Introduction

This chapter introduces The Routledge Handbook on Research Methods in the Study of Indigenous Religions. It begins by celebrating the remarkable growth in multi- and inter-disciplinary research about Indigenous religious traditions. It is not only that knowledge about such diverse and fascinating traditions has improved. As significantly, efforts to improve, test, apply and disseminate appropriate methods have generated important scholarship and benefitted many communities. This chapter outlines the process by which this volume was initiated and developed. It links research about Indigenous religions with wider developments, especially in Indigenous Studies and its local or regional forms. An orientation to definitional issues is offered – noting the diversity of Indigenous peoples and their religio-cultural traditions. The emergence and ongoing decolonisation of the study of Indigenous religions is emphasised. This chapter concludes with a summary of the structure and contents of the volume.