Indians losing identity - or have we already lost it???

As a proud Indian citizen I continue to get frustrated by people who make the common mistake of using my ethnic-national identity label on others who are not even remotely connected to my country or ethnicity. It makes me wonder if there is even one individual out of the billion plus Indians who feel the same way about this issue.

Every so often things come up in the media that frustrate me to no end. One of the biggest that makes my skin crawl and blood boil is the issue of ethnic identity. Few million "Native Americans" in compliance with few million more Europeans and Africans continuously assault our identity. The first group have the audacity to continue to refer to themselves as "Indians" even though they know that they are not and for that matter never were the owners of the identity label. The second and third groups continue to foment the myth of Indian identity label for Native Americans. What is worse is the fact that over a million real Indians in the United States and a billion plus in the rest of the world are blissfully accepting this labeling without as much as a squeak of protest.

Recently I listened to a radio program on NPR presented by of course the famous Lourdess Garcia-Navarro, International correspondent based in Sao Paulo, Brazil, which was inappropriately titled "Brazil's Indians Reclaim Land Citing Promises, Using Force". Of course she is writing about the indigenous people of Brazil. In her biography page on NPR it is claimed that "Garcia-Navarro captured history in the making with stunning insight, courage and humanity." I wonder where this insight vanished when she is referring to Native Americans or whatever tribal nation they belong to as Indians. This reporter has been feted multiple times in various forums for excellence in reporting.

The reporting excellence seems to vanish when it comes to reporting the truth about Indians - of course the real ones from India and not those who are piggybacking on the label just because of a mistake made by Spaniard Christopher Columbus.

Losing our legacy!

A recent conversation at work made me extremely sad. Few days ago during lunch break one of my colleagues was talking about her family weekend outing to a Christian retreat in rural Texas. She was describing how peaceful and serene the locale was and revealed that every morning the retreat conducted prayers and Yoga. I was silently listening and others in the room chipped in their conversation about how beneficial Yoga was and how they all like to learn and perform the exercises and meditate during.

One of them was even saying how great "Christian Yoga" was for the mind, body and spirit. Another colleague turned to me and asked "Do you know about Yoga? I know Yoga is an Eastern practice...." I responded suitably and the conversation went on.

The reason I am sharing it here is because I am so depressed by the fact that we Indians have lost everything in the eyes of the west. We lost our independence and freedom when the Muslims started invading us. Then we lost all our wealth thanks to the marauding mobs of Muslims. We lost our identity sometime in 1400s when Christopher Columbus landed here and branded the tribal people "Indians". Then we lost our economy, and got enslaved by the British.

After independence we lost our sense of thinking what is right for our civilization, nation and society. Unfortunately we have become so selfish that we only think of what is right for me and my family, even if it means compromising our identity, culture, tradition and legacy.

I wonder what we will lose next! Maybe our history!

NPR/ KERA repeats identity blunder!

Ever since I came to the United States, I have been disturbed by the fact that even after 500 odd years, the Euro-American majority have not begun to attempt to correct the historical error. i.e. the wrong identity label stamped upon the original peoples of this country/ continent from whom the Europeans usurped the land and built this glorious nation. These original people continue to be referred to as "Indians" even though everyone in the world knows that only those people from India can be referred to by this identity label. The original peoples should be referred to by their ethnic identity, such as Cherokee, Chickasaw, Comanche, etc. There was not one or two such distinctly different ethnic groups but more than 700 before the first Europeans even stepped on this land.

Recently I was listening to National Public Radio while commuting to work and I hear about this important Native American ceremony. The news report was about the first peoples of this nation commemorating the birth of a White Buffalo Calf. The news report started off politically correct by referring to these people as "Native Americans" but as the story progressed it changed once again to refer to them as "Indians".

I wonder how many more centuries these Euro-Americans will take to realize that they need to correct their erroneous identity labels. More than that I am amazed at the billion plus Indians in India and the few million Indians in the United States of America who are silently watching this historical blunder repeat itself again and again. I don't know whether people from India are even aware of the misuse their ethnic identity is undergoing.

I know being one individual I can't fight the system that has been established for over 500 years but I can make my protest to this gross misuse of my ethnic identity label to refer to someone who is not even remotely associated to my culture, nationality, or ethnicity.

Smart, Business Savvy, But Unaware or Callous???

