American Indian Identity

This single-volume book contends that reshaping the paradigm of American Indian identity, blood quantum, and racial distinctions can positively impact the future of the Indian community within America and America itself.

This academic compendium examines the complexities associated with Indian identity in North America, including the various social, political, and legal issues impacting Indian expression in different periods; the European influence on how self-governing tribal communities define the rights of citizenship within their own communities; and the effect of Indian mascots, Thanksgiving, and other cultural appropriations taking place within American society on the Indian community. The book looks at and proposes solutions to the controversies surrounding the Indian tribal nations and their people.

The authors—all leading advocates of Indian progress—argue that tribal governments and communities should reconsider the notion of what comprises Indian identity, and in doing so, they compare and contrast how indigenous people around the world define themselves and their communities. Chapters address complex questions under the discourse of Indian law, history, philosophy, education, political science, anthropology, art, psychology, and civil rights. Topics covered in depth include blood quantum, racial distinctions, First Nations, and tribal citizenship.

Se-ah-dom Edmo is coordinator of the Indigenous Ways of Knowing program at Lewis & Clark College, director for the Oregon Tribal Histories and Sovereignty Curriculum Design Project, and vice president of the Oregon Indian Education Association. Her tribal affiliations are Shoshone-Bannock, Yakama, and Nez Perce.

Jessie Young is an enrolled citizen of the Confederated Tribes of Coos, Lower Umpqua, and Siuslaw Indians. Young is an attorney advisor for the Department of Interior, Office of the Regional Solicitor, Portland, OR. The views expressed in the book are her own and do not necessarily reflect those of the Department of the Interior or the United States.

Alan Parker is a professor at the Maori Indigenous University located in Whakatane, New Zealand.

Robert J. Miller is a citizen of the Eastern Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma, professor at the Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law, Arizona State University, and the Chief Justice for the Grand Ronde Tribe.