Utilising the specific example of a recently submitted Doctor of Philosophy thesis combining interviewing, archival research, and narrative this paper explores how to implement Indigenous based beliefs and perspectives into research processes. Bishop encourages us to develop joint meanings with our research participants in research projects. Otherwise Bishop warns though that all will be in vain if the researcher dominates the way understandings are constructed. In this presentation the aim is to examine how this challenge was responded to as the Indigenous researcher researching into Aboriginal identity issues with community members. How was it that the researcher worked to generate meanings useful for both researcher and community and at the same time respond to the expectations of the academy.