Please join us on Wednesday, February 8, 12-1pm for a "What I Am Thinking About Now" presentation from Mariaelena Huambachano, Presidential Diversity Postdoctoral Fellow, CSREA and the Department of American Studies and Ethnic Studies. Her talk is titled, "The 'Khipu Model': The Development of an Indigenous Research Framework."

RSVP to [email protected]. Snacks and caffeine will be provided.

Things are changing in the realm of development research. The Khipu model is an example of the growing body of indigenous scholarship that aims to be culturally attuned to the ways of knowing and recording such knowledge from an indigenous perspective. Indigenous research paradigms are distinct from Western research paradigms, and this is not clearly understood in the academic world. Faced with this challenge, Mariaelena delved into developing the “Khipu Model” as an indigenous research framework. The Andean khipu, or talking knots, is adopted as a metaphor for “hearing and recording” the voices of the ancestors and to elucidate “knowledge”. The “Khipu Model” is grounded on indigenous epistemology or worldviews, and draws from both a Kaupapa Māori research framework, and the body of scholarship addressing indigenous research methods. 

"What I Am Thinking About Now" is an on-going informal workshop/seminar series to which faculty and graduate students are invited to present and discuss recently published work and work in progress. All are invited to attend and participate.