Variability in community participation terminology and practice in Inuit Nunangat
Rapid environmental change and shared interest in conserving ecosystem integrity are contributing to increasing research partnerships between Inuit and Western scientists in Inuit Nunangat, Inuit homelands in the place now called Canada.
However, the nature and extent of community participation in research and monitoring vary considerably, as do the terms used to describe this participation (e.g., consultative, collaborative, community-based). This has the potential to misrepresent community decision-making in the research process.
We reviewed coastal and marine research and monitoring studies from 1992 to 2020 and found that while fourteen different terms were used to refer to community participation, they were rarely defined.
Read this open access paper on the FACETS website.
Additionally, most studies that used the term collaborative were instead contractual or consultative (where community members performed tasks or were consulted, but researchers made decisions).
The recent and more frequent appearance of collaborative studies and terms associated with community leadership may reflect movement towards research and monitoring that supports Inuit self-determination.
To facilitate this, we encourage reflection upon:
· use of terminology, its meaning for each community and project, and how transparency can be optimized;
· use of methods to compile Indigenous knowledge or Western science, and how to increase Indigenous decision-making using familiar and effective means (e.g., interviews);
· opportunities to facilitate enhanced Inuit leadership and decision-making throughout the research process (i.e., community-centred objectives, skill enhancement, outcome ownership); and
· obstacles to Indigenous-led research and monitoring (e.g., administrative capacity, funding processes and allocations), as well as political, economic, and social factors.
There is much room to increase Inuit leadership and decision-making authority in aquatic research and monitoring.
Improved clarity and transparency in term usage and in the operationalization of community participation will support this important process.
Read the paper — Community participation in coastal and marine research and monitoring in Inuit Nunangat: a scoping literature review by A.K. Drake, A. Perkovic, C. Reeve, S.M. Alexander, V.M. Nguyen, and K.M. Dunmall
