Donald Fixico is a
Native American American writer and intellectual. He is a Distinguished Foundation Professor of History at
Arizona State University
Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public research university in the Phoenix metropolitan area. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, ASU is one of the largest public universities by enrollment in the ...
. Previously, he was the Thomas Bowlus Distinguished Professor of
American Indian History, CLAS Scholar and the founding Director of the Center for Indigenous Nations Studies at the
University of Kansas
The University of Kansas (KU) is a public research university with its main campus in Lawrence, Kansas, United States, and several satellite campuses, research and educational centers, medical centers, and classes across the state of Kansas. Tw ...
.
He is a policy historian and
ethno-historian.
Background
Fixico is an enrolled member of the
Sac & Fox Nation and descendant of the
Shawnee
The Shawnee are an Algonquian-speaking indigenous people of the Northeastern Woodlands. In the 17th century they lived in Pennsylvania, and in the 18th century they were in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, with some bands in Kentucky a ...
,
Muscogee
The Muscogee, also known as the Mvskoke, Muscogee Creek, and the Muscogee Creek Confederacy ( in the Muscogee language), are a group of related indigenous (Native American) peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands[Seminole
The Seminole are a Native American people who developed in Florida in the 18th century. Today, they live in Oklahoma and Florida, and comprise three federally recognized tribes: the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma, the Seminole Tribe of Florida, an ...]
people.
Education
Postdoctoral Fellowship, Newberry Library, Chicago, 1981-1982
Postdoctoral Fellowship, University of California-Los Angeles, 1980-1981
Ph.D. History, University of Oklahoma, 1980. Dissertation: “Termination and Relocation, Federal Indian Policy in the 1950s”
M.A. History, University of Oklahoma, Norman 1976. Thesis: “The Seminole Wars: A Study of Indian Nationalism”
B.A. History, University of Oklahoma, Norman 1974
Bacone Junior College, Muskogee, Oklahoma, 1969-1970
Career
In 2000, President
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...
appointed him to the advisory council of the
National Endowment for the Humanities
The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) is an independent federal agency of the U.S. government, established by thNational Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act of 1965(), dedicated to supporting research, education, preserv ...
, and in 2002 he was the
John Rhodes Visiting Professor of Public Policy in the
Barrett, The Honors College
Barrett, The Honors College at Arizona State University
Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public research university in the Phoenix metropolitan area. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, ASU is one ...
at
Arizona State University
Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public research university in the Phoenix metropolitan area. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, ASU is one of the largest public universities by enrollment in the ...
. In 2006, the
Organization of American Historians
The Organization of American Historians (OAH), formerly known as the Mississippi Valley Historical Association, is the largest professional society dedicated to the teaching and study of American history. OAH's members in the U.S. and abroad inc ...
awarded a short-term residency award to Fixico to give lectures for two weeks in
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
. Fixico has given lectures nationally and internationally and works with tribes and
indigenous
Indigenous may refer to:
*Indigenous peoples
*Indigenous (ecology), presence in a region as the result of only natural processes, with no human intervention
*Indigenous (band), an American blues-rock band
*Indigenous (horse), a Hong Kong racehorse ...
organizations. In 2012, he lectured at
Sichuan University
Sichuan University (SCU) is a National university, national National Key Universities, key public university, public research university in Chengdu, Sichuan, China. The university is wholly funded by Ministry of Education of the People's Republic ...
in China and
University of Auckland
, mottoeng = By natural ability and hard work
, established = 1883; years ago
, endowment = NZD $293 million (31 December 2021)
, budget = NZD $1.281 billion (31 December 2021)
, chancellor = Cecilia Tarrant
, vice_chancellor = Dawn F ...
in
New Zealand
New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
in 2013.
Fixico has been a visiting lecturer and visiting professor at
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...
,
UCLA
The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...
,
San Diego State University
San Diego State University (SDSU) is a public research university in San Diego, California. Founded in 1897 as San Diego Normal School, it is the third-oldest university and southernmost in the 23-member California State University (CSU) system ...
, and
University of Michigan
, mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth"
, former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821)
, budget = $10.3 billion (2021)
, endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...
. He was an exchange professor at
University of Nottingham
The University of Nottingham is a public university, public research university in Nottingham, United Kingdom. It was founded as University College Nottingham in 1881, and was granted a royal charter in 1948. The University of Nottingham belongs t ...
, England and visiting professor in the F. Kennedy Institute at the
Free University of Berlin
The Free University of Berlin (, often abbreviated as FU Berlin or simply FU) is a public research university in Berlin, Germany. It is consistently ranked among Germany's best universities, with particular strengths in political science and t ...
