The legitimacy of Indigenous narrative in the development of social work knowledge
The renewal of social intervention practices in Indigenous communities is a huge challenge for the discipline of social work. First and foremost, it needs to be based on a reflection about the place and role of Indigenous knowledge and new potential ways of developing knowledge. In the account of her research with the Innu of Uashat mak Mani-Utenam, the author illustrates how the place and role of narrative discourses produced by the Innu is the result of a set of theoretical, methodological and epistemological choices made by a non-indigenous researcher. She also notes how a theoretical and epistemological shift may foster not only a dialogue among the discourses produced by research, but also also provide a better understanding of the contemporary procedures for the management of social issues by Indigenous persons in an Indigenous environment.