Navigating International, Interdisciplinary, Collaborative Inquiry: Phase 1 Process in the Circumpolar Indigenous Pathways to Adulthood Project

This report describes how multiple community constituents came together to work with university researchers on developing a shared agenda for studying young indigenous people in five international circumpolar communities. The paper focuses on the set up and process of an initial face-to-face methodological planning workshop involving youth and adult community members and academics. Members of Yup'ik, Inupiat, Eveny, Inuit and Sámi communities from Siberia to Norway participated in the workshop and engaged in negotiations to arrive at shared research interests. This was essential since the ultimate goal of the research is translational and transformative, spurring social action in communities. Describing the beginning stage of this project and the underlying participatory methodology offers reader insight into the how the approach engaged community members with varying degrees of sustained interest and practical success. It, therefore, articulates a methodological approach for those interested in doing community-based participatory research in international contexts.