ABSTRACT
The sisiutl story serves as a metaphor for the task before us in this chapter, the articulation and reconciliation of what often appears as two opposing forces: the abusive, colonizing academic gaze and the institutional apparatus out of which it peers; and the world of colonized peoples on which that gaze is frequently trained. Cross-cultural geographic researchers have long served as “cultural brokers,” translating across cultural divides, representing-intentionally or otherwise-each group to the other (Szasz 1995). Particularly during the late twentieth century, these cultural borders have been subject to perpetual renegotiation, as non-Western peoples challenge the authority of European institutions and question the veracity of past scholarly depictions of themselves (Deloria 1995). Today, geographers must confront the colonial legacy directly, interacting with people who often define their identities in opposition to the colonial world (a world of which, more often than not, the researcher is a part). In the process, geographers encounter alternative views of the world which
must be recognized and engaged if their research is to continue, including alternative views of what constitutes “ethical behavior.”
