Why Does Political Science Hate American Indians?

Abstract

Native Americans have been structurally excluded from the discipline of political science in the continental United States, as has Native epistemology and political issues. I analyze the reasons for these erasures and elisions, noting the combined effects of rejecting Native scholars, political issues, analysis, and texts. I describe how these arise from presumptions inherent to the disciplinary practices of U.S. political science, and suggest a set of alternative formulations that could expand our understanding of politics, including attention to other forms of law, constitutions, relationships to the environment, sovereignty, collective decision-making, U.S. history, and majoritarianism.

What’s in a Name? Symbolic Racism, Public Opinion, and the Controversy over the NFL’s Washington Football Team Name

“…Political science has directed only limited attention to the lives and politics of American Indians even as Native Americans comprise roughly two percent of the U.S. population and are more than twice as likely to live in poverty than the national average (U.S. Census 2018). They are more likely to be targeted by hate crimes, experience unemployment, and qualify for government assistance, yet social scientistsand political scientists in particular --have been slow to devote sustained attention to the racist discourses and politics impacting Indigenous populations (Ferguson, 2016).…”

“…Although literature on the use of Indigenous mascots has suggested that sporting institutions shape public perceptions of Native Americans (e.g., Burkley et al, 2017;Freng & Willis-Esqueda, 2011), limited scholarship directly explores the conversehow negative racial attitudes towards Native Americans may structure public opinion towards the continued use of Indigenous mascots and names. 10 In order to address this void, we turn to the scholarship on symbolic racism to help better understand the 9 See also Ferguson (2016). 10 This article theorizes and explores the latter, although we acknowledge that, in practice, the processes may not be entirely unidirectional.…”

The Subversive Potential of Wikipedia: A Resource for Diversifying Political Science Content Online

“…Globally, there have been calls in academia to "decolonize the syllabus" by redefining what counts as the canon for any particular discipline. 1 Political science is no exception; however, much work remains to be done across subfields, particularly with respect to indigenous politics and peoples (Bruyneel 2014;Ferguson 2016). In New Zealand, discussion and analysis of colonization are central features of academic discourse, but significant work remains to address structural inequalities within the university and society at large.…”

Introducing People of Color Also Know Stuff

“…It is structured so that individuals either provide brief overviews of their research projects and questions or focus on a small part of a project with two or three slides. Political science has a fraught history with the study of race and the treatment of the people who study race (Ferguson 2016;McClain et al 2016). This is a long-standing issue that has been discussed at length in many venues.…”

“…Political science has a fraught history with the study of race and the treatment of the people who study race (Ferguson 2016; McClain et al 2016). This is a long-standing issue that has been discussed at length in many venues.…”