Lanterna Rally

Author: Nicole Renee Blalock

Publisher:

Published: 2013

Total Pages:

ISBN-13: 9781303537714

As universities across the country are becoming more diverse, responding to the impacts that assumptions about others has on the way we interact with colleagues, research participants, and communities is crucial for all scholars. In particular, the politics of identity, both actual and perceived, for Indigenous scholars in the Western Hemisphere is uniquely complex. Through a review of the relevant literature, the researcher described definitions and methods for understanding Indigenous identity, historical and contemporary influences on scholar identity formation, and discussed individual impacts of working within campus climates while experiencing microagression. The researcher constructed and administered an online, anonymous survey for federally un-Recognized Indigenous researchers. She also conducted oral history interviews with a small sample of participants, emphasizing scholars' experiences within academic communities. Utilizing Indigenous voices as the focal data, the researcher explored the experience of scholars in post-secondary institutions in the United States in relation to historical factors that have determined Indigeneity by colonial and racist measures. Demographic characteristics and relevant experiences of Indigenous scholars in tertiary institutions through out the United States are described. Obstacles to scholar confidence and support systems were identified within families, communities, and institutions. This preliminary work is the first project of its kind and provides groundwork for further exploration about the marginalization of Indigenous scholars in postsecondary institutions. The unique experiences of individual scholars appears to be related to the way in which their Indigenous status is un-Recognized.