Using a postcolonial indigenous framework to explore cultural well-being practices in a South African indigenous community during and post-COVID-19 / Chioma Ohajunwa.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Ohajunwa, Chioma, author.

Series:

SAGE Research methods: diversifying and decolonizing research.

SAGE Research methods: diversifying and decolonizing research

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Indigenous peoples--South Africa--Research.

Indigenous peoples.

Colonies--Research--South Africa.

Colonies.

Physical Description:

1 online resource

Place of Publication:

London : SAGE Publications Ltd, 2024.

Summary:

This case study is based on an exploration of how the Indigenous Xhosa people of Thamarha, in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa, sustained their cultural and spiritual continuity to support well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic. I will focus on the implementation of my chosen methodology, including the community immersion and ethical research processes observed. I present the research process as an ethical tool to support cultural and contextually relevant worldviews, positioning the researcher not as an "other" but as part of this process of building community, resilience, and well-being. As a researcher in this community, I used a postcolonial lens and Indigenous framework, aligned with a qualitative participatory approach. Postcoloniality acknowledges the marginalization of some populations and their knowledges by the existing power structures from colonial period to the present times. Postcoloniality challenges the centering of Eurocentric knowledge as the universal and dominant way of knowing. Postcoloniality also argues that people who have occupied these spaces of marginalization have valid knowledge and support the literary contributions from the margins. However, voices situated in the West, who also write about the power and politics of marginalization from the South, are not discounted. Partnering with an Indigenous framework, within a qualitative, participatory approach, supported the postcolonial tenets of emancipating the voices at the margins, in a respectful and culturally acceptable manner. In the following sections of the case study, I will explain how each of these methodological paradigms were applied within the research implementation process to achieve the research objectives, and the lessons learnt.

Notes:

Description based on XML content.

ISBN:

1-5296-9056-0

9781529690569

OCLC:

1428169201