I continue to blog about the gross injustice the western world is inflicting on easterners... particularly people from India. First when people in the US or Europe say "Asian" or "Asia" they mean "China". This is a recent phenomenon since the west began to access cheap goods produced by slave labor in China.

What I am blogging today is about a greater and more historical injustice that continues to go unnoticed in the greater consciousness of the entire Western world and almost everyone in the Eastern world also. This is the identity mistake that has endured since the past 500 years and has not been corrected despite the arrival of the internet that has ushered in the information age and created knowledge explosion.

Yes I am talking about the identity label of "Indian" being hijacked by people of "Native American" tribes. Today I listened to a radio program titled "Smiling Indians" on NPR. Quite predictably this program spoke about the Native Americans or the original inhabitants of continental America, most of whom were massacred by the European settlers when they started colonizing this continent.

Well I understand that Christopher Columbus was totally mistaken when he landed here and discovered the new world for Europeans to exploit and conquer. But isn't it high time for the world to recognize that these people are not "Indians" but are whatever nations they profess to belong to.

I am amazed by the fact that these "Native Americans" are also not standing up to claim their true national/ tribal identity and are piggybacking on the "Indian" identity label. How much longer will they remain oblivious of their own roots and compromise their ethnic identity for the collective label often used in a derogatory sense: "Indian".

I am totally shocked that the fairly influential and large Indian diaspora living in the US since the past several decades have quietly accepted the title of "East Indians" and allowed their true identity to be pegged on to the Tribals of America. I wonder when these people: Indians and Native Americans will get educated and start labeling themselves correctly.

I hope this happens in my lifetime.... or is it too much to hope for???

Hindu Pride.... Abysmally low....

Throughout my short life I have come across people of many religions. What makes everyone different from people of Hindu faith is the pride of followers or lack thereof. I have come across very few Hindus who are proud of their religious identity... more so if they are from India or those born in the United States. This is ironical because everything that has come from Hinduism is trendy, cool and sought after in the United States. Even in the so-called Bible belt of US Yoga is popular, meditation is trendy, Kirtan, chanting of Sanskrit mantras are popular.

When it comes to identifying oneself as a Hindu, there is a huge gap. People from India would rather identify themselves by their regional, linguistic, national, or caste identity rather than their larger religious identity. This is perhaps why even Europeans who have gotten attracted to Hinduism's philosophy are hesitant to say they are Hindus but say they like "Eastern Philosophies" better than "Western ideologies".

I wonder when Hindus will start taking pride in their religious identity?

Proud to be an "Indian"!

In my three years of living in the US I have come across people from several nationalities, cultures, and ethnic groups. One thing I have noticed is that the people who are the most proud to be "Indian" or "part Indian" are not people from the great nation of India. In fact they are not even remotely connected by family or heritage ties to the nation of India. Can you guess who these people are and why they are claiming to be "Indian"?

Yeah, you guessed it right. These are "White People" or "Euro Americans". I have come across several of these people who are "as white as they get" and they say "I'm 1/8th Cherokee Indian" or "My great-grand father was Navajo Indian," or "I have some Indian ancestry," etc. When I hear such comments I wonder about the rationale of their observations. Knowledge, Education, and technology has connected the world and made it a global village, but have failed in correcting the gross historical mistake in the consciousness of the Euro-Americans... including the Spanish-Americans. When I say Americans here I am talking about the Citizens of all nations of both North and South America.

History is evidence to the fact that Christopher Columbus set out looking for a route to India and thanks to pathetic navigation skills he landed in South America instead of India. The people he saw there he thought they were Indians because he was sure that he reached India. We all know this but over the past five hundred years people have become aware of the stupidity of Columbus, but they haven't felt the need to correct the historical mistake. This includes common people, highly educated academics, government officials, and the people affected.

There are two distinct groups of people who are affected by this false nomenclature or identity tagging. The first of course is the "Native American" or "First Nations" peoples who have their own distinct tribal/ national identity of being a "Cherokee", "Choctaw", "Navajo" or whatever which is completely lost under the common umbrella of "Indian" or "American Indian". Second group which is affected to a greater extent is the real Indians, i.e. people from the world's most spiritually advanced Nation of India. We have been unnecessarily branded as tribal with no refined culture, science, education or nationality by getting equated to these "Native Americans".

