American Indian Quarterly

American Indian Quarterly is a peer-reviewed scholarly journal focusing on Indigenous peoples of North America, Indigenous history, literature, law, art, and contemporary issues. The journal publishes interdisciplinary research across fields such as anthropology, archaeology, literature, law, history, and visual studies, engaging with communities, institutions, and cultural production linked to Native nations, treaties, reservations, museums, and archives.

History

The journal was founded in 1974 during a period of heightened activity that included the American Indian Movement, the Wounded Knee incident (1973), and broader Indigenous activism connected to organizations such as the National Congress of American Indians, the Native American Rights Fund, and the Indian Health Service. Early contributors included scholars and community leaders associated with institutions like Harvard University, University of Oklahoma, University of Arizona, University of California, Berkeley, and Smithsonian Institution departments such as the National Museum of the American Indian. Over decades the journal has engaged debates tied to landmark legal events including United States v. Sioux Nation of Indians (1980), the implications of the Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978, and scholarship responding to decisions like McGirt v. Oklahoma (2020). Editors and authors have often had affiliations with tribal colleges such as Diné College, Haskell Indian Nations University, and academic programs at Stanford University, Yale University, Columbia University, University of Michigan, University of New Mexico, and University of Washington.

Scope and Content

The journal covers interdisciplinary research on Indigenous politics, culture, and sovereignty that intersects with subjects such as the histories of the Cherokee Nation, Navajo Nation, Sioux people, Apache, Iroquois Confederacy, Pueblo peoples, Haudenosaunee, Lakota, Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, and other tribal nations. Articles address archival materials from repositories like the National Archives and Records Administration, the Library of Congress, and the Bureau of Indian Affairs records, and analyze literary works by authors including N. Scott Momaday, Leslie Marmon Silko, Louise Erdrich, Sherman Alexie, Joy Harjo, and Linda Hogan. The journal publishes research engaging with art and material culture linked to institutions such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, British Museum, Denver Art Museum, and exhibitions at the National Museum of the American Indian. Contributions examine legal doctrines and statutes involving the Treaty of Fort Laramie (1868), the Indian Reorganization Act, and federal-tribal relations shaped by the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act. The scope includes archaeology tied to sites like Chaco Canyon, Mesa Verde, Cahokia, and Poverty Point, ethnography regarding ceremonies such as the Powwow, and linguistic work on languages like Lakota language, Navajo language, Mohawk language, Ojibwe language, and Dakota language.

Editorial and Publication Details

The journal is published quarterly by the University of Nebraska Press with editorial offices historically connected to faculty at universities and tribal colleges including University of Arizona, University of Oklahoma, University of New Mexico, and Diné College. Editorial boards have included scholars affiliated with programs at Brown University, University of California, Los Angeles, University of Colorado Boulder, University of Texas at Austin, Arizona State University, University of Minnesota, Ohio State University, Rutgers University, Syracuse University, Rice University, and museums such as the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology and the American Museum of Natural History. The journal accepts original research articles, review essays, book reviews, and translations related to Indigenous studies and has featured symposia on topics tied to events like Indian Termination policy, the Alcatraz occupation (1969–1971), and responses to federal policies enacted under various administrations including those of Richard Nixon, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, and Donald Trump.

Abstracting and Indexing

The journal is indexed in major bibliographic databases and services that include coverage alongside publications from institutions such as the Modern Language Association, the American Anthropological Association, the American Historical Association, and indexing services connected to the Social Sciences Citation Index, JSTOR, Project MUSE, and databases maintained by the Library of Congress and the National Library of Medicine for interdisciplinary reach. It is discoverable in catalogues used by university libraries including Harvard University Library, Yale University Library, Library of Congress, University of California system libraries, and interlibrary networks such as OCLC.

Reception and Impact

Scholars in fields connected to Indigenous studies, including those at Harvard University, University of Chicago, Columbia University, University of California, Berkeley, Stanford University, University of Michigan, Duke University, Cornell University, University of Pennsylvania, and University of Washington frequently cite the journal in monographs and articles addressing topics like sovereignty, repatriation under the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, tribal law, and settler-colonial studies. The journal has influenced museum repatriation practices at institutions such as the Smithsonian Institution and the Metropolitan Museum of Art and contributed to curricular developments at programs including those at Brown University, Arizona State University, University of New Mexico, and Tribal Colleges and Universities. Reviewers and citation metrics within outlets associated with the American Historical Review, American Anthropologist, Journal of American History, Ethnohistory, and American Indian Culture and Research Journal reflect its role in debates about land claims, treaty histories, language revitalization, and Indigenous literary canons.

Category:Academic journals