Indigenous sociology makes visible what is meaningful in the Indigenous social world. This core premise is demonstrated here via the use of the concept of the Indigenous Lifeworld in reference to the dispossessed Indigenous Peoples from Anglo-colonized first world nations. Indigenous lifeworld is built around dual intersubjectivities: within peoplehood, inclusive of traditional and ongoing culture, belief systems, practices, identity, and ways of understanding the world; and within colonized realties as marginalized peoples whose everyday life is framed through their historical and ongoing relationship with the colonizer nation state.
The Oxford Handbook of Indigenous Sociology is, in part, a response to the limited space allowed for Indigenous Peoples within the discipline of sociology.
The very small existing sociological literature locates the Indigenous within the non-Indigenous gaze and the Eurocentric structures of the discipline reflect a continuing reluctance to actively recognize Indigenous realities within the key social forces literature of class, gender, and race at the discipline's center.
But the ambition of this volume, its editors, and its contributors is larger than a challenge to this status quo. They do not speak back to sociology, but rather, claim their own sociological space. The starting point is to situate Indigenous sociology as sociology by Indigenous sociologists. The authors in
The Oxford Handbook of Indigenous Sociology, all leading and emerging Indigenous scholars, provide an authoritative, state of the art survey of Indigenous sociological thinking. The contributions in this
Handbook demonstrate that the Indigenous sociological voice is a not a version of the existing sub-fields but a new sociological paradigm that uses a distinctively Indigenous methodological approach.
Maggie Walter (PhD; FASSA) is Palawa (Tasmanian Aboriginal) and Distinguished Professor of Sociology (Emerita) at the University of Tasmania. A previous Pro-Vice Chancellor, Aboriginal Leadership (2014-2020), Professor Walter's research centers on challenging, empirically and theoretically, standard social science explanations for Indigenous inequality. In May 2021, Maggie was appointed a Commissioner with the Victorian Yoo-rrook Justice Commission, inquiring into systemic injustices experienced by First Peoples since colonization.
Tahu Kukutai is a social scientist who specialises in Maori and Indigenous demographic research. She has written extensively on issues of Maori population change and identity, Indigenous data sovereignty, official statistics and ethnic classification. Tahu has undertaken research for numerous tribes, Maori communities, and government agencies, and provided strategic advice across a range of sectors. Tahu is a founding member of the Maori Data Sovereignty Network Te Mana Raraunga and the Global Indigenous Data Alliance. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand Te Aparangi.
Angela A. Gonzales (Hopi tribal citizen) is an associate professor of Justice and Social Inquiry in the School of Social Transformation, and a Thought Leader Fellow in the American Indian Policy Institute at Arizona State University. As a community-engaged, transdisciplinary scholar, her research cuts across and integrates knowledge and practice across the fields of sociology, Indigenous studies, and public health with a focus on understanding and addressing the social determinants of Indigenous health. She strives to embody the Hopi values of
sumingnawa (working together with others) and
numingnawa (working for the benefit of all) through her research and community service.
Robert Henry, Ph.D., is Métis from Prince Albert, SK and an assistant professor at the University of Saskatchewan, Department of Indigenous Studies. He is the scientific director of the SK-NEIHR, and holds a Canada Research Chair - Tier II in Indigenous Justice and Wellbeing. Robert's research areas include Indigenous street gangs and gang theories, Indigenous masculinities, Indigenous and critical research methodologies, youth mental health, ethics and visual research methods. He has published two photovoice projects
Brighter Days Ahead (2013) and
Indigenous Women and Street Gangs: Survivance Narratives (2021) with Indigenous men and women involved in street gangs.