It is surprising that there has not been any organized movement from either groups to correct the historical blunder. The Native American people seem comfortable with the identity label of "Indian", as evidenced by the names of their organizations such as "American Indian Chamber of Commerce" "Bureau of Indian Affairs" etc. The people of India are so naive that they don't mind sharing their ethnic identity label with anyone and everyone in the world even if it means accepting a derogatory name, listening to insulting comments and having their ethnicity challenged.

The people who made the mistake don't care because they can't admit that their ancestors were at fault. It hurts their ego. Also by branding people from India as tribal they can assert their own Euro-Supremacist identity and attitude.

I wonder why everyone is silent to this historical blunder. I don't expect anything from academics because they have always historically been involved in finding ways and means to brand India as a nation full of tribal, superstitious, stupid, slave-like peoples. But I am appalled by the way Native Americans have let this identity label be applied to them even in this age of awareness. I wonder why they have not asserted their own national identity. They can stress that their heritage is "Cherokee, Navajo, Apache, Comanche,... etc" instead of adding the "Indian" suffix to their nation's name. By doing so they are actually diluting their own national pride and respect to their nation. People from India, their complacence in handling issues of national identity, civilization pride and respect make me wonder.

I believe that it is high time everyone stepped in to correct this historical blunder and stop being stupid. Teachers, academia, government, media, and most importantly the people should resolve these identity conflicts so everyone can be at peace and not confused.

Ethnic Identity Crisis for the original inhabitants of the US

I have been cribbing about the fact that the original inhabitants of Continental America are being erroneously referred to as "Indians" leading to lot of confusion and humiliation to us the people who truly have right for this ethnic identity title. Recently for my class project I took up this subject and reviewed three scholarly literature sources. I thought I would share it with the readers of my blog and elicit your opinions on the subject.

Indian, American Indian, Native American, and Alaska Native: Which Is The Right Ethnic Identity For The Indigenous Peoples Of Continental America?

