HOW INDIGENOUS RESEARCH METHODOLOGIES ALIGN WITH A MEDICAL GEOLOGY APPROACH

Currently in the United States there are 574 Federally Recognized Tribes. Many of these tribes

have environmental issues that have impacted the health of Indigenous peoples. Some tribes

have their lands located on naturally occurring mineral resources which could and have impacted health,

such as uranium in the southwestern USA. Others may have anthropogenic sources such as

unlined landfills in Alaska which may be impacting health due to changes from accelerated

climate change and rapidly thawing permafrost. Co-producing knowledge with these

communities and utilizing Indigenous research methodologies align with a medical Geology

approach. The medical geology approach looks at the place as a place-based approach to

studying the issues. Indigenous research methodologies are not strictly linear as many western

science studies have traditionally been conducted and look at the place and everything that is

related in a connected, often-circular flowing path. This presentation will discuss how

Indigenous research methodologies align with a medical geology or one health approach. Using

western scientific method and blending Indigenous research methodologies can be a medical

geologic approach to exploring health impacts related to environmental issues impacting many

Indigenous communities in the United States and the world.