Native American Studies
Encyclopedia
Native American Studies is an interdisciplinary academic field that examines the history, culture, politics, issues and contemporary experience of Native
peoples in North America, or, taking a hemispheric approach, the Americas. Increasingly, debate has focused on the differences rather than the similarities between other Ethnic studies
disciplines such as African American studies
, Asian American Studies
, and Latino/a Studies
. In particular, the political sovereignty of many indigenous nations marks substantive differences in historical experience from that of other racial and ethnic groups in the United States and Canada. Drawing from numerous disciplines such as anthropology
, sociology
, history
, literature
, political science
, and gender studies
, Native American Studies scholars consider a variety of perspectives and employ diverse analytical and methodological tools in their work.
Two key concepts shape Native American studies, according to Sioux scholar Elizabeth Cook-Lynn
, indigenousness (as defined in culture, geography, and philosophy) and sovereignty (as legally and historically defined). Practitioners advocate for decolonization
of indigenous peoples, political autonomy, and the establishment of a discipline dedicated to alleviating contemporary problems facing indigenous peoples.
into mainstream European American culture (Americanization (of Native Americans)
). Beginning with missionaries and leading up to federally controlled schools the aim was to educate American Indians so that they could go back to their communities and facilitate the assimilation process. As cited by David Beck in his article "American Indian Higher Education before 1974: From Colonization to Self-Determination," the schools were used as a tool for assimilation. Their main focus was not intellectual but to give training for industrial jobs or domestic jobs.
The Civil Rights Movement
of the 1950s-1960s contested mainstream methods of assimilationist indoctrination and the substance of what was being taught in K-12 schools and universities throughout the United States. American Indian students, coupled with sympathetic professors, assisted in creating new programs with new aims. Rather than being focused on Indians going back to their communities to educate along the lines of assimilation there was a move to educate for empowerment. Programs that did community outreach and focused on student retention in campuses have risen out of that movement. Furthermore, the programs in schools created a new interpretation for American Indian history, sociology, and politics.
During the First Convocation of American Indian Scholars in March 1970 at Princeton University
, indigenous scholars drafted a plan to develop "Native American Studies as an Academic Disclipine," which would defend indigenous control of their lands and indigenous rights
and would ultimately reform US Indian Policy. This discipline would be informed by traditional indigenous knowledge, especially oral history
, and would "defend indigenous nationhood in America."
In direct opposition to Western anthropology, the knowledge base of Native American studies is endogenous
, or emerging from within the indigenous communities. Developers of Native American studies widely dismissed the notion of scientific objectivity, since Western cultural biases have historically informed anthropology and other disciplines.
Indigenous peoples of the Americas
The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...
peoples in North America, or, taking a hemispheric approach, the Americas. Increasingly, debate has focused on the differences rather than the similarities between other Ethnic studies
Ethnic studies
Ethnic studies is the interdisciplinary study of racialized peoples in the world in relation to ethnicity. It evolved in the second half of the 20th century partly in response to charges that traditional disciplines such as anthropology, history, English, ethnology, Asian studies, and orientalism...
disciplines such as African American studies
African American studies
African American studies is a subset of Black studies or Africana studies. It is an interdisciplinary academic field devoted to the study of the history, culture, and politics of African Americans...
, Asian American Studies
Asian American Studies
Asian American Studies is an academic discipline which studies the experience of people of Asian ancestry in America. Closely related to other Ethnic Studies disciplines such as African American Studies, Latino/a Studies, and Native American Studies, Asian American Studies critically examines the...
, and Latino/a Studies
Latino/a Studies
Latino studies is an academic discipline which studies the experience of people of Hispanic ancestry in the United States. Closely related to other ethnic studies disciplines such as African American studies, Asian American studies, and Native American studies, Latino studies critically examines...
. In particular, the political sovereignty of many indigenous nations marks substantive differences in historical experience from that of other racial and ethnic groups in the United States and Canada. Drawing from numerous disciplines such as anthropology
Anthropology
Anthropology is the study of humanity. It has origins in the humanities, the natural sciences, and the social sciences. The term "anthropology" is from the Greek anthrōpos , "man", understood to mean mankind or humanity, and -logia , "discourse" or "study", and was first used in 1501 by German...
, sociology
Sociology
Sociology is the study of society. It is a social science—a term with which it is sometimes synonymous—which uses various methods of empirical investigation and critical analysis to develop a body of knowledge about human social activity...
