My experiences with Indigenist methodologies

Traditionally, geographic research and engagement with Indigenous communities have largely been developed within a western research paradigm and have historically been linked to colonial practices such as extraction and/or domination. The consequences of these research practices and paradigms have been the further marginalisation of Indigenous people globally. However, geographers are increasingly being influenced by a range of Indigenous scholars from both within and beyond the discipline who highlight the colonial foundations of geographic knowledge and the ongoing production of colonial relations, and who are calling for a decolonisation of knowledge through the use of Indigenist methodologies. After exploring this shift, this paper moves to a discussion of my engagement with research in Indigenous communities using Indigenist methodologies, including the emotions and thought processes that emerged during my own research journey, which led me to southern Guyana and the Makushi and Wapishana peoples who reside in the northern savannah environments of the Amazon basin. I conclude by sharing how I am continuing that journey using Indigenist approaches in my work in the Madre de Dios region of Peru, and by encouraging future scholars to challenge traditional geographic research methods.