Defining Native American
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11245_2024_Article_10108.pdf
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699.81 KB
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Adobe PDF
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Author(s)
Schiappa, Edward
Date Issued
October 3, 2024
Journal
Topoi
Publisher
Springer Netherlands
Citation
Schiappa, E. Defining Native American. Topoi (2024).
Version
Final published version
Abstract
This paper explores the question of who is defined as a Native American within the jurisdictions of the United States. Determining individual status can be seen as a two-step process: Is a given individual recognized by a specific tribe as a member? Then, is that specific tribe acknowledged by a relevant governmental unit? Though both seem simple questions, this paper illustrates that the question “Is Person X a Native American?” sometimes can be quite fraught, and manifests what I have described previously as definitional gaps and definitional ruptures. Ultimately, as is typical of regulatory definitions, the choice of definitional criteria to apply is a question of values, interests, and politics. I begin with a description of the varied definitional frameworks at work in determinations of whether a given group of people constitute a recognized tribe, then note how tribes themselves are institutions empowered to define who does or does not count as members through practices of enrollment and disenrollment. I then describe three case studies of definitional phenomena—one as a case of a definitional gap (college professors described as “Pretendians”), the second as a case of definitional rupture (determining Native American eligibility for free tuition within the University of California system), and a third as an illustration of regulatory versus self-definition (U.S. Census practices).
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Program in Comparative Media Studies/Writing
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DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11245-024-10108-w
