A Multilayered Critical Reflexivity Approach to Enacting Complex and Relational Accountability in Indigenist Scholarship
An Autoethnography
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 24031824 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Shawn Clark (0000-0001-7474-9696, Arizona State University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Publication date | 2026-08-13 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | AlterNative An International Journal of Indigenous Peoples (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1177-1801 • E-ISSN: 1174-1740 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1177/11771801261475372 |
| OpenAlex | W7202369444 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 42 |
This cultural-critical autoethnography advances a multilayered critical reflexivity approach that reorients research practice toward complex accountability grounded in Indigenous relationality. Through three autoethnographic vignettes drawn from lived research experiences, the article traces an evolving understanding of research as a relational responsibility rather than a procedural act. Reflexivity emerges as a multilayered relational practice that redistributes authority, resists epistemic extraction, and recognizes knowledge as relationally stewarded rather than individually possessed. Reciprocity becomes the lived expression of relational accountability through which complex accountability is enacted in support of Indigenous self-determination. Grounded in the author’s positioning as a non-Indigenous scholar, the article examines the possibilities and tensions in cross-cultural research relationships. It offers a praxis-oriented framework that demonstrates how multilayered critical reflexivity can support ethically accountable research while honoring Indigenous self-determination.
Accountability · Autoethnography · Grounded theory · Indigenous · Reciprocity (cultural anthropology) · Reflexivity · Feminist Epistemology and Gender Studies · Indigenous Health, Education, and Rights · Qualitative Research Methods and Ethics
Critical Consciousness
The application of vignettes in social and nursing research
Visual voices and aural (auto)ethnographies
Using auto-ethnography to bring visibility to coloniality
Critical reflection and critical reflexivity as core processes for critical WOP
Reflections on the Collaborative Story Analysis Method to Understand Qualitative Perspectives of Indigenous Syringe Services Program Clients
Exercising power in autoethnographic vignettes to constitute critical knowledge
Exploring Indigenous relationality to inform the relational turn in sustainability science
Contribution of Indigenous Peoples' understandings and relational frameworks to invasive alien species management
Indigenous relationality
Complex Accountabilities
Embracing Vulnerability
Reflexivity and the insider/outsider discourse in indigenous research
Preparing for the Research Ceremony
Chasing colonization back
Exploring traditional Indigenous leadership concepts
Research and Indigenous participation
Using vignettes about racism from health practice in Aotearoa to generate anti‐racism interventions
Níksókowaawák as Axiom
The Woven Self
Funds of knowledge for teaching
Indigenous Storytelling and Participatory Action Research
Toward a Tribal Critical Race Theory in Education
Suspending Damage
Framework for Aboriginal-guided decolonizing research involving Métis and First Nations persons with diabetes
Rethinking Indigenous Hunting in National Parks
Bourdieu and Critical Autoethnography
From reflection to diffraction
Eating Frybread and Gathering Indigenous Knowledge
The Death of Data in Neoliberal Times
Getting Personal
Dramatizing Data
| Highly cited | No |
|---|