This article uses rhetorical genre theory to discuss methods for writing studies research in light of increasing participation of Indigenous scholars and students in disciplines throughout the academy. Like genres, research methods are embedded in systems of interaction that create subject positions and social relations. Using rhetorical genre theory to understand methods as the cultural tools of research communities, we argue that methods can be enacted as flexible resources in the interest of advancing ethical knowledge. In the context of Indigenous epistemological activism, researchers can then take a contingent stance toward method, a stance we name “principled uncertainty.”

Researchers should cite this work as follows:

• Thieme, K., Makmillen, S., (2025), "A Principled Uncertainty: Writing Studies Methods in Contexts of Indigeneity", HSSCommons: (DOI: 10.58680/ccc201728963)

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1. academic writing
2. indigenous studies
3. research methods
4. rhetorical genre studies
5. writing studies

Original publication source: College Composition and Communication (http://www.ncte.org/library/NCTEFiles/Resources/Journals/CCC/0683-feb2017/CCC0683Principled.pdf)

Citation: Thieme, Katja, and Shurli Makmillen. “A Principled Uncertainty: Writing Studies Methods in Contexts of Indigeneity.” College Composition and Communication, vol. 68, no. 3, Feb. 2017, pp. 466–493.