Abstract
By drawing from research and writings on indigenous people in the United States, Australia and Canada this chapter discusses the ethical issues and associated limitations of extant resilience research and its assumptions of commonalities. The current body of work on resilience has been largely guided by western theories and methods, with findings imposed on, or generalized to, populations who have had no/limited voice in the process and whose knowledge base of resilience and methods of inquiry have been marginalized and/or dismissed. We note that ethical concerns surface when collecting, analyzing, and interpreting data, without giving appropriate consideration to the involvement, worldviews, understandings of adaptation, and most importantly, the sanctioning of indigenous communities. Using the four ethical principles of respect, relevance, reciprocity and responsibility, we urge the foregrounding of indigenous and native epistemologies throughout resilience-focused research processes, from the design of a study, through to the dissemination and application of findings.
The authors would like to thank Hamilton McCubbin, Ph.D., and Jason Sievers, Ph.D. for their contributions in reviewing and editing this chapter.
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McCubbin, L.“.D., Moniz, J. (2015). Ethical Principles in Resilience Research: Respect, Relevance, Reciprocity and Responsibility. In: Theron, L., Liebenberg, L., Ungar, M. (eds) Youth Resilience and Culture. Cross-Cultural Advancements in Positive Psychology, vol 11. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-9415-2_16
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