Ever since Christopher Columbus landed in Continental America in 1492 in his search for India and erroneously called the indigenous peoples of this continent as Indians, the racial and ethnic identity label has persisted (Robert F Berkhofer Jr. 4 quoted by Bird 5). Though it has been five centuries since and the world has become aware of Columbus’ erroneous perception of the real identity of indigenous peoples of continental America, the federal and state governments, media, and academia in the US continue to refer to them as Indians. In fact there is a Bureau of Indian Affairs under the US Department of Interior to provide services to the people of indigenous descent. Over time this identity label has evolved to include terms such as American Indian, Native American, Amerindian, Alaska Native, among others, but none of them are correct. This persistent erroneous nomenclature of the indigenous peoples of US by everyone including the government has led to great deal of confusion. In this conundrum of identities the fact that people from India are the rightful owners of the identity title Indian, Indian American and American Indian (the last two refer to Indians who have immigrated to the United States) has been totally ignored.
To learn more about this ethnic identity crises and understand what the indigenous peoples of continental America feel about being referred to as Indians, I have chosen three scholarly journal articles on this subject. These articles attempt to resolve the identity crises of the indigenous populations of continental America and arrive at a suitable acceptable ethnic identity label. In the first paper titled What We Want To Be Called: Indigenous Peoples’ Perspectives on Racial and Ethnic Identity Labels, Michael Yellow Bird attempts to define the right ethnic identity title for the entire population of indigenous peoples. In Renaming Ourselves On Our Own Terms: Race, Tribal Nations, and Representation in Education, Cornel Pewewardy makes a strong case for self determination of identity for indigenous peoples and moving away from titles thrust upon them by colonizing Europeans. Carole L. Seyfrit, Lawrence C. Hamilton, Cynthia M. Duncan and Jody Grimes discuss how ethnic identity influences the aspirations of youth of indigenous populations in Alaska in their journal article Ethnic Identity and Aspirations among Rural Alaska Youth.
What We Want to Be Called: Indigenous Peoples' Perspectives on Racial and Ethnic Identity Labels, focuses on the fact that the terms “First Nations Peoples” or “Indigenous Peoples” should be the new ethnic identity labels of the indigenous populations of United States. The article rues the fact that the terms “Indian” and “American Indian” are the current identity labels simply because they were “uncritically imposed” upon them by colonizing Europeans (Bird 3). Further in the article the author explains why it is difficult to group the entire indigenous population under one identity and makes a serious attempt to arrive at a consensus about the type of nomenclature that would appropriate to refer to the unified mass of indigenous peoples of continental America.
The title of the article suggests that there are several members of the indigenous peoples speaking out in favor of self determination of their ethnic identity. Given that there were more than “560” unique groups of indigenous peoples each with their own ethnic identity label before the colonizing Europeans arrived it is understandable that they do not wish to be placed under a blanket ethnic identity label. Moreover current terminologies in use including “Indian”, “Native American”, and “American Indian” are colonized identities (Bird 6). The authors feels that there is a dire need to move away from these stereotyped identities and define their own unique and empowering ethnic identity label. The title also indicates that the author is quite unhappy with the current terminology used to identify him and his community and wants to change this identity perception.
A clear problem statement with a detailed explanation about the social, economic, and historical context is made right at the beginning. The fact that the First Nations people or indigenous people are not a uniform group but belong to over “560 distinct tribes, including 233 Alaska Native villages” is one of the strong reasons given by the author to prove that they should not be grouped under one ethnic identity label (Bird 4). Popular media has also used the terms “Indian”, “American Indian”, “redskins”, “savages” in demeaning manner (Bird 6). He rues the fact that this kind of labeling creates stereotypes which has led to the people of First Nations being frowned upon as those who are not ready for modern civilization. “Because these labels have an overwhelming negative effect on the identity of all Indigenous Peoples and can institutionalize feelings of racism and discrimination toward these groups, many Indigenous Peoples have spearheaded efforts to call for the end of using these labels” (Bird 5).
One of the popularly accepted ethnic identity label which has become prevalent during the second half of the 20th century is Native American. This identity would include anyone born in continental US and as such not acceptable. Speaking about this identity label, the author successfully argues against it. “While the label ‘Native American’ may not have the baggage of stereotypes associated with the term ‘Indian’ it still reflects a monolithic identity of Indigenous Peoples and gives the impression that these lands were referred to as ‘America’ by its Indigenous Peoples, which, of course, they were not,” (Bird 5).
Reading this article I get the impression that there have been several attempts by educated people of indigenous heritage to get rid of the racially discriminating and demeaning ethnic identity label imposed by colonizing Europeans and Americans. One of them has been spearheaded by the author himself. He cites his experiences of using different identities in order to resist the designs of colonial powers to impose an oppressive identity upon all the indigenous peoples. He feels that the terms “First Nations Peoples” and “Indigenous Peoples” can be used to replace the racially demeaning identity labels (Bird 7).
The primary sources of information for this article are members of the members of Association of American Indian and Alaska Natives Professors (AAIANP), who are professors, graduate students or faculty members of various universities in the US. I think this makes the article unique because all respondents are of indigenous heritage. The respondents were asked four discussion questions by electronic mail and their responses analyzed to arrive at the conclusion. According to the author though the questions were sent to 107 members out of a total of 345, only 19 responded (Bird 8).
