The Complexities of American Indian Identity in the Twenty-First Century

Sean M. Daley and Christine Makosky Daley - With Ryan Goeckner and Jason Hale

Between 2011 and 2015, over 700 Native Americans from across the United States participated in Native 24/7, a mixed-methods study that delved into modern-day American Indian identities through semi-structured interviews with accompanying surveys. Using the perspectives, voices, and stories of these participants, Daley and Daley document how contemporary Native peoples feel, define, and contribute to the construction of Native identity on topics such as colonization, tribal enrollment, blood quantum, language, spirituality, family, and community.

Lexington Books

Pages: 164 • Trim: 6¼ x 9⅜

978-1-7936-4387-2 • Hardback • March 2023 • $90.00 • (£69.00)

978-1-7936-4388-9 • eBook • March 2023 • $45.00 • (£35.00)

Subjects: Social Science / Anthropology / Cultural, History / Native American, Social Science / Indigenous Studies, Social Science / American Studies

The Complexities of American Indian Identity in the Twenty-First Century

Hardback

eBook

Summary

Between 2011 and 2015, over 700 Native Americans from across the United States participated in Native 24/7, a mixed-methods study that delved into modern-day American Indian identities through semi-structured interviews with accompanying surveys. Using the perspectives, voices, and stories of these participants, Daley and Daley document how contemporary Native peoples feel, define, and contribute to the construction of Native identity on topics such as colonization, tribal enrollment, blood quantum, language, spirituality, family, and community.

Details

Lexington Books

Pages: 164 • Trim: 6¼ x 9⅜

978-1-7936-4387-2 • Hardback • March 2023 • $90.00 • (£69.00)

978-1-7936-4388-9 • eBook • March 2023 • $45.00 • (£35.00)

Subjects: Social Science / Anthropology / Cultural, History / Native American, Social Science / Indigenous Studies, Social Science / American Studies

Author

Sean M. Daley is co-founder and director of the Institute for Indigenous Studies at Lehigh University.
Christine Makosky Daley is professor and chair of the department of community and population health in the College of Health at Lehigh University, as well as the co-founder of the Institute for Indigenous Studies at Lehigh University.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1Methods and Participants
Chapter 2“So, What Should I Call You? Indian? Native? Something Else?”: Preferences for Terminology
Chapter 3“They’re Not On and Off Switches”: Culture, History, and Heritage
Chapter 4“Natives, We’re Good Relatives”: Family, Community, and Relationships
Chapter 5“I’m Only Indian on Sunday”: Religion and Spirituality
Chapter 6“A Necessary Evil”: Certificate of Degree of Indian Blood Cards
Chapter 7“Football and Mascots”: What We Have Learned

Reviews

At last! A detailed report illuminating the demographic, geographic, cultural characteristics of the diverse category of tribal citizens and non-citizens who identify as American Indian or Alaska Native. Grounded in many hundreds of qualitative and quantitative interviews, this welcome addition to the research literature also invites its participants to discuss what lies behind their shared identity assertion. Themes emerge related to ancestry, family and community connections, spiritual practice, relationships to the natural world, and more.

— Eva Garroutte, Boston College

This book makes an important contribution to a literature on Indigenous identity that had previously been primarily theoretical or grounded in personal experiences without systematic organization or analysis. The authors present data from a large, diverse, thoughtfully planned study, applying a robust yet not rigid methodology. The result is a clearly articulated multitude of voices describing complex, nuanced, and sometimes contradictory perspectives on Indigenous identity.

— Hilary Weaver, professor emeritus, University at Buffalo