Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-rcrh6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-28T02:12:43.626Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Indigenous Standpoint Theory: ethical principles and practices for studying Sukuma people in Tanzania

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 March 2020

Hassan Iddy
Hassan Iddy*
Affiliation:
Mkwawa University College of Education (A Constituent College of the University of Dar es Salaam), P.O. Box 2513, Iringa, Tanzania
*
Author for correspondence: Hassan Iddy, E-mail: [email protected]
Get access

Abstract

Indigenous Standpoint Theory (IST) is yet to be widely applied in guiding the conduct of research that involves Indigenous people in Africa. In reference to Tanzania, this approach is new. There has been no study in the context of Tanzania which has used IST, despite the presence of many Indigenous people in the country. IST is widely used in Australia, New Zealand and Canada to guide the conduct of research when studying Indigenous people. In this paper, I show how I developed nine ethical protocols for conducting culturally, respectful and safe research with the Sukuma people in Tanzania and how I used those protocols within a research project on girls and secondary education in rural Tanzania. By developing these protocols, a significant new contribution to the area of IST in Tanzania and Africa in general has been established. These protocols may serve as a starting reference point for other future researchers in Tanzania if they apply IST in their research such that the voices of Indigenous people may be heard, and the community has a greater degree of control and input in the planning and designing of the project, as well as the analysis and dissemination of the information.