In matters such as this it is important that a large number of people are interviewed to find out the collective opinion. This particular research paper’s main weakness is that there are too few respondents and as such it is difficult to establish credibility to the findings. Since the number of respondents is so low, this research runs the risk of not being taken seriously. A point the author also concedes: “The opinions reported in this paper have several limitations and cannot be generalized to the general population of Indigenous Peoples or members of the AAIAN” (Bird 8).
At the very end of the article the author comes to the conclusion that the identity label “Indian” rightfully belongs to the people of India as corroborated by a large majority of the respondents. Though many of his primary sources accept being called Indians or American Indians just because it is a term used since several hundred years and has become an accepted norm, the author concludes the article by saying that the “what is most important in the struggle to define racial and ethnic labels are representative of Indigenous Peoples is that these groups do not lose their identities as the First Nations of these lands.” (Bird 19)
I feel that this article is a significant work in the realm of ethnic identity of the indigenous peoples of continental America. The author has successfully defined who is a member of the First Nations and who is a Native American and why these people should not be called Indians or American Indians. This is a pioneering attempt to involve indigenous peoples to define their ethnic identity and will serve as a reference to academics, researchers, minority groups of first nations and true Indians living in the United States.
In the article titled Renaming Ourselves On Our Own Terms: Race, Tribal Nations, and Representation in Education, Cornel Pewewardy uses quotations from several eminent people of indigenous heritage to drive home the point that self determination of identity and moving away from racially demeaning stereotypical titles thrust upon them by colonizing Europeans is the only way forward. This treatise is written more like a personal memoir interspersed with serious facts and quotations. The author starts the article by stating that Columbus not only started the process of colonization of continental America but also represents the legacy of suffering inflicted upon indigenous populations and destruction of their cultures (Smith cited by Pewewardy par. 1).
The mechanics of European colonization of continental America lead to imposition of racially demeaning identities to cover the entire mass of indigenous peoples of the continent. In a bid to completely subjugate the indigenous populations the colonizers resorted to dilution and sometimes destruction of their heritage and culture by imposing foreign identities and ways of life. Within the first few paragraphs the author makes it clear that this article has been written to discuss the themes of linguistic imperialism, race, tribal nations and their representation in education, and tribal identity (Pewewardy par. 3).
Like Bird in the previously cited article, Pewewardy also toys with the several different identity labels used in popular media to define the indigenous peoples of America and comes to the same conclusion that none of the ascribed terms, Indian, American Indian, Native American and Amerindian were right and gave the impression “as if we had no power to define other choices” (Pewewardy par. 4). He successfully argues that these identities denote nothing but negativism. As if on retrospective thought the author seems to praise the fact that some academics have evolved identity labels which such as “First Nations People” and “Indigenous peoples” which denote positive meanings and respectable identity. The author expresses happiness that “some tribal nations have started to tribal nations have started to take back their original names for themselves: Diné (formerly Navajo); Ho-Chunk (formerly Winnebago);” (Pewewardy par. 5).
The next section of the article starts off with a number of quotes on the subject from academics of indigenous heritage. I feel that Pewewardy is using these quotes to try and make his case stronger. If the author had have limited himself to quote only the most significant ones, it would have a made a better impact. Further on the author rues the fact that most indigenous peoples seem to have forgotten that they had distinct names, based on history, heritage, cultural bonds and thousands of years of tribal learning. All of them destroyed by influx of colonizing Europeans who with their implicit and explicit superiority complex subjugated and oppressed the indigenous populations. “many tribes forgot the origin of their names and also how, as Indigenous Peoples, we came to be given alien English names by people outside our tribes” (Pewewardy par. 16).
There seems to be some kind of a discrepancy between the title of the article and the subjects covered within. When I read the title I expected the article to deliberate about ways and means of how indigenous peoples of the United States can arrive at an acceptable identity labels for their race, nation and how the same can be represented in education. While the bulk of the article deals with the subject of defining racial and tribal identities, there are large sections which discuss things such as linguistic imperialism, cultural hegemony and racism. I feel the article should have been titled better to reflect these subjects too. Discussing the difference between race and ethnicity the author emphasizes that “Ethnicity implies history, culture, location, creativity” (Obinga quoted by Pewewardy par. 48). On the other hand the author rues the fact that oppressive European powers have confused the indigenous populations with the concept of race and color and made them forget their ethnicity and tribal identity.
