Indigenous Studies Key Terms

Indigenous Studies Key Terms

• Method: Indigenous research emphasizes integrating Indigenous ways of knowing and doing, like community engagement, oral traditions, and participatory action, contrasting traditional Western methods.
• Methodology: Indigenous methodologies prioritize collaboration, relationship-building, and decolonization.
• Qualitative Research: Focuses on understanding experiences, cultures, and lives of Indigenous peoples through interviews, storytelling, and narrative methods.
• Quantitative Research: Utilizes numbers and statistics to study issues like land use, health, and demographics within Indigenous communities.
• Insurgent Research Methodology: Empowering Indigenous communities through community-driven research agendas, challenging colonial research frameworks.
• Tribal Epistemology: Understanding Indigenous knowledge systems, including spiritual beliefs, oral histories, traditions, and community-specific worldviews.
• Ontology: Understanding existence in Indigenous contexts, relating it to nature, community, and spirituality as interconnected.
• Axiology: Indigenous values concerning respect for living things, reciprocal relationships, and communal well-being.
• Indigenous: Refers to original inhabitants of a region with specific cultural, historical, and spiritual ties to the land.
• First Nations: Diverse Indigenous peoples in Canada, excluding Métis and Inuit, with unique cultures, languages, and histories.
• Métis: A distinct Indigenous group in Canada with mixed European and Indigenous ancestry, possessing their own language (Michif) and cultural practices.
• Inuit: Indigenous peoples of Arctic regions (Canada, Greenland, and Alaska), with distinct cultures, languages, and histories.
• Aboriginal: Broad term for Indigenous peoples of Canada (includes First Nations, Métis, and Inuit).
• Native American: Indigenous peoples of the United States, encompassing various tribes and nations with unique cultural identities.
• Kelp Forest: Underwater forests in coastal areas, significant in many Indigenous cultures, providing food, resources, and medicine.
• Beringia: Land bridge connecting Asia and North America during the Ice Age, a believed migration route for ancestors of Native Americans.
• Angakoks (Shaman): Indigenous spiritual healers and leaders, particularly in Inuit and other northern communities.
• Coppers: Metal plates in Northwest Coast cultures, often symbols of wealth, status, or used for ceremonial purposes.
• Kaianeraserakowa (Great Law of Peace): Haudenosaunee (Iroquois Confederacy) constitution, promoting peace, unity and governance.
• Travois: Indigenous frame used for transporting goods and tools, often attached to horses or dogs.
• Pit Houses: Semi-subterranean homes in cold regions, providing insulation.

Key Topics in Unit 2: Origins, World Views & Culture

• Coastal Migration Theory: Theory suggesting migration to Americas along coastlines, approximately 15,000 years ago.
• Bering Strait Theory: Theory suggesting migration across Bering Strait during the Ice Age when sea levels were lower, approximately 20,000-12,000 years ago.
• Clovis First Hypothesis: Theory regarding the Clovis culture as the first inhabitants of the Americas, around 13,000 years ago.
• Six Nations Confederacy Indigenous nations: Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, Seneca, Tuscarora.

Key Topics in Unit 3: Perspectives on First Contact with Europeans

• Potlatch: Gift-giving feast practiced by Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest, signifying wealth and social status.
• Great Law of Peace: Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Confederacy constitution, focusing on peace, unity, and governance.
• Many Lodges Gathering: Likely a cultural or ceremonial gathering of Indigenous groups, symbolizing unity and shared customs.
• Thule Period: Time period (circa 1000-1600 CE) when the Thule people, ancestors of modern Inuit, developed their culture in the Arctic.
• People of the Dawn: Term sometimes used for the Indigenous peoples of northeastern Americas or first humans.

Key Topics in Unit 4: The Changing Relationships During the Fur Trade

• North West Company: Major fur trading company in Canada, competing with Hudson's Bay Company.
• Hudson's Bay Company: Powerful fur trading company in Canada.
• Mackenzie Inuit: Inuit groups involved in fur trade in the Mackenzie region of Canada.
• Wattap: Likely a trade or hunting equipment.
• George Bonga: Prominent mixed-heritage fur trader, influential in the North West Company.

Key Topics in Unit 5: Indigenous-Colonial Wars

• Beaver War Thesis: Theory suggesting wars between Indigenous nations, primarily in the 17th century, were driven by fur trade competition.
• Pemoussa: Significant historical or cultural figure in some Indigenous communities (requires further research for specifics).
• Fox Wars: Conflicts between the Fox (Meskwaki) and French colonizers related to territorial and trading disputes (1712-1733).
• Iroquois War: Conflicts amongst Iroquois Confederacy and other Indigenous groups with French colonies and Europeans related to land rights and trade routes (17th century).
• Mi'kmaq Wars: Conflict between Mi'kmaq and British colonizers involving land and resource control (1749-1761).
• Denonville Expedition French military campaign to weaken the Iroquois Confederacy and protect settlements.