, history
History
History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...
, literature
Literature
Literature is the art of written works, and is not bound to published sources...
, political science
Political science
Political Science is a social science discipline concerned with the study of the state, government and politics. Aristotle defined it as the study of the state. It deals extensively with the theory and practice of politics, and the analysis of political systems and political behavior...
, and gender studies
Gender studies
Gender studies is a field of interdisciplinary study which analyses race, ethnicity, sexuality and location.Gender study has many different forms. One view exposed by the philosopher Simone de Beauvoir said: "One is not born a woman, one becomes one"...
, Native American Studies scholars consider a variety of perspectives and employ diverse analytical and methodological tools in their work.
Two key concepts shape Native American studies, according to Sioux scholar Elizabeth Cook-Lynn
Elizabeth Cook-Lynn
Elizabeth Cook-Lynn is a Crow Creek Lakota Sioux editor, essayist, poet, novelist, and academic, whose trenchant views on Native American politics, particularly tribal sovereignty, have caused controversy....
, indigenousness (as defined in culture, geography, and philosophy) and sovereignty (as legally and historically defined). Practitioners advocate for decolonization
Indigenous decolonization
Indigenous Decolonization is a process that Indigenous people whose communities were grossly affected by colonial expansion, genocide and cultural assimilation may go through in understanding the history of their colonization and rediscovering their ancestral traditions and cultural values...
of indigenous peoples, political autonomy, and the establishment of a discipline dedicated to alleviating contemporary problems facing indigenous peoples.
History
The Native historical experience in the Americas was marked by forcible and sometimes willing attempts at assimilationCultural assimilation
Cultural assimilation is a socio-political response to demographic multi-ethnicity that supports or promotes the assimilation of ethnic minorities into the dominant culture. The term assimilation is often used with regard to immigrants and various ethnic groups who have settled in a new land. New...
into mainstream European American culture (Americanization (of Native Americans)
Americanization (of Native Americans)
The Americanization of Native Americans was an assimilation effort by the United States to transform Native American culture to European-American culture between the years of 1790–1920. George Washington and Henry Knox were first to propose, in an American context, the cultural transformation of...
). Beginning with missionaries and leading up to federally controlled schools the aim was to educate American Indians so that they could go back to their communities and facilitate the assimilation process. As cited by David Beck in his article "American Indian Higher Education before 1974: From Colonization to Self-Determination," the schools were used as a tool for assimilation. Their main focus was not intellectual but to give training for industrial jobs or domestic jobs.
The Civil Rights Movement
Civil rights movement
The civil rights movement was a worldwide political movement for equality before the law occurring between approximately 1950 and 1980. In many situations it took the form of campaigns of civil resistance aimed at achieving change by nonviolent forms of resistance. In some situations it was...
of the 1950s-1960s contested mainstream methods of assimilationist indoctrination and the substance of what was being taught in K-12 schools and universities throughout the United States. American Indian students, coupled with sympathetic professors, assisted in creating new programs with new aims. Rather than being focused on Indians going back to their communities to educate along the lines of assimilation there was a move to educate for empowerment. Programs that did community outreach and focused on student retention in campuses have risen out of that movement. Furthermore, the programs in schools created a new interpretation for American Indian history, sociology, and politics.
During the First Convocation of American Indian Scholars in March 1970 at Princeton University
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
, indigenous scholars drafted a plan to develop "Native American Studies as an Academic Disclipine," which would defend indigenous control of their lands and indigenous rights
Indigenous rights
Indigenous rights are those rights that exist in recognition of the specific condition of the indigenous peoples. This includes not only the most basic human rights of physical survival and integrity, but also the preservation of their land, language, religion and other elements of cultural...
and would ultimately reform US Indian Policy. This discipline would be informed by traditional indigenous knowledge, especially oral history
Oral history
Oral history is the collection and study of historical information about individuals, families, important events, or everyday life using audiotapes, videotapes, or transcriptions of planned interviews...
, and would "defend indigenous nationhood in America."
In direct opposition to Western anthropology, the knowledge base of Native American studies is endogenous
Endogenous
Endogenous substances are those that originate from within an organism, tissue, or cell. Endogenous retroviruses are caused by ancient infections of germ cells in humans, mammals and other vertebrates...
, or emerging from within the indigenous communities. Developers of Native American studies widely dismissed the notion of scientific objectivity, since Western cultural biases have historically informed anthropology and other disciplines.
