This wiki is a living document composing the first phase of our Toolkit "Implementation Manual".

We are compiling input from Toolkit session discussions (in person and online) where participants contributed "best practices" or examples that demonstrate how each of the principles can be implemented,as well as additional concerns or questions that need to be addressed.

-------------RESULTS FROM THE JUNE 27, 2008 CUZCO SESSION-------------------

Principle 1:
(hard to stay in the positive cause so many negatives)
a. Go to the community authorities to gain permission at the beginning of the research;
b. Also ensure all of the community members approve of the research
c. Respect the fact that some communities may not want you to use cellphones or other forms of external technology
d. Translate relevant documents (including the Code of Ethics) into the local language and ensure that it is distributed to the local community and reviewed prior to starting research
e. Articulate a clear understanding (MOU, etc.) between the researchers and communities regarding IPR (Intellectual Property Rights), and respecting boundaries

Principle 2:
a. Respect local, sovereign rights and the history of the peoples, while being sensitive to changing, dynamic identities within local/indigenous cultures
b. Allow for a significant amount of time and personal investment in understanding the historical, socio-political, and cultural issues – and the subtleties - that the community is facing
c. Propose our research proposal to the community, and be prepared to agree to what the community would like to prioritize (instead of imposing our research priorities); collaboratively negotiate the research topics, design, approach, methodology, emphases, products, etc.
d. Mindfulness – we are talking about PEOPLES – we all have responsibilities, not only to our species, but to other peoples…RELATIONSHIPS amongst ourselves and all of life (instead of separation, differentiation) – and not simply human culture – sentient beings – holistic approach
e. Be sensitive to the fact the conflicts exist within and among local/indigenous communities; QUESTION: how do we deal with these situations

Principle 3:
(Examples from Taiwan and Mexico with forest resource use regulations)
a. Ask elders’ permission prior to initiating research, deciding which area(s), person(s) and resource(s) are permissible to be accessed by the researcher
b. Recognize that local/state/federal regulations regarding natural resource use/access (e.g., quotas) may not respect or be in contradiction to customary law or traditional laws; and/or in international laws
c. Assist local/indigenous peoples in documenting traditional linkages, access to, and uses of natural resources, and ancestral territories
d. May need to provide legal assistance; network with other indigenous communities who are facing similar issues across the globe
e. Establish agreements with the community, be explicit that we, as researchers respect the traditional rights over resources

Principle 4:
a. Some indigenous communities have proactively set quotas or prohibitions on harvesting/hunting
b. Recognize that governmental or private interventions (dams, nature reserves, national parks, etc.) may significantly impact on local/indigenous people’s ability to maintain their holistic relationships with their ecosystems
c. Recognize the external and internal social, political, and economic pressures (and globalization, homgenization), and heterogeneity within communities that make it difficult for local/indigenous peoples to continue guardian/stewardship relationships – avoid idealization
d. Assist governmental agencies to recognize and respect traditional law, rights, and relationships; allocate conservation funds and resources to enable local/indigenous peoples to enact those responsibilities

Principle 5:
a. Involve local/traditional community members as co-PIs (Principal Investigators), designers, peer reviewers, analysts, co-authors
b. Include training, capacity-building exercises within communities, so that the research tools are left within the community for them to continue the research
c. Enact university/college seminars within the community themselves (instead of holding them off-site)
d. Become a student yourself, and learn from local community members, both by listening and by doing
e. Sponsor indigenous researchers in certification courses, university courses

Principle 6:
a. Initial data taken in the local language
b. Routine presentations and reports in the local language to the community of the research results
c. Close, frequent communication between researchers and community members; good feedback loops
d. Transparent data sharing amongst the research team and the local community (ex: frequent circumambulations within the 12 settlements of the Tado community) - !! Approach with caution, may be other issues involved with data sharing
e. Establish a local herbarium, resource library, computer bank (with all the data), etc. in the local community – but ensure that community members are capacitated to maintain and expand these resources (the “redundancy principle”

