On October 12, 2023, Carla Guedes, a PhD student at the Lusófona University, delivered a 15-minute discourse at ECREA's Methods in Cultural Production and Media Industries Research Conference. This event was marked by being the first conference dedicated exclusively to research methodologies.
PhD student Carla Guedes' presentation, entitled “Decolonizing through research: a case of a Portuguese non-Indigenous researcher using Indigenous research methods in Australia”, was at the heart of the discussion during the parallel session, chaired by Vilde Schanke Sunde, addressing the challenges of field research in three areas: data collection, trust and transparency.
During the presentation, the doctoral candidate reflected upon the idea that decolonization through research empowers indigenous people to agglomerate, generate and disseminate knowledge from a place within indigenous frames of reference. This standpoint is often marginalised by Western researchers, however the academic literature contends that it can be helpful in developing more accurate, culturally competent and inclusive work in non-indigenous research ventures.
Carla Guedes' participation in this ECREA online conference is part of her research project entitled: "Exploring cultural competence for non-indigenous journalists working with indigenous peoples". This project, conducted under the guidance of CICANT researcher Carla Rodrigues Cardoso, was conducted on Australian Indigenous land with non-Indigenous and Indigenous journalists from Australia, Brazil and the United States of America.