Abstract

In the last decade much has occurred to build towards reforms in the ways qualitative research is constructed and conducted based upon other ways of viewing, creating and experiencing the world. These research spaces are available because of the persistent work and assertion of the cultural and theoretical standpoints of researchers who were once the researched, namely Aboriginal peoples. This paper describes the framework of an Indigenist research paradigm based upon the ontological, epistemological and theoretical positions of my people, the Noonuccal people of Quandamoopah. It provides discussion of the conceptual, cultural and practical tensions that arise within the research interface towards centering Aboriginal worldviews and knowledges as research epistemology and then methodology. This paper is one contribution to the continuing reform of Indigenous research and the reclamation of Indigenous cultural spaces in Australia.