Principle 7:
a. As part of a capacity-building exercise with the community [leaders], create a bilingual (or trilingual, etc.) document that explains our methodologies, our objectives, our contributions, our financial agreements, and that incorporates community principles and objectives
b. …and then re-explain that document person-per-person (household-per-household) in the community
c. Be clear on what information is to be kept confidential and within the community (and not made public)
d. Respect the fact that certain things are not to be photographed
e. !!! Be careful – indigenous images, symbols, narratives, may be misappropriated (ex. Lego using Maori name for a toy; developed an international code of ethics for toy manufacturing companies wanting to use and trademark indigenous names) in violation of indigenous cultural property rights (in breach of moral responsibility, traditional law, and Prior Informed Consent)
f. Prior informed consent may not be sufficient (ex. from Voeks – co-author felt that Voeks’ theories trivialized indigenous beliefs); thus need to ensure that our prior manuscripts are reviewed word-by-word with our indigenous counterparts
g. That Prior Informed Consent is given freely (cf. the 2007 UN Declaration on Human Rights)

Principle 8:

Principle 9:
a. Be sensitive to the language you use as a researcher
b. Listen, listen, listen some more, and when you think you are finished listening, listen some more.
c. Be aware of your own potential for arrogance (and nerdiness J )
d. Acknowledge that indigenous linguistic standards are also changing
e. In terms of participatory action research (PAR), acknowledge the different gradations of PAR, and be prepared to address the communities’ priorities


Principle 10:
a. Assist indigenous communities addressing problems such as the patenting of alkaloids

Principle 11:

Principle 12:
a. Become an advocate for policy change (for serious issues affecting local/indigenous communities)
b. Equitable and unequivocal sharing

Principle 13:
a. Recognize that indigenous-directed research is often interdisciplinary (involving all the ethnosciences) (EX: of Nlakapamux undertaking their own research, forming their own databases, using indigenous scientific methods)

Principle 14:

This principle encourages a lifecycle of reciprocity between scientists and community. It emphasizes the long-term commitment involved, implying that scientists shouldn’t just take and run. But we could also consider the underlying premise: that there are circumstances in which research should “not be initiated” (or continued). We asked, “What are the scenarios in which you purposely forego or halt your research activity?” Laird said his journalism experience had rare examples of dropping stories to protect sources, which raises an ethical point: as a journalist you should disclose roughly what you’re reporting, what you might come up with, to allow your sources to understand the potential consequences of the article. If there are parallels in research, perhaps one might be whether or how to disclose potential consequences of publishing traditional knowledge (e.g., someone could try to patent properties of a plant.)

At Christensen we funded a film about the sacred sites of a set of isolated tribes who are members of a minority sect of Islam. The film was made by members of these tribes and features basically only members of the tribe and shows their rituals.  We had to deal with the risk – which in our view was substantial – that this group could face persecution for their religious practices if this film was circulated – and this viewed was shared by the co-religionists not from this tribal area.  So we persuaded them – felt obliged to – to maintain greater discretion.  So what I am saying is this: researchers/outsiders need to both respect local wishes AND utilize their own judgment about the consequences on making local knowledge visible.

Perhaps there are two separate questions— 1) To what extent does free, prior, and informed consent involve the disclosure of the likely gist of research results, or at least the working hypothesis, and the possible consequences of publication? 2) How does one decide when concern for the safety and well-being of a community, or even their general interest, should necessitate a halt to research, sacrificing any benefits that interaction with scientists could bring?

Principle 15:
ISE members should take a proactive role in helping indigenous communities to gain access to their cultural resources that are stored in museums etc, and achieve repatriation of such material. (Example: The East African Museum Council monitors access; ISE members could help Californian tribes in the current NAPRA problem at UC Berkeley). In case of issues coming up in our own research we need to comply / respect the wishes of the people we work with.

Principle 16:
We all agreed that we are already doing all that: All counterparts need to be involved in publications in the way they like - if as co-authors, or mentioned - or not mentioned if they would like to remain anonymous. The normal procedure should be to automatically offer to include them as co authors. Results need to be published also in a language and in a way understandable to the counterparts.

PROBLEMS:
- we all take plenty of photographs (e.g. here in Cusco), but often do not ask the permission of the photographed people and still use the material for talks, publications etc. How do we deal with this?
- Internet: Once a publication or other material is online there is no control over who uses it, no matter what kind of agreement we had with the peoples we worked with. How can this addressed?

Principle 17:
- The “decolonization of research” by paying careful attention to language, and making language accessible