Academic Journals
- American Indian QuarterlyAmerican Indian QuarterlyAmerican Indian Quarterly is an academic journal devoted to the indigenous peoples of North and South America.-See also:*Journal of Indigenous Studies*AlterNative: An International Journal of Indigenous Peoples*Indigenous Law Centre...
- American Indian Culture and Research Journal
- Canadian Journal of Native Studies
- Native Studies Review
- European Review of Native American Studies
- Wíčazo Ša ReviewWicazo sa reviewThe Wíčazo Ša Review is a bi-annual interdisciplinary journal of Native American Studies. Dedicated to the mission of assisting Indigenous peoples across the Americas, the Wíčazo Ša Review compiles inquiries into the Indigenous past and its integral relationship to the present...
Notable Native American studies scholars
- Taiaiake AlfredTaiaiake AlfredGerald Taiaiake Alfred is an author, educator and activist, born in Tiohtiá:ke in 1964. Alfred is an internationally recognized Kanien’kehaka intellectual, political advisor and he is currently a professor at the University of Victoria ....
(Kanien’kehaka/Kahnawake MohawkMohawk nationMohawk are the most easterly tribe of the Iroquois confederation. They call themselves Kanien'gehaga, people of the place of the flint...
) - Paula Gunn AllenPaula Gunn AllenPaula Gunn Allen was a Native American poet, literary critic, lesbian activist, and novelist.Born Paula Marie Francis in Albuquerque, Allen grew up in Cubero, New Mexico, a Spanish-Mexican land grant village bordering the Laguna Pueblo reservation...
(Laguna PuebloLaguna PuebloLaguna is a Native American tribe of the Pueblo people in west-central New Mexico, USA. The name, Laguna, is Spanish and derives from the lake located on their reservation. The real Keresan name of the tribe is Kawaik. The population of the tribe exceeds 7,000 , making it the largest Keresan...
-SiouxSiouxThe Sioux are Native American and First Nations people in North America. The term can refer to any ethnic group within the Great Sioux Nation or any of the nation's many language dialects...
) - Greg Cajete (Santa Clara Pueblo)
- Dean ChaversDean ChaversDean Chavers is the director of Catching the Dream, formerly known as the Native American Scholarship fund. The organization has produced 679 Native American college graduates since 1987, including 110 educators, 38 doctors, 28 engineers, 104 business graduates, and 110 scientists.-Early life and...
(Lumbee) - Allison Hedge CokeAllison Hedge CokeAllison Adelle Hedge Coke is an American Book Award-winning American/Canadian poet of mixed Wendat/Huron/Metis/Tsalagi/ Creek/French Canadian/Portuguese/Irish/Scot/English ancestry.-Background:...
(Huron-Muscogee Creek-CherokeeCherokeeThe Cherokee are a Native American people historically settled in the Southeastern United States . Linguistically, they are part of the Iroquoian language family...
) - Elizabeth Cook-LynnElizabeth Cook-LynnElizabeth Cook-Lynn is a Crow Creek Lakota Sioux editor, essayist, poet, novelist, and academic, whose trenchant views on Native American politics, particularly tribal sovereignty, have caused controversy....
(Crow Creek SiouxCrow Creek ReservationThe Crow Creek Indian Reservation is located in parts of Buffalo, Hughes, and Hyde counties on the east bank of the Missouri River in central South Dakota in the United States. It has a land area of 421.658 sq mi and a 2000 census population of 2,225 persons...
) - Vine Deloria, Jr.Vine Deloria, Jr.Vine Deloria, Jr. was an American Indian author, theologian, historian, and activist. He was widely known for his book Custer Died for Your Sins: An Indian Manifesto , which helped generate national attention to Native American issues in the same year as the Alcatraz-Red Power Movement...
(Standing Rock SiouxStanding Rock Indian ReservationThe Standing Rock Indian Reservation is a Lakota, Yanktonai and Dakota Indian reservation in North Dakota and South Dakota in the United States...
) - Philip Deloria (Standing Rock SiouxStanding Rock Indian ReservationThe Standing Rock Indian Reservation is a Lakota, Yanktonai and Dakota Indian reservation in North Dakota and South Dakota in the United States...
) - Raymond DeMallie
- Jack D. ForbesJack D. ForbesJack D. Forbes was a Native-American writer, scholar and political activist. He is best known for his book, Columbus and Other Cannibals, which has become a primary text of the Anti-civilization Movement....
