Actualizing Political Science

Abstract

Native Americans have been structurally excluded from the discipline of political science in the continental United States, as has Native epistemology and political issues. I analyze the reasons for these erasures and elisions, noting the combined effects of rejecting Native scholars, political issues, analysis, and texts. I describe how these arise from presumptions inherent to the disciplinary practices of U.S. political science, and suggest a set of alternative formulations that could expand our understanding of politics, including attention to other forms of law, constitutions, relationships to the environment, sovereignty, collective decision-making, U.S. history, and majoritarianism.

Obstacles to Federal Policy Adoption: The Case of Special Domestic Violence Criminal Jurisdictions in Native American Tribal Nations

“…As Foxworth et al (2022, 2) eloquently state in their work on COVID-19 and Native nations, “[N]on-Native governments have pursued policies that have imperiled Native health and well-being for centuries.” Although the federal creation of SDVCJs could be viewed as a step forward in addressing domestic violence on tribal lands, this policy solution will fall short of comprehensively reducing domestic violence in Native American communities if it is not used widely enough. Political science rarely considers issues that directly affect Native Americans as “being of central political importance” (Ferguson 2016a, 1030; 2016b; see also Carpenter 2015; Frymer 2016; MacLean 2016; Proudfit 2016; Wilkins 2016; Wilmer 2016). We take this criticism seriously in our efforts to shine more light on policy failures in protecting Native American women from domestic violence.…”