Key Topics in Unit 6: Government Policy Period: French/British to Canadian Indian Policy

• Enfranchisement: Policy encouraging Indigenous peoples to give up Indian status to become full citizens (resulting in loss of land rights).
• John Brandt: A historical figure associated with Indigenous or colonial history (requires further details).
• Wabasha: A leader or notable figure in an Indigenous tribe (requires further details).
• Tecumseh: Shawnee leader who united Indigenous confederacies to resist settler encroachment.
• Royal Proclamation: Issued in 1763 by King George III to establish guidelines for European settlement in North America, recognizing Indigenous land rights.
• Gradual Enfranchisement Act: Policy aimed at assimilating Indigenous peoples by encouraging them to relinquish their Indigenous status.
• Manitoba Act: Act that created the province of Manitoba in 1870 aiming to address Métis land rights following Red River Resistance.

Key Topics in Unit 7: The Métis Period: Métis Identity, Repression & Resistance

• Section 31 of the Manitoba Act: Section of the act that granted land to Métis families.
• Section 32 of the Manitoba Act: Related to the rights and protections for Métis land holdings.
• "Logic of Elimination": Colonial mindset to erase Indigenous cultures through policies.
• Métis: Distinct Indigenous group with mixed European/Indigenous ancestry, language (Michif), and culture.
• Powley Test: Legally determining rights of Métis people to fish and hunt.
• Capote: Traditional Métis fur trading coat.
• Métis Flag: Symbol representing Métis unity.
• Annie Bannatyne: Important Métis figure in 19th-century Métis activism.
• Dorothy Chartrand: Important Métis leader/activist in 20th-century Manitoba.
• Victoria Calihoo: Important Métis women figure resisting assimilation 19th and 20th century.
• Louis Riel: Métis leader, founder of Manitoba, led the Red River and North-West Rebellions (1844-1885).
• Victory of Frog Plain (Battle of Seven Oaks): Battle between Métis and Red River settlers over fur trade and land rights.

Key Topics in Unit 8: Land Dispossession: Treaties & Scrip

• Treaty Right: Right guaranteed by agreement (treaty) between Indigenous peoples and the Crown.
• Treaty Adhesion: Joining existing treaties by Indigenous groups.
• Two-Row Wampum: Symbolic treaty agreement representing peaceful co-existence.
• Pre-Confederation Treaties: Treaties outlining agreements between Indigenous peoples and British Crown before Confederation in 1867.
• Early British Land Treaties: Early land agreements in which Indigenous peoples ceded land to British.
• Post-Confederation Land Treaties: Treaties negotiated after Confederation in 1867, including numbered treaties in Canada.
• War of 1812: Conflict between British and Indigenous allies and Americans involving Indigenous groups allied with Britain.

Key Topics in Unit 9: Residential School Period, History & Reflections of First Nations, Métis & Inuit

• Residential Schools: Institutions aimed at assimilating Indigenous children (Catholic, Anglican, etc).
• Pass System: Policy requiring Indigenous peoples to obtain permission before leaving reserves.
• Chief Shingwauk: Important Anishinaabe leader advocating for Indigenous rights in education.
• Recollets: Early French missionaries.
• Thomas Moore: Individual in colonial or Indigenous history (requires further details).
• Duncan Campbell Scott: Canadian civil servant influential in establishing residential schools and assimilation policies.
• "A National Crime": Description of residential school system as deliberated attempt to erase Indigenous culture.
• Harper Apology: Apology by Prime Minister Stephen Harper for residential schools' harm.

Key Topics in Unit 10: Repression & Resistance Period: Resistance Grows & Organizes

• Tommy Prince: Métis soldier, advocate for Indigenous veterans' rights.
• Indigenous Veterans Day: Day recognizing Indigenous military contributions.
• Charlotte Edith Monture: Indigenous woman, notable military service during WWII.
• Mary Greyeyes: First Indigenous woman in Canadian Armed Forces during WWII.
• Forgotten Soldiers: Indigenous veterans overlooked.
• Bill C-51: Canadian law prohibiting Indigenous participation in subversive activities.
• Forgotten People: Indigenous peoples, marginalized in historical accounts.
• Natural Resources Transfer Agreement: Canadian government's transfer of prairie province resource control to provincial governments.
• Lt. Frederick O. Loft: First Nations Soldier and activist.
• Little Ice Age: Period of cooler global temperatures impacting Indigenous agriculture (Northern Hemisphere).
• Northwest Resistance (1885): Métis and Indigenous resistance against Canadian Government policies impacting Indigenous land rights in the Saskatchewan region.

Explore essential terms and concepts in Indigenous studies, focusing on various research methodologies and their significance in understanding Indigenous communities. This quiz covers both qualitative and quantitative approaches, alongside unique methodologies like tribal epistemology and insurgent research. Enhance your knowledge of Indigenous ways of knowing and doing.