(PowhatanPowhatanThe Powhatan is the name of a Virginia Indian confederation of tribes. It is estimated that there were about 14,000–21,000 of these native Powhatan people in eastern Virginia when the English settled Jamestown in 1607...
-Renape-LenapeLenapeThe Lenape are an Algonquian group of Native Americans of the Northeastern Woodlands. They are also called Delaware Indians. As a result of the American Revolutionary War and later Indian removals from the eastern United States, today the main groups live in Canada, where they are enrolled in the...
) - Daniel Heath JusticeDaniel Heath JusticeDaniel Heath Justice is a U.S.-born Canadian citizen of the Cherokee Nation and the author of Our Fire Survives the Storm: A Cherokee Literary History as well as an Indigenous fantasy trilogy, The Way of Thorn & Thunder--Kynship , Wyrwood , and Dreyd --all published by Kegedonce Press...
(Cherokee NationCherokee NationThe Cherokee Nation is the largest of three Cherokee federally recognized tribes in the United States. It was established in the 20th century, and includes people descended from members of the old Cherokee Nation who relocated voluntarily from the Southeast to Indian Territory and Cherokees who...
) - Trudie Lamb-RichmondTrudie Lamb-RichmondTrudie Lamb-Richmond is a member of the Schaghticoke Tribal Nation and has been involved in Native American educational and political issues over forty years.- Biography :...
(Schaghticoke) - Stacy LeedsStacy LeedsStacy L. Leeds is a Law professor, scholar, and judge for several tribes. She was a candidate for Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation in 2007.-Education:...
(Cherokee NationCherokee NationThe Cherokee Nation is the largest of three Cherokee federally recognized tribes in the United States. It was established in the 20th century, and includes people descended from members of the old Cherokee Nation who relocated voluntarily from the Southeast to Indian Territory and Cherokees who...
) - Devon A. MihesuahDevon A. MihesuahDevon Abbott Mihesuah is a Choctaw historian and writer, and a previous editor of the American Indian Quarterly.Mihesuah's non-fiction work concentrates on stereotypes and misrepresentations of Native American peoples, customs and beliefs in academic writing.-Fiction:*Document of Expectations *Big...
(ChoctawChoctawThe Choctaw are a Native American people originally from the Southeastern United States...
) - Lorin Morgan-RichardsLorin Morgan-RichardsLorin Morgan-Richards born February 16, 1975, of Amish and Welsh descent, is a Hollywood based writer and illustrator of dark literature and composer of dark storytelling.-Early years:...
- Simon J. OrtizSimon J. OrtizSimon J. Ortiz is a Native American writer of the Acoma Pueblo tribe, and one of the key figures in the second wave of what has been called the Native American Renaissance...
(Acoma PuebloAcoma PuebloAcoma Pueblo is a Native American pueblo approximately 60 miles west of Albuquerque, New Mexico in the United States. Three reservations make up Acoma Pueblo: Sky City , Acomita, and McCartys. The Acoma Pueblo tribe is a federally recognized tribal entity...
) - Luana RossLuana RossLuana K. Ross is a Native American sociologist of the Flathead Nation. She received her bachelor's degree from the University of Montana in 1979, and her doctorate from the University of Oregon in 1992. Since 1999 she has been a faculty member for the University of Washington's department of Women...
(Flathead Nation) - Greg SarrisGreg SarrisGregory Michael Sarris is a college professor, author, screenwriter, and a member and current Chairman of the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria. He was chosen in 2005 to fill the Endowed Chair in Native American Studies at Sonoma State University...
(Federated Indians of Graton RancheriaFederated Indians of Graton RancheriaThe Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria, formerly known as the Federated Coast Miwok, is a federally recognized American Indian tribe of Coast Miwok and Southern Pomo Indians. The tribe was officially restored to federal recognition by the U.S. government pursuant to the Graton Rancheria...
) - Andrea SmithAndrea Smith (academic)Andrea Lee Smith is a intellectual, feminist, and anti-violence activist. Smith's work focuses on issues of violence against women of color and their communities, specifically Native American women...
- James Thomas StevensJames Thomas StevensJames Thomas Stevens is an American poet and academic. He is a member of the Akwesasne Mohawk Nation and currently teaches at the College of Contemporary Native Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico.-Background:...
