Researching Native Families: Challenging Colonial Notions of Native Kinship and Family
A special issue of Genealogy (ISSN 2313-5778). This special issue belongs to the section "Family History".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (1 March 2024) | Viewed by 3163
Special Issue Editors
Interests: Ho-Chunk biography; urban Native Americans; diaspora; transnationalism; native feminisms; gender and cultural citizenship; relationship between Native Americans and anthropology, citizenship, and anti-racist education
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
This Special Issue will investigate the growing field of Native family studies by focusing on family/tribal history, human and more-than-human kinship and families, queer and two-spirit families, genetic testing to find Native families, pretendians and family lore, non-federal recognition and family, California Indians and family, mixed identities and family, Native adoption and families, and Indigenous/Native methodologies and family. For Indigenous peoples, knowing one’s family and kinship relations are pivotal for tribal belonging and identity. Since the beginning of colonization, Natives, according to Philip Deloria, have experienced settlers playing Indian while claiming rights to Indigenous land and resources. Vine Deloria Jr., in Custer Died For Your Sins, discusses how many Americans argue that they are Native because of a Cherokee grandmother. Elizabeth Warren, Elizabeth Hoover, Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond, Carrie Bourassa, and Andrea Smith are high-profile examples of public figures who have claimed to be Native because of family lore. Scholars have written about Native/Indigenous families from multiple methodologies and varied points of view, and this Special Issues seeks to reflect and expand upon these conversations. The concept of family for Native people often extends to our more-than-human kin, and this deep and profound connection encourages Natives to fight to protect our more-than-human relatives. This notion of Native family can bridge time and space, motivating Natives to protect their ancestors who have passed away and whose remains are trapped in colleges and universities or in unmarked graves at Native boarding and residential schools. California Indians struggle to find their Indigenous ancestors and families within mission archives while often dealing with a lack of federal recognition and living without a land base. Natives who are of mixed identity fight to create a sense of family while coming from multiple backgrounds. Natives who were adopted by white families struggle to find their Indigenous ancestors and tribe to claim a sense of tribal identity. All of these wide-ranging examples illustrate how Native family studies and experiences are a complicated and varied field.
Prof. Dr. Renya Ramirez
Dr. Brittani R. Orona
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
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Keywords
- family/tribal history
- pretendians
- family lore
- queer
- two spirit
- genetic testing
- more-than-humans or non-humans
- native ancestors
- non-federal recognition
- tribal sovereignty
- settler colonialism
- native adoption
- California Indian
- indigenous/native family methodologies
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