.
Works
Themes
Fixico writes most on the Native American experience and history, especially in oral history and the U.S. West.
He writes in depth and often about
urbanization
Urbanization (or urbanisation) refers to the population shift from rural to urban areas, the corresponding decrease in the proportion of people living in rural areas, and the ways in which societies adapt to this change. It is predominantly t ...
, particularly in conjunction with termination narratives and the American Indian diaspora. In his book ''Urban Indian Experience in America'', Fixico discusses prior negative stereotypes about adjustment:
This downtrodden image does not accurately portray urban Indians, particularly in the 1990s when at least three generations have survived the relocation years of the 1950s and 1960s. The early image misrepresents the urban Indian population to an unfortunate degree, since many Indian citizens in cities hold professional positions and are members of the middle class in America." (p. 27).
Said of Fixico:
Donald Fixico challenges scholars of American and Indian history to revise their thinking, enlarge their ‘seeing,’ and engage in an effort to understand Native people and their communities. He constructs a convincing argument about the uniqueness of Indian history and his explanation for seeing the world through Indian lenses leads Fixico to craft a terminology that makes a great deal of sense. — Margaret Connell Szasz, Regents Professor of Native American and Celtic History at the University of New Mexico and author of ''Scottish Highlanders and Native Americans: Indigenous Education in the Eighteenth-Century Atlantic World''
Books and contributions
He has published a dozen books:
* ''American Indians in a Modern World'' (2008)
* ''Treaties with American Indians: An Encyclopedia of Rights, Conflicts and Sovereignty, 3 volumes,'' ed, (2007)
* ''Daily Life of Native Americans in the Twentieth Century'' (2006)
* ''The American Indian Mind in a Linear World: American Indian Studies and Traditional Knowledge'' (2003)
* ''The Urban Indian Experience in America'' (2000)
* ''The Invasion of Indian Country in the Twentieth Century: Tribal Natural Resources and American Capitalism'' (1998), 2nd ed., 2011
* ''Rethinking American Indian History'', ed. (1997)
* ''Urban Indians'' (1991); ''An Anthology of Western Great Lakes Indian History'', ed. (1988)
* ''Termination and Relocation: Federal Indian Policy, 1945-1960'' (1986)
* ''Call for Change: The Medicine Way of American Indian History, Ethos and Reality'' (June 2013)
* ''Indian Resilience and Rebuilding: Indigenous Nations in the Modern American West'' (October 2013).
He also has contributed to a number of publications, including "Removal of the Western Southeast Indians". Handbook of North American Indians: Southeast, Volume 14. U.S. Government Printing (2004); Witness of Change Over Fifty Years of Indian Activism and Tribal Politics. BEYOND RED POWER: TRIBAL POLITICS IN THE 1960S. School for Advanced Research Press (2007); The Federal Indian Relocation Programme of the 1950s and the Urbanization of Indian Identity. Removing Peoples: Forced Removal in the Modern World. Oxford University Press (2009); The Literature of American Indian History. A Century of American Historiography. Bedford St. Martins Press(2009); "From Tribal to Indian: American Indian Identity in the Twentieth Century". Native Diasporas: Indigenous Identities and Settler Colonialism in the Americas. University of Nebraska Press (2014).
Film
Professor Fixico has worked on nearly 20 historical documentaries, including ''Texas Ranch House'' (2006), ''Freedom Riders'' (2009) and ''American Experience'' (1988).
See also
*
List of writers from peoples indigenous to the Americas
This is a list of notable writers who are Indigenous peoples of the Americas.
This list includes authors who are Alaskan Native, American Indian, First Nations, Inuit, Métis, and Indigenous peoples of Mexico, the Caribbean, Central America, a ...
*
Native American Renaissance The Native American Renaissance is a term originally coined by critic Kenneth Lincoln in the 1983 book ''Native American Renaissance'' to categorise the significant increase in production of literary works by Native Americans in the United States in ...
*
Native American studies
References
External links and further reading
*
Interviews
Interview: Native Americans , American Experience , PBS
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fixico, Donald
1966 births
20th-century American male writers
20th-century American short story writers
21st-century American comedians
21st-century American male writers
21st-century American short story writers
American male screenwriters
American male short story writers
Filmmakers from Arizona
Living people
Muscogee people
Native American filmmakers
Native American screenwriters
Native American short story writers
Sac and Fox people
Seminole people
American people of Shawnee descent