Universities urged to decolonise approach to indigenous data

Tuesday, 13 December 2022

Professor Jacquie Kidd wants Māori to lead and be involved in all research projects about themselves.

Colonial approaches to data by universities are harming Indigenous communities throughout the world.

That’s a finding from the 10th International Indigenous Research Conference, hosted in Aotearoa last month and attended by more than 600 researchers from across the globe.

Now, a collaboration of academics from the conference are urging universities to fundamentally shift the way they collect, analyse, store and distribute indigenous data.

AUT Professor Jacquie Kidd (Ngāpuhi) was part of that collaboration and said a key problem for universities was a lack of involvement in the research process.

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“So we know that ethics committees are really interested in how indigenous data is collected and managed and made available,” she said.

“Increasingly, they're looking at the principles of data sovereignty, but universities tend to step outside of that.”

That was a concern because universities were often the ones hosting the research, engaging in data collection and management, Kidd said.

Conference members also called for indigenous governance over indigenous data and research involving indigenous communities.

That would mean Māori being at the table, or preferably leading the discussion, when it came to research about themselves.

“In terms, not just of data sovereignty, but in terms of data integrity and Te Tiriti o Waitangi, we argue any research that significantly impacts or involves Māori should have senior Māori researchers, leading, or at least on the team with significant control over how data is collected and what's done with it,” Kidd said.

Indigenous communities should also have a say in how their data was used and how their stories were presented, she said.

Narratives presented with no context, or within a colonial context, missed important indigenous nuances and could see opportunities for action lost.

Consultation with communities involved in research, whether big or small, was also hugely important.

“It's not enough just to make people feel good at the point of handing over their data,” Kidd said.

“We have to be really sure that we are collecting data that's necessary, and that we're treating it with the respect it deserves so that it goes back out and improves the lives of those people who've chosen to share that data with us.”

Conference members also called for the adaptation of ethics processes to recognise and protect indigenous data rights and support for indigenous run data storage.