Religion Scholarship on Indigenous Lands

What does engaged scholarship on religion look like in the context of ongoing occupation of Indigenous lands? This article enters this conversation by examining research as fundamentally relational. Drawing on Shawn Wilson’s model of ‘research as ceremony’, the author argues that a move toward engaged scholarship is a move toward understanding the ways in which scholar and the community the scholar works with are embedded in relationship as well as the importance of ongoing self-reflection on one’s place in community. Engaged scholarship therefore is rooted in awareness of relationships, contributions to relationships, and, ultimately, is invested in strengthening relationships. The author turns to his ethnographic experiences with Ohlone tribes in the San Francisco and Monterey areas to examine ways this could look on the ground with particular communities. The article concludes by exploring the position of scholar as respectful ‘guest’ and the possibility of more intimate connections as a ‘relative’.