal.pdf (Grossman, Louis, and et.al. 2010) outlined several questions researchers should ask themselves when collaborating with Indigenous communities. The IPSG’s Declaration focuses on: Formulating the Project, Identities of the Researchers, Partnerships, Benefits, Findings, and Deepening Relationships. In this paper, we discuss how each of the elements in the IPSG’s Declaration can be addressed for a wide range of research projects, providing specific examples from a 2016 partnership between the Global Citizenship and Sustainability program at Cornell University partnered with the Institute of Social Informatics and Technological Innovations at the Universiti Malaysia Sarawak and with Penan village leaders in Long Lamai, Malaysia. We argue that GCS’s research was enhanced through a non-extractive, community-based, and collaborative research mindset, and further describe questions based on the IPSG’s Declaration that researchers can ask themselves throughout their research processes. This paper serves as a foundation for researchers collaborating with BIPOC communities to think about their research in a way that can empower those communities while conducting innovative research. This paper has been written with the consultation and collaboration with the community members of Long Lamai, Borneo.