Electronic Resources for American Indian, First Nations & Indigenous Studies

American Indian, First Nations and Indigenous Studies

Is a field of study grounded in the languages, histories, geographies, contemporary and past experiences of First Nations/ Indigenous peoples. This field will intersect with other critical fields, such as colonial studies, colonialism and decolonization. Please note: that is an ongoing discussion about the changing terminology used by the Indigenous peoples of the Americas to describe themselves, and how they many prefer to be referred to by others. This can be complicated as preferred terms can vary by region and generation.

As indigenous people and communities are diverse, there is no consensus on naming, aside from the fact that most people prefer to be referred to by their specific nation.  Often broad groups of peoples have been named based shared languages, historical relationship and common geographic regions. For example: "Pueblo-dwelling peoples" could be used to refer to the Hopi, Zuni, Cochiti and many other tribal nations . "Plains Indians or Indigenous people of the Great Plains and Canadian Prairies" those descriptors could be used to describe the Arapaho, Cheyenne, Comanche, Crow, Kiowa, Lakota/Sioux/Dakota (Algonquin-speaking peoples) and other nations as well as nations such as Plains Apache who are nations that are located in other geographic regions. Blackfoot (also Siksiká) also a language spoken by: Siksiká, Káínaa, Piikani Nation) see the Indigenous Ally Toolkit. Algonquin-speaking peoples/ LDN peoples" (Lakota, Dakota and Nakota peoples. When searching for information you might need to run multiple searches using a variety of search terms to find information about a particular Indigenous nation or language because names and spelling may have changed over time. 

For B.C:

The First Peoples' Language Map of British Columbia maintains a First Nations Index, which includes current and other names of nations, and a Language Index, which includes current and other names of languages.

Please note names and terms can be pejorative, as they were based on prejudice and colonists fear. Many english external names have been used refer to the indigenous peoples of the Americas by European colonists. Some names are Spanish, French or other European language terminology used by colonists. 

(Please note that many of the resources in this guide will contain content that can be triggering, upsetting or offensive for some individuals. These resources may possibly use offensive terms, descriptions and images of but not limited to: violence, murder, abuse, sexual assault, torture and colonialism)