indigenous conversations about biography alice te punga somerville and daniel heath justice This is a conversation about Indigenous lives, the ways we understand them, the ways we represent them, and the responsibilities that come from doing this work in a good way. And this is just a beginning. We are honored to welcome you to this special issue of Biography, and to the Indigenous scholars, artists, and visionaries who come together in community on the topic of Indigenous biography. Some of this diverse group of Indigenous thinkers came together in person in Mānoa Valley on the Hawaiian island of O'ahu, traveling from the Indigenous territories claimed by New Zealand, Australia, Canada, and the United States to take up the challenges, questions, concerns, and possibilities of representing Indigenous lives. Others have contributed commentaries on the ideas, questions, and concerns that emerged from those initial conversations. Together, this volume brings a trans-Indigenous, multidiscipline, multivocal community into expansive dialogue about what it means to think about Indigenous lives and what it means to do Indigenous biography.
indigenous?Gone are the days when it was interesting to engage in long taxonomical discussions about what we are talking about when we talk about "Indigenous." While the production and articulation of ethnic, racial, and Indigenous categories (subject positions, identities, etc.) are always deserving of further historicization and critical reflection, it is also important that Indigenous projects do not simply revert to definitional work, which still too often centers non-Indigenous and/or colonial concerns, critiques, and contexts. Questions such as "Isn't everyone Indigenous?" and "Are these people really Indigenous?" are far less engaging than questions we get to ask once people who identify and are recognized by others as Indigenous get in a room and say, "Okay, what
