Decolonizing psychological inquiry in American Indian communities: The promise of qualitative methods.

Abstract

constitute the fastest growing ethnoracial group in the United States (Witko, 2006). In the 2010 national census, approximately 2.9 million people (0.9%) identified solely as American Indian or Alaska Native, with an additional 2.3 million (0.7%) identifying as American Indian-Alaska Native and at least one additional race (U.S. Census Bureau, 2011). Modern Native America is exceedingly diverse, tracing descent from hundreds of precontact societies, more than 200 languages, and dozens of religious traditions. There are currently 562 federally recognized tribes, with many others seeking federal recognition, that express limited powers of political sovereignty and nationhood (Gone, 2004). This diversity-which in many respects rivals that of Europe, with only a fraction of the population-is further complicated in light of ever-shifting identity politics and intergenerational tensions in many American Indian communities (Fowler, 1987; Jackson, 2002; Walters, 1999). This fast growth and diversity of American Indians present serious challenges for psychological inquiry. On one level, these challenges are similar to research with other ethnic minority groups, in that ethnic minorities are included in less than 1% of the psychological literature (Bernal, Trimble, Burlew, & Leong, 2003, pp. 7-8). Moreover, when these populations are included, they are often essentialized (i.e., cultural distinctions are assumed

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