I spent a weekend this past year traveling to the city to do some work for my research, catch up with Native kin, and meet with a well-meaning academic about their new project. As I wander into the meeting with the academic, late, I'm greeted and asked variations of the same set of questions I've been asked since high school. "How do we help Native communities? How do we get to know community members? Can you introduce us to Elders?" I strategically answer their questions, and assess how much I can push the boundaries of their knowledge on Tribal sovereignty and anti-colonial research practices. Simultaneously, I reflect on how high school or early college Ray would have answered their questions without hesitation. How a younger version of myself would have spilled his heart out and tried his best to answer their questions with the hope they would finally see the systemic problems and they could come to the rescue.
I cycle through all of these thoughts and try my best to fulfill obligations as a researcher in academia, but one statement solidifies this interaction, 'We noticed a lack of Native American representation in the field of work.' I think to myself, 'Ah, here it is.' This work isn't being done out of the kindness of their heart or through a connection to a community member but there is data that is missing and they can be the first ones to observe, extract, and publish on the topic. A common theme in University settings where this work can be a feather in the hats of students, researchers, professors, etc. to complete their degrees, make their grant stand out, and/or get the pat on the back of helping an underrepresented group. This individual and others may be familiar with anticolonial approaches but the fact this idea wasn't born out of community raises a red flag.
How many times has this happened where I was invited to a focus group, asked to have a chat over a cup of free coffee, or personally invited to an exclusive event so my brain could be prodded and novel information to Settler Science could be extracted and put on a pedestal with the generic label of, "unnamed Native American community member, circa 2016." I think back to reading a social media post from a fellow minoritized individual about this method of those in power positions inviting minoritized folks for cups of coffee so their information could be extracted. What's worse in this most recent interaction, I paid for my own cup of coffee! Feeling like a deflated balloon after this interaction, I pondered how many more times I'd have to experience this continual practice of people sucking out my expertise, and I receive zero, citable credit for this work. In a career where your citable work plays the biggest role in your continued success, I finally decided to write about this experience and my thoughts on the subject, especially as a reference for fellow Indigenous students and junior researchers.
A 2021 article by Shorter and Tallbear in the AICR journal talks about this trope used by researchers in “what harm could come from ‘only listening?” This practice of coming into a community or targeting a community member to "just listen" is a loaded and pointed practice. I was at a public talk given to my Tribal community by a researcher based in the Midwest, and their opening talked about how their original project, which had no Native community input and focused on a Tribally relevant plant, was a mistake. This realization only came to them after being openly called out on the harms they were causing and they realized they shouldn't be doing this work in that manner. The way they solved this conundrum was to, 'go into community, with no agenda, and just listen.' I remember the furrow on my brow when they said this. I'm not sure about everyone else's practices but I personally don't show up uninvited into a community that's not my own "just for fun." If I'm somewhere where I'm not from or not invited into, I have a reason and agenda for being there.
This person masked their harmful practice of Indigenous exploitation by playing and citing innocence, and used passive and positive language to mask the real harms they have and still cause. It's not their fault they happened to meet the right people who could give Indigenous credibility to their work. They were just at the right place, at the right time, just listening. Right? A version of this is applicable for the ‘Let’s grab a coffee’ scenario. What’s the harm in asking the single Indigenous student in a class, cohort, or department for just a cup of coffee, lunch, or a beer? What are the acknowledged and unacknowledged intentions behind these interactions? What are the immediate and long term effects of this interaction on the Indigenous student and the person in power? Settler Science would argue that this is building interpersonal relationships and is a legitimate method for understanding and doing research, systemic problem solving, or community-based research, but, again, I think about where this work was born from. Born from academic resource extraction, not from Indigenous communities for Indigenous communities. A method to gain access to Indigenous lands, minds, and ideas, usually with minimal feedback from the community and shallow short-term and long-term benefits for the community.
As I've matured and realized the pieces of myself that I had given to people who didn't and still don't understand Indigenous struggles, I wonder how much of those pieces of myself have been warped and shaped into something to appeal to non-Indigenous audiences. Or, how much of that knowledge has been commodified and strategically used to further someone’s arguments and non-Indigenous agenda. I know some individuals would say I should just be compensated more for the work I put into these conversations, but I'm at the point now where I don't want to have those conversations. I can spend ten more years having these basal levels of discussion and hone my communication skills to engage Settler Science, but what I truly desire is to have additive and nuanced discussion with researchers or students who experience a positive "ah ha!" moment to push back against settler-colonial practices. I want to see the flowering of Indigenous knowledge and research with fruits ready to be plucked and handed to the next generation. I'm tired of planting the same empty husks of seeds, sucked dry by bored predators to further their own individual growth, and expecting a forest of Indigenous knowledge to flourish.
Cited Sources:
Shorter, David, and Kim, Tallbear. 2021. “Introduction to Settler Science and the Ethics of Contact.” American Indian Culture and Research Journal. 45(1), 1-7.