(Mohawk) - Charlene TetersCharlene TetersCharlene Teters is a Native American artist, educator, and lecturer. Her paintings and art installations have been featured in over 21 major exhibitions, commissions, and collections. She is a member of the Spokane Tribe, and her Spokane name is Slum Tah...
(Spokane Tribe) - Gerald VizenorGerald VizenorGerald Robert Vizenor is a Native American writer, and an enrolled member of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe, White Earth Reservation. One of the most prolific Native American writers, with over 30 books to his name, Vizenor also taught for many years at the University of California, Berkeley, where...
(White Earth AnishinaabeWhite Earth Band of OjibweThe White Earth Band of Ojibwe, or Gaa-waabaabiganikaag Anishinaabeg, is a Native American tribe located in northwestern Minnesota. The tribe's land-based home is the White Earth Indian Reservation...
) - Robert A. Williams, Jr.Robert A. Williams, Jr.Robert A. Williams, Jr., is an American lawyer who is a notable author and legal scholar in the field of Federal Indian Law, International Law and Indigenous Peoples Rights, and Critical Race and Post Colonial Theory. Williams teaches at the University of Arizona's James E. Rogers College of the...
(LumbeeLumbeeThe Lumbee belong to a state recognized Native American tribe in North Carolina. The Lumbee are concentrated in Robeson County and named for the primary waterway traversing the county...
) - Craig WomackCraig WomackCraig Womack is an author and professor of Native American literature. Creek-Cherokee by ancestry, Womack is best known for Red on Red: Native American Literary Separatism, a book of literary criticism which argues that the dominant approach to academic study of Native American literature is...
(Muskogee Nation) - Alfred Young ManAlfred Young ManAlfred Young Man, Ph.D. is a Cree artist, writer, educator, and an enrolled member of the Chippewa-Cree Indian Reservation, Rocky Boy, Montana, USA...
(CreeCreeThe Cree are one of the largest groups of First Nations / Native Americans in North America, with 200,000 members living in Canada. In Canada, the major proportion of Cree live north and west of Lake Superior, in Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and the Northwest Territories, although...
)
See also
- PostcolonialismPostcolonialismPost-colonialism is a specifically post-modern intellectual discourse that consists of reactions to, and analysis of, the cultural legacy of colonialism...
- Cultural studiesCultural studiesCultural studies is an academic field grounded in critical theory and literary criticism. It generally concerns the political nature of contemporary culture, as well as its historical foundations, conflicts, and defining traits. It is, to this extent, largely distinguished from cultural...
- Native American sovereignty
- Tribal colleges and universitiesTribal colleges and universitiesTribal colleges and universities are a category of higher education, minority-serving institutions in the United States. The educational institutions are distinguished by being controlled and operated by Native American tribes; they have become part of American Indians' institution-building in...
- Journal of Indigenous StudiesJournal of Indigenous StudiesThe Journal of Indigenous Studies was a multilingual, biannual, peer-reviewed academic journal. It was established in 1989 and was sponsored by the Gabriel Dumont Institute, a Métis-directed educational and cultural entity in Saskatoon , affiliated with the University of Regina...
- AlterNative: An International Journal of Indigenous Peoples
- American Indian QuarterlyAmerican Indian QuarterlyAmerican Indian Quarterly is an academic journal devoted to the indigenous peoples of North and South America.-See also:*Journal of Indigenous Studies*AlterNative: An International Journal of Indigenous Peoples*Indigenous Law Centre...
- Indigenous Law CentreIndigenous Law CentreThe Indigenous Law Centre, part of the Law Faculty at the University of New South Wales develops and coordinates research, teaching and information services in the multi-disciplinary area of Indigenous peoples and the law...
- Journal of Aboriginal HealthJournal of Aboriginal HealthThe Journal of Aboriginal Health is a peer-reviewed journal on Aboriginal health published by the National Aboriginal Health Organization of Canada. Launched in 2004, JAH features articles from leading health scholars, academics and Aboriginal community members.JAH was designed with the intent to...
- Center for World Indigenous StudiesCenter for World Indigenous StudiesThe Center for World Indigenous Studies is a non-profit American organization. It was founded in 1984 by Dr. Rudolph C. Ryser, Ph.D. and Chief George Manuel as an independent research and education organization...
See also
- Crosby, Heather, 2011. "Explaining Achievement: Factors affecting Native American College Student Success". Applied Research Projects, Texas State University-San Marcos. http://ecommons.txstate.edu/arp/349.