American Indian Culture and Research Journal

Community-Based Inquiry (CBI) is a research method in which Indigenous communities engage in asking and answering their own questions about their early childhood practices. Community members are the researchers: they formulate the questions based on community needs, create the methodology to pursue answers to those questions, find solutions, and put those solutions into practice to strengthen early childhood education in their communities. In this introductory piece, we share the philosophical and practical foundations of CBI, and introduce readers to the visionary community and university scholars who, throughout this special issue, share their stories of innovation, insight, and advocacy on behalf of early learners, families, and their communities.