Datta, Ranjan

Discusses importance of relationality and spirituality when working with communities.

Looks at ways of valuing and using Indigenous knowledge on an equal footing with Western methods, and integrating the two when appropriate. Explores issues such as disconnection from practice, unclear researcher responsibility, forms of neutrality, and overlooking participants cultural protocols.

Discusses decolonizing the research process, beginning with how researchers engage with Indigenous communities; challenges the mainstream scientific idea that there is a “single truth to be discovered and that scientific knowledge is far more valuable than subjective or experiential knowledge.”

Discusses first-hand experiences in Fund Du Lac, Saskatchewan and Chittagong Hill Tracts in Bangladesh which illustrate how a researcher can move beyond a Western approach to engage participants as co-researchers.

Focuses on everyday practices and traditional experiences within Indigenous regions.

Environment and Sustainability Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Saskatchewan, 2015.

Authors discuss their involvement in three studies: the first focused on family-based education, the second on Indigenous youths' identification with a sense of culture and place, and the third on educating teacher candidates.

Looks at how the relational methodology was applied during a study conducted in the Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh.

Compares and contrasts scientific and practice-based approaches, discusses why a move from one to the other is important and how the change would impact future research and researchers.

Examines the importance and implications of land-based approach and discusses how this particular community has taken control of programs, gained leadership in wisdom traditions and taught respect for the land and its inhabitants.

Author uses two case studies one in Bangladesh and the other in Saskatchewan to provide the importance of storytelling as a research method.

Study uses participatory action research (PAR) methodology approach to look at the meanings of sustainability within the community of Laitu Khyeng, Bangladesh.