Indigenous research in HRD: reflections from HRDI & call for contributions

In the most recent editorial published in Volume 21 and Issue 4 of Human Resource Development Review (HRDR), a group of scholars commented on the gap of and scope for Indigenous research in the field of HRD. We at Human Resource Development International (HRDI) share this interest and commitment towards being more inclusive of voices that are presenting alternative and counter narratives to the commonplace ways of theorising and examining phenomenon relevant to HRD. Given that HRD scholarship is still predominantly skewed towards highlighting research conducted in the West, it is a moral imperative for journals in the field of HRD to be intentional in inquiring why we are lacking Indigenous voices and how we can make space for those voices in an equitable manner. Indigenous research has been defined by Li, Sekiguchi, and Zhou (2016) as encompassing ‘the context-sensitive and context-specific approaches to a uniquely local phenomenon, which may have global implications’ (p.584). Thus, an emphasis on the ‘context’ is required to be at the essence of how such research is conceptualised and conducted. With this understanding, HRDI has proactively attempted to make space for contextual understanding of HRD phenomena, constructs, and practices. For instance, in 2022, HRDI has published articles that have an intentional focus on the role that context plays in shaping the constructs being studied. A few such examples are listed here: