Indigenous Identities, Race, and Sovereignty: Lecture Notes

  • Terminology and how terms are used today

    • American Indian: legal term used by the federal government to recognize federally recognized Indigenous groups in the US, Alaska, and Hawaii.
    • Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian: other federal recognitions; Hawaiians are not American Indian; they are Pacific Islanders.
    • Native American: often viewed as more PC; historically broad, but some groups (tribes) protested “Native American” for being too broad and non-specific.
    • Indigenous: currently the most common term; used in international contexts (e.g., UN Indigenous rights). Can refer to descendants of original inhabitants across nations (e.g., Aboriginal Australians, First Nations in Canada).
    • Indian as shorthand in some older scholarship or among some groups (e.g., Gary H. uses Indian as shorthand for American Indian). Pushback against using India/Indian to avoid confusion with people from South Asia.
    • Practical note: when meeting people, use the group’s own name if possible; only use the umbrella term when referring to a broad category or as a political/legal label.

  • Identity: personal, social, and relational

    • Personal identity: how you describe yourself (religious, professional, gender, etc.).
    • Social identity: how you express yourself in society and what society assigns to you; not always controllable.
    • Identity is context-specific and relational; it exists within networks of people and expectations.
    • Indigenous identity is historically contingent and multifaceted, shaped by shared history, oral traditions, and sometimes writing systems.

  • Indigenous identity and culture areas (course approach)

    • The course takes a historic perspective, starting before European contact.
    • Contact timeline highlights long variation in when contact occurred across regions (Caribbean with Columbus in 1492; Aztec conquest in 1521; Spanish incursions in Florida; Coronado expedition to Kansas/Texas in 1541).
    • Culture areas: concept developed late 19th century for museum exhibits; regions where people shared lifeways, resources, and languages despite diversity. Examples include:
    • Eastern Woodlands: deer, oaks; acorns and other resources.
    • Plains: heavily bison-driven economies.
    • Southwest: arid environments with diverse small game; later introduction of corn, beans, and squash (the “Three Sisters”) as staples.
    • Great Basin: around modern-day California/Nevada/Utah.
    • Northwest Coast and California: varied environments with rich resource bases.
    • For each weekly lecture: start with concepts, build toward commemorations, and pick a few case studies.

  • Historical identity and oral tradition vs writing

    • Historically, Indigenous knowledge was transmitted through oral tradition (word of mouth).
    • Some groups had writing systems (e.g., Maya in Mesoamerica); others relied on mnemonic devices and winter camps for written-like records.
    • Indigenous identity before contact: defined by knowledge of the past and descent from Indigenous inhabitants of North America.
    • The map of Indigenous groups at contact shows hundreds if not thousands of independent nations; the label “American Indian” is a colonial construct, not a pre-contact reality.

  • Contemporary identity and pan-Indigenous identity

    • Federal policies over the last ~200 years contributed to a pan-Indigenous identity (and sometimes a pan-American-Indian identity) through shared experiences like urban Indigenous life and residential/boarding school systems.
    • When writing about Indigenous peoples, prefer the specific group name unless referring to a broader, historically constructed identity.
    • Elizabeth Warren case study: claimed Indigenous identity; criticized for not being a member of a federally recognized tribe; DNA tests were used to defend/justify identity but DNA is not a definitive indicator of Indigenous identity.
    • Genetics note: Indigenous identity is not determined by genetics. Genetic tests reveal ancestry markers but do not determine tribal belonging, citizenship, or cultural affiliation.
    • Kim TallBear is cited as a prominent Indigenous geneticist; the point is that genetics cannot definitively establish Indigenous identity.
    • Caveat: DNA results and self-identification can be evolving; databases change over time and are limited by reference populations.

  • Race, biology, and phenotype

    • Race is a controversial, historically contingent concept that has biological echoes but is primarily a social construct.
    • Phenotype: the observable physical expression of genes; variation is real but often gradual and clinal (gradient) rather than discrete.
    • Final variation (cline): the concept that biological variation across human populations occurs gradually along geographic lines (UV exposure, skin pigmentation, etc.).
    • Hypothesis: prior to long-distance travel, human variation was gradual; race as discrete categories developed later, particularly to justify conquest, settler colonialism, and slavery.
    • Neanderthals and Denisovans are cited as ancient relatives; modern humans share a common ancestry with these groups; the point is that modern humans (Homo sapiens) comprise one race from a biological standpoint.
    • Race, while it has real social consequences (e.g., disparities in maternal and infant death rates), is not rooted in a strict biological reality.

  • Racialism, racism, and racialization (Echo-Hawe, etc.)

    • Racialism: belief that the human species is naturally divided into races.
    • Racism: belief that groups have different behaviors associated with appearance and that some groups are hierarchically superior.
    • Racialization: process by which ethnic or racial identities are ascribed to relationships, practices, or groups; not always self-identified.
    • Important implication: talking about American Indians as a single racial category can erase the diversity of independent nations and legal identities that exist under federal policy.

  • Forms of racism: unilateral vs conjoint racism

    • Unilateral racism: a power-imbued action/oppression directed at a target group (e.g., funding, policy, social exclusion) with negative outcomes.
    • Conjoint racism: joint actions by multiple groups to enact a hierarchy or preferential treatment that still privileges a selected group (e.g., targeted museum collections, scholarship programs) under the banner of social justice.
    • Historical note: the Civil Rights movement in Black communities intersected with Indigenous rights movements; in some cases, forms of advocacy (e.g., Native American movements) used analogous structures to challenge oppression.

  • Archaeology, representation, and collaboration with tribes

    • Archaeology has historically underrepresented Indigenous peoples; current best practice emphasizes collaboration with tribes.
    • Consultation and government-to-government interaction are legal mechanisms to ensure ethical engagement with Indigenous communities.
    • The Society for American Archaeology has Indigenous scholarship funds and emphasizes collaboration and repatriation.

  • Population, sovereignty, and governance: federal recognition vs state recognition

    • Population counts: exact numbers of Indigenous people are hard to determine due to evolving self-identification and historical factors; early settlement and epidemics dramatically affected populations.
    • Federally recognized tribes: there are 574 federally recognized tribes as of 2025 (up from 566 in 2022).
    • Federal recognition vs state recognition: federal recognition confers access to federal programs (e.g., education, health) and applies federal laws to tribes; state recognition is separate and typically does not confer the same federal program access.
    • Enrollment and membership: tribes often rely on enrollment numbers, birth or blood quantum, matrilineal/patrilineal rules, and tribal constitutions to determine membership.
    • The BIA (Bureau of Indian Affairs): a U.S. federal agency under the Department of the Interior (formerly in a different department); manages interactions with tribes; the legal root of federal-tribal authority lies with Congress and the Constitution.
    • Blood quantum and enrollment: some tribes require a percentage of enrolled descent (blood quantum) or matrilineal/patrilineal rules; there is no single universal criterion across all tribes.
    • Tribal enrollment and self-identification: individuals may petition a tribe to become a recognized member; base rolls are the original list of members in a tribal constitution.

  • Sovereignty, jurisdiction, and the trust relationship

    • Sovereignty: the authority of Indigenous nations to govern themselves within U.S. borders; often described as “domestic dependent nations” (Marshall, Cherokee Nation v. Georgia, 1831).
    • Government-to-government relations: sovereignty is expressed through government-to-government interactions between tribal governments and the U.S. federal government; the Commerce Clause is a constitutional basis for federal authority over tribal relations.
    • The Cherokee Nation v. Georgia (1831) case: established that tribes are domestic dependent nations; states do not hold authority over tribes, while the U.S. government has a trust relationship with tribes.
    • Federally recognized tribes operate under a trust relationship with Congress; federal laws can affect tribes, and tribal governance operates within that framework.
    • Jurisdictional complexities: tribes have authority on reservations; criminal jurisdiction is often shared between tribal, state, and federal courts; some crimes (e.g., certain crimes committed by non-members off-reservation) may fall outside tribal jurisdiction and require federal handling.
    • The trust responsibility: the U.S. government holds land and resources in trust, managing them for the benefit of tribes; this can include timber, mineral rights, and other resources; revenues may be shared or taxed differently, and breaches of trust have occurred in court cases.
    • NAGPRA (Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act): protects and repatriates Native remains and sacred objects; applies to federally recognized tribes and trust lands; the process involves consultation with tribes for repatriation.

  • Historical policy and land: treaties, removal, and reservations

    • Many federally recognized tribes originated from treaties with Congress; these treaties established reservations and specific rights, but Congress stopped ratifying treaties in the 1850s.
    • Eastern removal (Trail of Tears era): 1830s policies under Andrew Jackson aimed to relocate Eastern tribes to the West (Indian Territory, now Oklahoma); some groups were removed, others remained in place or found ways to adapt.
    • The concept of traditional homelands is fluid; displacement and removal disrupted many Indigenous communities and led to new distributions across the U.S.
    • The existence of reservations varies by region; some groups were left in place due to geographic or political factors, while others were moved and confined to specific areas.
    • The western U.S. contains high populations of Indigenous people in both reservations and urban centers; population by county shows concentrations in the West, with notable urban Indigenous populations in places like Houston, Austin, etc.
    • Language distributions do not perfectly map onto traditional homelands; language use can persist in places that differ from historical homelands due to displacement and intermarriage.

  • Numbers, recognition, and contemporary governance

    • Federal recognition is a legal status with specific benefits and obligations; not all Indigenous groups are federally recognized.
    • The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) and related policies apply to federally recognized tribes and trust lands; unrecognized bands may face different pathways for repatriation and recognition.
    • Tribal sovereignty is the goal of self-government; in practice, sovereignty remains constrained by federal laws, the trust relationship, and ongoing jurisdictional complexities.
    • The concept of (and debates around) sovereignty, recognition, and self-determination continue to shape policy and tribal governance.

  • Practical implications and takeaways for your work

    • When discussing Indigenous groups, use the specific tribal name whenever possible and distinguish between federally recognized status and cultural/linguistic identity.
    • Be mindful of historical policies (e.g., assimilation/boarding schools) that shaped self-identification and census reporting in the 20th century.
    • Recognize that genetics cannot determine Indigenous identity or tribal membership; identity is cultural, legal, and political as well as biological.
    • Understand that race is a social construct with real social impacts (e.g., health disparities) but not a precise biological category.
    • In archaeology and anthropology, emphasize collaboration with Indigenous communities, respect for sovereignty, and government-to-government consultation.

  • Quick reference dates and facts (as mentioned in the lecture)

    • Columbus reaches the Americas in the Caribbean: 1492
    • Conquest of the Aztecs: 1521
    • Coronado expedition: reaches Kansas in 1541
    • Early culture-area concept development (late 19th century) for museum contexts
    • Boarding/school era and assimilation policies intensify in the late 19th to mid-20th centuries
    • American Indian Religious Freedom Act: 1978
    • Cherokee Nation v. Georgia: 1831
    • Indian Removal policy and Trail of Tears era: 1830s (Eastern tribes moved west)
    • 1831 decision establishing domestic dependent nations and government-to-government framework
    • Senate/House and federal actions continued to shape treaty rights, land trust, and recognition into the present
    • Population recognition: 566 federally recognized tribes in 2022; 574 federally recognized tribes in 2025 (current count)

  • Practical reflection questions you might encounter

    • How should you refer to Indigenous groups in academic writing to respect sovereignty and avoid flattening diversity?
    • What are the differences between federal recognition and state recognition, and how do they affect access to programs and protections?
    • How does the concept of sovereignty interact with the U.S. Constitution and the Commerce Clause in real-world governance and law?
    • In what ways can archaeology and anthropology practice reciprocal collaboration with tribes to address past underrepresentation and improve ethical standards?
    • Why is race considered a social construct with real health and social impacts, despite lacking a strict biological basis?