Native American studies

Native American studies is an interdisciplinary academic field that examines the history, culture, politics, issues, spirituality, sociology and contemporary experience of Indigenous peoples of the Americas. Native American Studies is also called American Indian, Indigenous American, Aboriginal, Native, or First Nations studies.

Increasingly, debate has focused on the differences rather than the similarities between other ethnic studies disciplines such as African American studies, Asian American studies, and Latine studies. In particular, the political sovereignty of many Indigenous peoples marks substantive differences in historical experience from that of other racial and ethnic groups in the United States and Canada. Drawing from numerous disciplines such as anthropology, sociology, history, literature, political science, and gender studies, Native American studies scholars consider a variety of perspectives and employ diverse analytical and methodological tools in their work.

Two key concepts shape Native American studies, according to Elizabeth Cook-Lynn (Crow CreekLakota), Indigeneity (as defined in culture, geography, and philosophy) and sovereignty (as legally and historically defined). Practitioners advocate for decolonization of Indigenous peoples, political autonomy, and the establishment of a discipline dedicated to alleviating contemporary problems facing Indigenous peoples.