The Tsimshian Protocols: Locating and Empowering Community-based Research

Abstract

This article highlights examples o f community-centred research that demonstratedrespectful long-term research relationships; that developed and followed communityspecific ethical protocols; and that resulted in beneficial educational curricula. Theprinciples and development processes o f the Tsimshian protocols are described.Anthropologists and other social science researchers have often struggled withresearch ethics and issues o f power. This article demonstrates one important path outo f this quagmire: "to work with communities and individuals in ways that respecttheir realities, their needs, and their futures."