Explore topics that reflect on observed issues and areas of intersection related to Indigenous Peoples.
“Anthropologists and Other Friends,” in Custer Died for Your Sins by
One of the most famous books of Native American Studies, written by the most famous Native scholar and activist of the twentieth century. In this chapter, Deloria argues that Native people should cease cooperating with anthropologists, who, in his view, exploit Native Americans to further their own careers, displaying little or no enduring concern for Native life. This chapter is an important read for anyone working with Native communities to be critically reflexive on who is benefiting from the work and how relevant the project is outside of academia.
Mohawk Interruptus by
Kahnawà:ke Mohawk scholar Audra Simpson argues for an ethic of ethnographic refusal, the act of allowing Indigenous communities to determine which information is shared, written about, and published, not only or even primarily due to the centrality of esoteric or sacred knowledge. But because Indigenous people have experienced dispossession, containment, and genocide all the while being written about for scholarly gain. She argues scholars should continue to teach and write with full cognizance of the realities of settler colonialism and be reflexive to the needs and desires of the community. Not only because it is simply “the right thing to do,” but also because the study of Native American and Indigenous religions would be incomplete and inaccurate without recognition of the historical and contemporary tensions Native religious participants must negotiate. This includes a scholarly decision to “leave out” material that will protect the concerns of the community, acknowledging the role academia has played in the settler project.
Decolonizing Methodologies by
Maori scholar Linda Tuhiwai Smith presents a thorough consideration of how “research” has become a dirty word for Indigenous peoples across the globe due to the exploitative practices of anthropologists and other scholars. She explores the intersections of imperialism and research - specifically, the ways in which imperialism is embedded in disciplines of knowledge and tradition as “regimes of truth.” Concepts such as “discovery” and “claiming” are discussed and an argument presented that the decolonization of research methods will help to reclaim control over Indigenous ways of knowing and being. Students and faculty members working with Native communities should work to build long-term relationships, learn Native languages, and critically reflect on whose story is being told, and to what end. This includes being open to theories and methods emerging from outside of academia and in particular from within Indigenous communities themselves.
"We are the Land and the Land is Us" in Racial Ecologies by
Chapter 1 in this book from editors Leilani Nishime and Kim D. Hester Williams.
Dismal Freedom: A History of the Maroons of the Great Dismal Swamp by
Both African American and Native American people escaped from slavery and lived in the Great Dismal Swamp in North Carolina.
