Indigenizing Evaluation Research: How Lakota Methodologies Are Helping "Raise the Tipi" in the Oglala Sioux Nation

Sept. 1, 2004
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Indigenizing Evaluation Research: How Lakota Methodologies Are Helping "Raise the Tipi" in the Oglala Sioux Nation

This article documents a currently unfolding example of that reclamation, which originated from the desire of evaluators of the "Comprehensive Indian Resources for Community and Law Enforcement" (CIRCLE) Project to make the federally mandated evaluation as useful to the Oglala people as possible. Using the models of participatory action research and empowerment evaluation, the CIRCLE Project evaluation team has arrived at a way of working that mirrors the Lakota approach to research and evaluation - an approach grounded in the ideas of wopasi ("inquiry") and tokata wasagle tunpi" ("something you set up to go to in the future"), which views research and evaluation as the process of creating knowledge in order to accomplish an end that is desired by the people.

Citation

Robertson, Paul, Miriam Jorgensen, and Carrie Garrow. 2004. "Indigenizing Evaluation Research: How Lakota Methodologies Are Helping "Raise the Tipi" in the Oglala Sioux Nation." American Indian Quarterly 28 (3/4):499-526. doi: 10.1353/aiq.2004.0106.

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Contacts
Miriam Jorgensen

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