City University of Seattle Library: Indigenous Research and Ethics: Indigenous Histories

Identifying Communities and Histories

Situating Place - Identifying Names, Territories, Treaties and Languages

One of the first steps in engaging with Indigenous cultures and communities, is to increase your understanding of the breath and depth of Indigenous history in the place you live, work, or want to do research.

Not sure where to begin?

The online platform, Native-Land.ca enables users to "interact with maps of Indigenous territories, treaties, and languages, and locate themselves and their favorite places on the map. Fundamentally, the maps aim to visualize the complexity and diversity of Indigenous peoples, nations, and cultures across the Americas, Australia, and increasingly the world, so that non-Indigenous and Indigenous people alike can increase their understanding and knowledge of the breadth and depth of Indigenous history in these places."

As Native-Land.ca acknowledges, "[t]his tool is not meant to be an official, legal, or archival resource. It is instead a broadly researched and crowdsourced body of information. It is meant to encourage education and engagement on topics of Indigenous land—particularly, where you are located."

(Native Land Digital Teacher's Guide, 2019)

Native Land Digital

Sources for further exploration

Belshaw, J., Nickel, S., & Horton, C. (2020). Histories of Indigenous Peoples and Canada.
This book is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.
The Canadian Encyclopedia - Indigenous Peoples Collection
A collection of articles on Inuit, First Nations, and Métis history and culture.
Indigenous Peoples and Communities (Canada)
Assembly of First Nations: It's Our Time Education Toolkit
The AFN Toolkit consists of 22 learning modules that have been designed to enhance the understanding of important First Nations topics to ensure both students and teachers are learning in and out of the classroom.
Tribal Nations & the United States : An Introduction
Nations and Tribes of Washington State
Since Time Immemorial: Tribal Sovereignty in Washington State
In 2015, the Washington State Legislature passed Senate Bill 5433 modifying the original 2005 legislation, now requiring the Since Time Immemorial: Tribal Sovereignty in Washington State or other tribally-developed curriculum be taught in all schools. The use of the Since Time Immemorial curriculum has been endorsed by all 29 federally recognized tribes.

Choosing Appropriate Search Terms

Considering Vocabulary and Search Strategies

The article linked below, "Researching Native Americans : Reflections on vocabulary, search strategies, and technology," provides insight into the strategies and techniques needed to thoroughly conduct library research in this area.

Need help?

Soto, A., Sanchez, A. B., Mueller-Alexander, J., & Martin, J. (2021). Researching Native Americans: Reflections on Vocabulary, Search Strategies, and Technology. Online Searcher, 45(5), 10-19.
The authors of "Researching Native Americans: Reflections on Vocabulary, Search Strategies, and Technology" (2021), believe "research on Indigenous peoples requires contextualized knowledge of the tribe(s) and the area of inquiry to better explore contemporary and historical academic research. The various terms used to describe Indigenous peoples must be used in searching, and an understanding of how the dominant society has interpreted and classified their epistemologies into academic disciplines must also be considered....

[The authors] recommend that students and researchers assemble a comprehensive list of synonyms for Indigenous peoples to gather any and all resources in electronic databases. If this list of synonymous search terms is not gathered, simple, single-phrase searches like “Native American” will lead to poor retrieval that ignores the cultural heterogeneity of the hundreds and hundreds of Indigenous tribes in the U.S." (12).

Indigenous Language Learning Resources

The links below are only a sampling of the kinds of resources available for language learning. Individual Nations may have more specific resources or programs available.