Indigenous Statistics

In the first book ever published on Indigenous quantitative methodologies, Maggie Walter and Chris Andersen open up a major new approach to research across the disciplines and applied fields. While qualitative methods have been rigorously critiqued and reformulated, the population statistics relied on by virtually all research on Indigenous peoples continue to be taken for granted as straightforward, transparent numbers. This book dismantles that persistent positivism with a forceful critique, then fills the void with a new paradigm for Indigenous quantitative methods, using concrete examples of research projects from First World Indigenous peoples in the United States, Australia, and Canada. Concise and accessible, it is an ideal supplementary text as well as a core component of the methodological toolkit for anyone conducting Indigenous research or using Indigenous population statistics.

“"Walter and Anderson provide a fresh and critical look at the quantitative data used to describe indigenous people. Their perspective is unique insofar as it brings an indigenous understanding of the inherent limits embedded in these data. This is an exceptional work and I can think of nothing similar to it." --C. Matthew Snipp, Burnet C. and Mildred Finley Wohlford Professor of Humanities and Sciences in the Department of Sociology and Chair of Native American Studies, Stanford University”

"[T]his book should be required reading for those who produce quantitative data about Indigenous peoples, not least colonial state officials, for those curious about quantitative methodologies and for those who resist these as "incompatible" with diverse Indigenous worldviews....The book makes an important contribution to debates about the future of Indigenous social sciences as intimately bound up with the possibilities for Indigenous self-determination in and beyond the academy."

--Elaine Coburn, Decolonization: Indigeneity, Education and Society

"A fascinating contribution to what is known as the decolonization paradigm in multidisciplinary fields, Indigenous Statistics encourages researchers to question the ideological practices that are routinely encoded in quantitative analyses. This ideological character of statistics as properties of the state is even more crucial for indigenous peoples, given the way such records serve to increase the subjugation of the colonized to enhance domination. The book surveys the complicity of statistics in the colonization of indigenous peoples, like those of the authors in Australia (Walter is Trawlwoolway) and Canada (Andersen is Métis). They present the epistemology, paradigm, and practice of indigenous statistics in accessible language. Sociologist Walter (Univ. of Tasmania, Australia) and Native studies professor Andersen (Univ. of Alberta, Canada) reflect what is known as the centered and critical scholar-activist paradigm with specific reference to indigenous studies, but with applicability to every discipline that takes methodology seriously. The book demonstrates that the statistical objectification of indigenous peoples is a project with global implications in societies structured in dominance. The authors challenge all researchers to consider decolonization methodologies. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Undergraduate to faculty and professional users."

--CHOICE

"Indigenous Statistics is a powerful and insightful critique of how apparently 'objective' statistics are used to frame indigenous peoples as objects of demographic inquiry. More than that it offers an alternative vision for how to engage with indigenous statistics through Walter's innovative nayri kati model. Such a book is long overdue. It cannot and ought not be ignored."

--Tahu Kukutai, National Institute of Demographic and Economic Analysis / Te Runanga Tatari Tatauranga, University of Waikato

"Walter and Anderson provide a fresh and critical look at the quantitative data used to describe indigenous people. Their perspective is unique insofar as it brings an indigenous understanding of the inherent limits embedded in these data. This is an exceptional work and I can think of nothing similar to it."

--C. Matthew Snipp, Burnet C. and Mildred Finley Wohlford Professor of Humanities and Sciences in the Department of Sociology and Chair of Native American Studies, Stanford University

Maggie Walter is Professor of Sociology and the inaugural Pro Vice-Chancellor of Aboriginal Research and Leadership at the University of Tasmania, Australia.Chris Andersen is Dean and Professor in the Faculty of Native Studies at the University of Alberta, Canada.

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