*5.2. Theoretical Framework and Methods*

It was very important to me to take an Indigenous approach to this project, something that would not carry on any racist or colonial legacies. In this regard, I did not design the study prior to approaching the community, but instead reached out to the NVT and asked if they would be interested in working with me. Over the next 12 months, we built a relationship with one another, and they assigned me a Tribal employee to work with to develop the project to explore Indigenous self-determination and the role it played in achieving sustainability and wellbeing [57]. We settled on the method of ethnographic futures research (EFR) [58] which was used through an Indigenous relational theoretical framework [59] to be in alliance with Indigenous methodologies by being participatory [57], reflexive, asset-based [60,61], engaging in co-production [62], engaged with free, prior, and informed consent as outlined in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, and a space for storytelling and trust building [57,63].

The method, EFR, is a scenario methodology that goes over three possible futures, with each interview participant, the optimistic, pessimistic, and most likely futures. These futures were set in 2038, 20 years from the time of the interviews in 2018. The participant is put in the future and then they 'backcast' through looking back over the last 20 years to see how they got to the future they were in, 2038. Backcasting is important in working with Indigenous communities as making projections about the future through forecasting

is often something Indigenous cultures are not comfortable with [64]. In the final part of the interview, participants identify their role in helping their community to achieve the optimistic future they had outline. For a full explanation of the methods, please see Gordon, 2021 [57]. The participants described futures that addressed subsistence, land stewardship, regulations, and sustainability [57]. Looking at how they described this in the optimistic versus pessimistic or most likely futures helps identify what the community needs and wants, what they fear and are trying to avoid from the pessimistic future, and how to surpass the most likely future to reach the optimistic future for their community.

Indigenous methodologies emphasize that engagement with the community does not only happen prior to the project or during the project. Engagement also happens through dissemination and in this project along with academic products I produced a 20-year roadmap for Ninilchik outlining what the participants explained in the scenarios as what they wanted for the future of their community. This was part of the Indigenous relational theoretical framework which was developed through my master's research on how to build mutually beneficial trusting relationships in research between Indigenous communities and researcher [65] and was part of my part of maintaining a reciprocal relationship with the community [66]. I used this framework to build my relationship with NVT and also used it to adapt EFR to be in alliance with Indigenous methodologies. This framework emphasized:

Knowing extensive community history, developing strong local contacts, communicating openly about the project, treating the community members as equals, displaying [culturally appropriate] manners and etiquette through honesty and reciprocity, acting ethically in [I]ndigenous cultures ... exchanging knowledge to build ... capital, and giving project results to the community so they can be put to practical use. ([65], p. 237)

EFR is an antiracist and decolonizing approach to research due to it being used through an Indigenous relational theoretical framework which allowed me to address power imbalances, privilege Indigenous Knowledge, built trust, and engage in a reciprocal relationship [57].
