ABSTRACT

This chapter describes a collaborative project between the University of British Columbia (UBC) and Gitxaala Nation. It explores how our ongoing collaboration personally and, more critically, structurally (as institutions) can potentially play a role in redefining the university research enterprise. The mainstream narrative of collaborative research has assumed that non-indigenous researchers are at the core of the endeavor linked to the research university. Internal research for rights and title purposes has had greater support from the community. The legacy of the abalone research resulted in limitations to our research. Community elders would not initially sanction field site visits, and the mapping of harvesting sites, due to concerns regarding the publication of spatial data by any external institution. Capacity runs from the university to the community, transferring “western” skills to community members. And knowledge, is channeled from the community to the university.