Towards the conclusion of the article I get the impression that the author seems to be confused as to what the future holds for him and his people. He also goes into a preachy mode and exhorts his tribal brethren to “cleanse our thinking of gross error” and apply themselves to appropriate systems and structures and support a healing process for affected tribal families (Pewewardy par. 61). It appears as if the author is trying to make an attempt to bring all the indigenous populations within one umbrella identity but loses his tracks along the way and towards the end tries to regain tracks again. I believe that this article’s strength lies in its effective delineation and discussion of a wide array of tribal issues with a clear focus towards the future. This article is a must read for the 1.6 million indigenous peoples in the United States (BIS par. 1). It could also prove to be a useful resource for researchers, students and faculty members of sociological and anthropological studies departments in universities and colleges.
The third journal article I studied for this paper is titled: Ethnic Identity and Aspirations among Rural Alaska Youth and has been written by four researchers Carole L. Seyfrit, Lawrence C. Hamilton, Cynthia M. Duncan, and Jody Grimes. This article is a result of “survey data from adolescents in 19 rural schools to explore relationships between ethnic identity and students' expectations about moving away or attending college” (Seyfrit 1). What I found unique about this article is that this not only speaks about the ethnic identity of the respondents but successfully links it to their perceptions of life, education and career. The authors of this article seem to view the people of Alaska as “Eskimo, Indian or Aleut” but the respondents define themselves as “mixed, native or non-native”.
The authors begin the article by giving an overview of the socio-geo-economic picture of the arctic state, explaining how difficult life is out there and facts about the sparse population of the region. The authors explain that “although Natives comprise less than 16% of the state's population, they make up 54% in communities having fewer than 1,000 people. Many villages are more than 90% Native” (Seyfrit 3). Here again the authors don’t even attempt to make a distinction between the different groups of indigenous peoples but include them under the umbrella of “Indians”.
In primitive labor-oriented societies it quite natural that native youth prefer to take on their ancestral family occupations and continue to live in the same area. It does not need special education or college degrees to learn their family trade; on the other hand descendents of non-natives would tend to be drawn towards white-dominated urban locales. “That is, ethnic identity might affect youths' image of where they belong and what they should do” (Seyfrit 4).
This article essentially focuses on the educational accomplishments of native versus non-native youth and provides tables and charts to present their findings. The most relevant section of the article to this study is titled Ethnic Identity. This section basically discusses how the construct of self-identity and ethnicity has come about in rural Alaska. “That is, ethnic identity might affect youths' image of where they belong and what they should do” (Seyfrit 9). Like in mainland United States, there exists a great deal of ethnic complexity in rural Alaska. The government has provided individuals with a set of mutually exclusive categories to arrive at their ethnic identity. “An individual might be identified, or asked to self-identify, as either an American Indian/Alaska Native or as a member of some other category such as Hispanic or white. Of course, many people actually have mixed ancestry” (Seyfrit 9). The authors discuss the fact that there have been so many mixed marriages that arriving at the correct ethnic identity of children born out of these unions are very difficult. According to the results of a 1995 survey presented in a well organized table 62% of the respondents identified themselves as Alaska Native (Aleut, Inupiat, Yupik, etc). These identity constructions are quite contrary to what is recorded in the US census records. The author cites instances where several students identified themselves as people of mixed heritage while the records classified them as “Native” (Seyfrit 10). This leads to a lot of confusion in the minds of these youth about who they really are.
The main strength of this article is the fact that the results of the survey conducted among the youth of rural Alaska are presented in a very reader-friendly and easy to understand manner. The authors employ charts, tables and graphs to present their findings and make their observations. The survey results are compared with the official records and the discrepancies in the ethnic identity are exposed to the reader. The title makes one feel that this article is a deliberation about the construct of ethnic identity and how it affects the aspirations about the future of youth of rural Alaska. The article is actually a quantitative study and analysis of the education, career and future aspirations of youth of rural Alaska. The question of ethnic identity is discussed in a very minor form in the article and as such doesn’t do justice to the title of the article.
Reading these three articles I came to the conclusion that the ethnic identity of the indigenous peoples of continental America is indeed a serious issue. The native or indigenous peoples are quite resentful about being branded as Indians, American Indians or any other blanket identity imposed upon them by colonizing Europeans and Americans. It is surprising that I didn’t come across any discordant voices of true Indian academics about the compromising of their ethnic identity. Towards the end of my reading and analysis I understand that both Indians from India and the indigenous peoples of America are unhappy with the fact that the European and American colonizers have held on to the erroneous ethnic identity while referring to the latter. Perhaps the small minority of academic voices is not enough to make the government and media listen and take action to let the indigenous peoples arrive at their own ethnic identity label.

Works Cited

Berkhofer Jr. Robert F., The White Man's Indian: Images of American Indians from Columbus to the Present. New York: Vintage, 1968.

Bird Michael Yellow, “What We Want to Be Called: Indigenous Peoples' Perspectives on Racial and Ethnic Identity Labels”. American Indian Quarterly, Vol. 23, No. 2 (Spring, 1999), pp. 1-21

Pewewardy Cornel, “Renaming Ourselves On Our Own Terms: Race, Tribal Nations, and Representation in Education”. Indigenous Nations Studies Journal, volume 1 No. 1 (Spring 2000).

Seyfrit Carole L., Hamilton Lawrence C., Duncan Cynthia M., Grimes Jody, “Ethnic Identity and Aspirations among Rural Alaska Youth”. Sociological Perspectives, Vol. 41, No. 2 (1998), pp. 343-365.

Smith, L.T. Decolonizing Methodologies: Research and Indigenous Peoples. New York: Zed Books 1999.