Resisting Condescending Research Ethics in Aotearoa/New Zealand

Recently, Indigenous scholars have raised a number of concerns with the activities of Research Ethics Boards (REBs) and their members, including the preference of REBs for Eurocentric conceptualizations of what does or does not constitute "ethical research conduct", and the privilege accorded liberal notions of the "autonomous individual participant". Informed by the author's refl ections on the REB process, those of Indigenous Canadian and New Zealand research participants, and the extant literature, this paper begins by critiquing the processes employed by New Zealand REBs to assess Indigenous- focused or Indigenous- led research in the criminological realm. The paper ends with a call for Indigenous peoples to resist the condescending ethos of the academy's ethics processes by developing processes that focus on empowering their institutions and communities.