Culturally Safe Epidemiology: Methodology at the Interface of Indigenous and Scientific Knowledge

Abstract

Since the early 20th Century, epidemiological research has brought benefits and burdens to Aboriginal communities in Canada. Many First Nations, Métis, and Inuit continue to view Western research with distrust; quantitative study methods are perceived as especially inconsistent with indigenous ways of knowing. There is increasing recognition, however, that rigorous epidemiological research can produce evidence that draws attention, and potentially resources, to pressing health issues in Aboriginal communities. The thesis begins by introducing a framework for culturally safe epidemiology, from the identification of research priorities, through fieldwork and analysis, to communication and use of evidence. Drawing on a sexual health research initiative with Inuit in Ottawa as a case study, the thesis examines cognitive mapping as a promising culturally safe method to reviewing indigenous knowledge. Juxtaposing this approach with a systematic review of the literature, the standard protocol to reviewing Western scientific knowledge, the thesis demonstrates the potential for cognitive mapping to identify culturally safe spaces in epidemiological research where neither scientific validity nor cultural integrity is compromised. Modern epidemiology and indigenous knowledge are not inherently discordant; many public health opportunities arise at this interface and good science must begin here too.