Although Gertrude Simmons Bonnin, a Yankton Sioux Indian from South Dakota, died in 1938, she left a legacy of activism for future generations of Indian leaders. As a writer of short stories and poetry under the pen name of Zitkala Sa, editor of the "Journal of the Society of American Indians," and collaborator on an opera ("The Sun…

Viewing indigenous peoples of the United States as ethnic/racial minorities is a misconception because there is no given ethnicity which might be correctly said to encompass the more than 400 distinctly identifiable ethnicities comprising what is lumped in the catchall category of "Native Americans" and because notions of ethnic/racial minority…

The Wapanakamikok, or Eastern Land People, have been forced to do a great deal of moving about since the beginning of European contact in 1607. The Lenape dialect of their common language is spoken today primarily in Oklahoma and Canada and descendents of Wapanakamikok groups are scattered in Wisconsin and Kansas as well. (The other two dialect…

Interest in the American Indian in West Germany is high. Romantic notions, derived from the novels of 19th century German writer Karl May and American westerns shown on German television, combined with a subtle anti-Americanism might be responsible for the American Indian Movement (AIM) support groups that have been forming among students and…

Indian/Tribal Studies are the bedrock upon which 22 tribally controlled community colleges have been built since the mid-1950s. These colleges have put substantial resources, personnel, and time into building Indian/Tribal Studies programs into flagship academic, cultural, and language institutes. They exhibit common traits including tribal…

After noting that Canadian and American scholars virtually ignore each other in the field of Native Studies, this paper summarizes sources of information for anyone interested in Canadian Native studies. The introduction mentions university programs and departments, newspaper coverage of Native issues, number of books and monographs published per…

Compiled for a course in Contemporary Indian Issues, this bibliography contains brief descriptions of lecture topics for each week of the 11-week course followed by bibliographic references that supplement the course texts. Many of the 106 entries are for books; but journals, government reports, and publications of Indian organizations are also…

This paper discusses the background of American Indian Studies as an academic discipline and offers a course syllabus that emphasizes cross cultural awareness and understanding of the forces and events that shaped the field of contemporary Indian affairs. The general education course for colleges and universities aims to generate mutual respect…

Beginning in the year 1568, American Indians were thrust into an alien educational environment in which their languages--the very expressions of their tribal cultures--had no relevance or validity from the perspective of their teachers. The evolution of educational policy as it has affected Indians was initially tied to land transfer and…