Ethics and Responsibilities in Writing American Indian History

Dados Bibliográficos

ID4038726
AutoresDonald L Fixico (autor correspondente)
Ano1996
Volume20
Fascículo1
Páginas29
Data de publicação1996-01-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessNão
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoThe American Indian Quarterly (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0095-182X • E-ISSN: 1534-1828
EditoraJSTOR (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.2307/1184939
OpenAlexW2325242556
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas20
Referências citadas3

Researching, writing, and teaching American Indian history in a respectful manner calls for a set of professional ethics and scholarly responsibilities. As scholarship evolves, so must the treatment of American Indian history. Such ethics and responsibilities are not currently defined or recorded in any forum, or in any printed material, although historians previously have considered the importance of a fairer treatment of Indians in writing history.' The sensitivity of tribal knowledge, especially that of ceremonials, should compel scholars to publicly acknowledge a code of ethics and responsibilities to avoid exploiting American Indians. Repatriation, the selling of Indian burial remains and imitations of Indian artifacts, and the publication of sensitive Indian knowledge have resulted in a series of controversies forcing Indians to act against whites, and in some cases against Indians where Indians have desecrated tribal properties. The exploitation of American Indians has never stopped. It began with Indian enslavement when a lost Christopher Columbus landed in the Western Hemisphere. Indians have been victimized through centuries of land fraud and disease, the manipulation of warriors as mercenaries, the abuse of Indian women, and the capture of Indian children to meet enrollment quotas in boarding schools. This essay acknowledges certain moral ethics and professional responsibilities in this field-American Indian history. First this essay will identify those ethics and responsibilities and then provide arguments to convince historians and others of the importance of upholding such ethics and fulfilling responsibilities pertaining to the proper study and writing of American Indian history. First of all, the field must be carefully defined so the academy, as well as students and writers, understand what is meant by American Indian history. At this date, only parameters can be argued. Is American Indian history also called Native American history and is this acceptable? Is Indian History the history of Indian people and their nations relating only to other Indian nations? To non-Indian nations like France, Spain, Russian, England

Political science · Sociology · History · Indigenous Health, Education, and Rights