American Indian Studies - Expanded

Introduction to American Indian Studies

American Indian Studies is a highly interdisciplinary field that focuses on history, culture, politics, issues, spirituality, and contemporary lives of the Native peoples of North America. Using a critical lens American Indian Studies draws from historical, anthropological, literary, political science and law sources to examine the relationship with colonizing societies, fight for political sovereignty, give voice to indigenous ways of knowing, and work for the good of Native peoples.

From the UMN American Indian Studies department: Through the exploration of indigenous narratives, heritage, and history, we strive to restore and promote the importance of American Indians in everyday life.

Whether you are searching in library databases, the library catalog, Google Scholar, or just plain Google, creating a good search query will help you to find relevant information. 

General search terms

General terms work well when starting your research, finding information that is not about a specific tribe, community or group, or when using a smaller database.

• American Indian
• Native American
• Indigenous
• First Nations (often used for indigenous groups in Canada)
• First Peoples

Library of Congress Subject Headings

Library of Congress Subject Headings can be particularly helpful when search library catalogs, archives, and digital collections. You can pair a subject heading search with additional subjects like education, folklore, languages, history, legal status, music, politics and government, social life and customs, and treaties, or with geographic locations like Great Plains or Minnesota.

Each item on the bulleted list below links to the UMN library search by Library of Congress Subject Heading.

• Indians of North America
• Indigenous peoples of North America
• Native American Studies
• United States, Administration for Native Americans
• American literature -- Indian authors
• Dakota Indians
• Ojibwe Indians

Specific search terms for Native groups with lands in Minnesota

Using more specific terms will yield fewer results, but the results will be more relevant to your topic. Searching by the names of tribes and nations is one way to find more specific information. Some information, particularly historic information may be found using names and terms that are no longer considered the proper terms. In some cases, the language used to describe Native and Indigenous Peoples is offensive.

For more information on terminology describing American Indian groups in Minnesota try the Why Treaties Matter Terminology Primer.

Terms used for Native American groups and nations in Minnesota:

• Dakota Indians 
• Sioux
• Ojibwe (sometimes Ojibwa, Ojibway) 
• Chippewa
• Anishinaabe

List of federally recognized Indian tribes in Minnesota.

Use the Native Land map to view ancestral lands and the effects of treaties on tribal boundaries.

Creating a search query

For most databases and even Google you can combine search terms to write a search query that databases understand. A good search query will give you a good selection of highly relevant results. Below are a few examples.

• Use quotation marks to search words as a phrase, ex. "American Indians"
• Use the word AND to link together concepts, ex. "American Indians" AND treaties
• Use the word OR to search for synonyms, ex. "American Indians" OR "Native Americans"

The University of Minnesota - Twin Cities is built on a portion of the traditional homelands of the Dakota people. The word "Minnesota" is derived from the Dakota name for this land, Mni Sota Makoce, meaning, Land Where the Waters Reflect the Sky. The University of Minnesota - Twin Cities was built upon land obtained through broken treaties, coercion, and without consent.

The University of Minnesota has campuses, offices, and lands located across the state of Minnesota. The state of Minnesota encompasses the traditional lands of the Dakota and Ojibwe. The Ho-Chunk, Cheyenne, Oto, Iowa, and Sac & Fox tribes also have ties to the lands of present day Minnesota. It is important to recognize that through bad-faith treaties, policies of genocide, forced removal and relocation that the state of Minnesota and the University of Minnesota came into existence. Today there are 11 federally-recognized tribal nations, and many Indigenous communities in rural and urban areas across the state.

To learn more about the history of the University and the land it resides on read: Where We Stand: The University of Minnesota and Dakhóta Treaty Lands (updated 2023) by Čhaŋtémaza (Neil McKay) and Monica Siems McKay. 

To learn more about the relationships between the University and the 11 federally recognized tribal nations in Minnesota read the Towards Recognition and University Tribal Healing (TRUTH) Project Report.

Use the Native Land map to view ancestral lands and the effects of treaties on tribal boundaries.

How to move forward from here? 

• Support reparations efforts that honor tribal sovereignty and communities.
• Support free tuition for all Native students (not just Minnesota students, Dakota and Ho-Chunk peoples were exiled from the state and have not returned. This is still their land.).
• Support returning ownership of stolen lands in present day Minnesota to the Dakota, Ojibwe, and Ho-Chunk peoples. 
• Support language revitalization efforts of native languages in your area. 

To learn more about land acknowledgements try the Writing Land Acknowledgements guide.