Keywords

Ethical protocolsgirls' secondary educationIndigenous Standpoint TheorySukumaTanzania
Type
Research Article
Information
The Australian Journal of Indigenous Education , Volume 50 , Issue 2 , December 2021 , pp. 385 - 392
Check for updates
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Atkinson, J (2002) Trauma Trails, Recreating Song Lines: The Transgenerational Effects of Trauma in Indigenous Australia. North Melbourne, Australia: Spinifex Press.Google Scholar
Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (2012) Guidelines for Ethical Research in Australian Indigenous Studies. Canberra: Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies.Google Scholar
Botha, L (2011) Mixing methods as a process towards indigenous methodologies. International Journal of Social Research Methodology 14, 313–325.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Braun, KL, Browne, CV, Ka'opua, LS, Kim, BJ and Mokuau, N (2013) Research on Indigenous elders: from positivistic to decolonizing methodologies. The Gerontologist 54, 117–126.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Chilisa, B (2005) Educational research within postcolonial Africa: a critique of HIV/AIDS research in Botswana. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education 18, 659–684.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chilisa, B (2012) Indigenous Research Methodologies. London: SAGE Publications.Google Scholar
Chilisa, B and Tsheko, GN (2014) Mixed methods in indigenous research: building relationships for sustainable intervention outcomes. Journal of Mixed Methods Research 8, 222–233.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Choy, S and Woodlock, J (2007) Implementing Indigenous standpoint theory: challenges for a Tafe trainer. International Journal of Training Research 5, 39–54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Coram, S (2011) Rethinking Indigenous research approval: the perspective of a ‘stranger’. Qualitative Research Journal 11, 38–47.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Emeagwali, G (2014) Intersections between Africa's Indigenous knowledge systems and history. In Emeagwali, G and Dei, GJS (eds), African Indigenous Knowledge and the Disciplines. Rotterdam, The Netherlands: Sense Publishers, pp. 1–18.Google Scholar
Foley, D (2003) Indigenous epistemology and indigenous standpoint theory. Social Alternatives 22, 44–52.Google Scholar
Hart, MA (2010) Indigenous worldviews, knowledge, and research: the development of an indigenous research paradigm. Journal of Indigenous Voices in Social Work 1, 1–16.Google Scholar
Hussein, J and Armitage, L (2014) Traditional heritage management: the case of Australia and Tanzania. 19th Asian Real Estate Society (AsRES) International Conference 2014. Gold Coast, July 2014, pp. 1–14.Google Scholar
Kovach, M (2009) Indigenous Methodologies: Characteristics, Conversations, and Context. Toronto, Canada: University of Toronto Press.Google Scholar
Kovach, M (2010) Conversational method in indigenous research. First Peoples Child and Family Review 5, 40–48.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Louis, RP (2007) Can you hear us now? Voices from the margin: using indigenous methodologies in geographic research. Geographical Research 45, 130–139.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mafongoya, PL and Ajayi, OC (2017) Indigenous knowledge and climate change: overview and basic propositions. In Mafongoya, PL and Ajayi, OC (eds), Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Climate Change Management in Africa. Wageningen, The Netherlands: CTA, pp. 17–28.Google Scholar
Mapara, J (2009) Indigenous knowledge systems in Zimbabwe: juxtaposing postcolonial theory. The Journal of Pan African Studies 3, 140–155.Google Scholar
Martin, K (2008) Please Knock Before you Enter: Aboriginal Regulation of Outsiders and the Implications for Researchers. Teneriffe, Australia: Post Pressed.Google Scholar
Matsika, C (2012) Traditional African Education: Its Significance to Current Education Practices with Special Reference to Zimbabwe. Gweru: Mambo Press.Google Scholar
Mkabela, Q (2005) Using the Afrocentric method in researching Indigenous African culture. The Qualitative Report 10, 178–189.Google Scholar
Mollel, NS and Chong, R (2017) Socio-cultural constraints of girls’ access to education in Mtwara district, Tanzania. Khazar Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences 20, 108–125.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mushi, PAK (2009) History and Development of Education in Tanzania. Dar es Salaam: Dar es Salaam University Press.Google Scholar
National Health and Medical Research Council (Australia) (2003) Values and ethics: Guidelines for ethical conduct in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health research. Available at https://www.nhmrc.gov.au/_files_nhmrc/publications/attachments/e52.pdf (Accessed 19 April 2015).Google Scholar
Ntseane, PG (2011) Culturally sensitive transformational learning incorporating the Afrocentric paradigm and African feminism. Adult Education Quarterly 61, 307–323.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Olsen, TA (2017) Privilege, decentring and the challenge of being (non-) Indigenous in the study of Indigenous issues. The Australian Journal of Indigenous Education 47, 206–215.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Owusu-Ansah, FE and Mji, G (2013) African indigenous knowledge and research. African Journal of Disability 2, 1–5.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pipi, K, Cram, F, Hawke, R, Hawke, S, Huriwai, T, Mataki, T and Tuuta, C (2004) A research ethic for studying Maori and Iwi provider success. Social Policy Journal of New Zealand 23, 141–153.Google Scholar
Raymond, A (2014) Girls Education in Pastoral Communities: An Ethnographic Study of Monduli District, Tanzania. UK: CfBT Education Trust.Google Scholar
Roos, V (2008) The Mmogo method: discovering symbolic community interactions. Journal of Psychology in Africa 18, 650–668.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rwechungura, JK (2014) An Exploratory Study of the Factors Contributing to School Dropout Among Girls in Temeke District of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania (Masters’ dissertation). University of Cape Town, South Africa.Google Scholar
Senanayake, SGJN (2006) Indigenous knowledge as a key to sustainable development. Journal of Agricultural Sciences 2, 87–94.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sheehan, N and Walker, P (2001) The Purga project: Indigenous knowledge research. The Australian Journal of Indigenous Education 29, 11–17.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, LT (1999) Decolonizing Methodologies: Research and Indigenous Peoples. London: Zed Books.Google Scholar
Smith, LT (2012) Decolonising Methodologies: Research and Indigenous Peoples. London: Zed Books.Google Scholar
Stoffer, J (2017) The importance of culturally safe assessment tools for Inuit students. The Australian Journal of Indigenous Education 46, 64–70.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
URT (2014) Household Budget Survey main report, 2011/12. Dar es Salaam: National Bureau of Statistics.Google Scholar
URT (2016) Basic Education Statistics in Tanzania (BEST) 2012–2016: National Data. Dar es Salaam: Ministry of Education, Science and Technology.Google Scholar
Wane, NN (2005) African Indigenous knowledge: claiming, writing, storing, and sharing the discourse. Journal of Thought 40, 27–46.Google Scholar
Wilson, S (2008) Research is Ceremony: Indigenous Research Methods. Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada: Fernwood.Google Scholar
Wilson, CS (2016) Cultural Learning for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children and Young People: Indigenous Knowledges and Perspectives in New South Wales Schools (PhD thesis). Southern Cross University, New South Wales.Google Scholar