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AIS 301 -American Indians and Pop Culture

This guide is intended to support student research for CSUN students enrolled in American Indians Studies (AIS) 301 American Indians and Pop Culture

Getting Started on Your Research

​​​​​​As you conduct research for different assignments in this AIS course, you will need to locate information about your potential topics by using search terms defined by predetermined subject headings (LCSH LIbrary of Congress Subject Headings) or keywords.  When you are searching for information for topics for your Topics in American Indians Assignment you may need to look for information by using the following search strategies and vocabulary:

  • Search for Native American, Amerindian, IndianFirst Peoples or indigenous as keywords
  • Search by the name of a particular tribe or cultural group (e.g., Cherokee or Apache)
  • Combine a tribal name with a topical word (e.g., Chumash mythology)
  • Identify the subject Indians of North America within One Search results.

To research topics about how American Indians are viewed or have been depicted in popular culture you may also want to consider terms like these from your readings and course discussion:  decolonization, indigenize, sovereignty, pathologize, identity, citizenship, relationality, more-than-human, Indigenous Traditional Ecological Knowledge (ITEK), survivance, survivability, indigenous stereotypes. 

Make sure to take note of all the terms that could relate to a topic you are interested in researching.

Before you start your search, try to compile a list of potential keywords that best describe your topic. This is always a good idea, but it is especially useful for conducting searches in a new and interdisciplinary field, such as American Indian Studies. A good first place to start is to identify possible culture group names for your search.

 

Finding Statistics

Choosing a Research Topic

Organizations and Additional Resources

National Congress of American Indians

Native American Rights Fund

Tribal Law and Policy Institute

Walking on Common Ground

Resources for promoting and faciliting tribal-state-federal collaborations.

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