Toward a Pueblo methodology: Pueblo leaders define and discuss research in Pueblo communities

The history of research in Indigenous populations is deeply problematic. Power imbalances have led Non-Indigenous researchers and outside institutions to enter Indigenous communities with their own research agendas and without prior consultation with the people and communities being researched. As a consequence, Indigenous scholars are moving to take control and reclaim ownership of the research that occurs in our communities. This study, conducted by a Pueblo researcher with Pueblo leaders, investigates their definitions of and perspectives on research. Eleven semi-formal interviews were conducted in 2017 with a subset of tribal leaders from the 19 Pueblos of New Mexico. Results show that Pueblo leaders define research using action words such as compiling, gathering, or looking for information to determine a cause or to find out more about a situation. Leaders state that research is “inherent to our beings” and gave examples such as “singing to plants,” “knowing when to plant and hunt” and sustaining our cultural ways as Pueblo activities considered research.