Wrangling the system: How tenure impacts Indigenous research

Faculty research agendas are informed by and intertwined with the evaluation process. One’s research agenda influences productivity, choice in methodology, and dissemination decisions. Indigenous researchers often undergo a dual evaluation process—one with their academic institution and another with their Indigenous communities. Indigenous researchers, situated in the liminal space between these two spheres, need control over the research process in order to conduct the type of research their communities desire, while meeting the standards of their institution. Using a series of talk stories with Indigenous faculty, this article explores how the tenure process often is a barrier to Indigenous research sovereignty. Indigenous faculty, in this study, articulated feeling lonely and, at times, ill-prepared due to a lack of mentors, prior traumatic academic experiences, and the weight of the many facets of a faculty position. They also noted a disconnect between their institutional processes and Indigenous methods and felt that administration needed to make changes, especially in terms of faculty evaluation through the tenure criteria. Improving the tenure process for Indigenous faculty could have rippling effects beyond individual faculty, expanding into Indigenous communities by providing space for Indigenous faculty to conduct important research that is relevant to their communities.