Research that purposefully redistributes authority can have more ethical and innovative results than standard hierarchical research models. This paper summarizes the results of two projects “with, by, and for” (sensu Atalay 2012) Native American communities who had more authority in decision-making than standard projects typically do. First, the Stewart Indian School project studied the forced assimilation of Native American children into mainstream society in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The project distributed authority among settler academics and tribal members in heritage negotiations. Some of the same participants later initiated the “Our Ancestors’ Walk of Sorrow” project to study the forced removal of Indigenous POWs from their homelands in the nineteenth century. The later project represents a shift from shared authority to primarily tribal authorities. This paper explores the primary author’s increasing efforts to relinquish control from the academic ivory tower, including challenges, consequences, and benefits for different groups.
