January O’Connor (Tlingit) on Indigenous Evaluation and Appropriation

I’m the Co-Chair of the Indigenous Peoples in Evaluation topical interest group for the American Evaluation Association. And one thing that we really struggle with is this: How are we making sure that people aren’t just co-opting and renaming a lot of Indigenous approaches? In evaluation that’s kind of a challenge. And then how do we make sure that we’re working with people to be known that we are here? That’s like a big thing. <laughs> That’s a big priority right now. So we’re here and how do we make sure that people aren’t harvesting all of these ideas, like high-grading all of the ideas and then reframing them in a way that’s “more palatable” or “easier” for other people to understand or just reframing them and then repackaging them as their own? Then the problem with that is that it really divorces it from the why and the heart and the passion and the meaning and the purpose and that could be a huge problem.

It’s not – an Indigenous evaluation is not a method. People are always asking, “What’s an Indigenous method?” I always think that, “Okay, yes, there are some of those, but it’s really the why and the how we do it and the why we do it, who we do it for.” And that’s really at the heart of Indigenous evaluation. So really getting that concept across is important, and that you can’t divorce Indigenous evaluation and its methodologies from the how, why, and who it’s for.

About the author

name: January O'Connor, MAT (Tlingit)

institution: Raven's Group LLC

website: https://www.ravensgroupak.com

January O’Connor (Tlingit, Kake, Alaska) is an Alaska Native evaluator, educator, and consultant. She holds an M.A.T. from the University of Alaska Southeast, a B.A. in Psychology from Reed College, and is a current Ph.D. student in Indigenous Studies at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, where her research focuses on Indigenous evaluation and indigenized education. She is a Founding Director of Raven’s Group LLC, an Alaska Native–owned consulting firm specializing in program design, grant writing, culturally grounded evaluation, and youth programming. Raven’s Group centers Alaska Native values as the foundation for effective frameworks serving rural and Alaska Native communities. With over 15 years of experience, January has led and developed culturally responsive youth programs, supported on-time graduation and postsecondary pathways, and partnered with rural Alaska communities statewide. Her work blends lived experience, academic training, and Indigenous values to strengthen education and evaluation practices for Alaska Native youth and students.