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The University of New Mexico

Complexity of Identity

DEFINITIONS: The awareness of one’s own values, attitudes, and capabilities as an individual and a citizen of tribal nations, communities, and groups.

Essential Questions: 

  1. In what ways has Indigenous peoples’ identity been defined historically by Spain, Mexico, and the United States?
  2. What is the nature of dual citizenship for Indigenous peoples?
  3. What is Indigenous identity?
  4. What is the story of Indigenous identity?

Timeline/Context

  1. Indigenous identity pre-contact with Europeans & Africans
  2. Indigenous identity with early European & African interaction
  3. Reservation/Assimilation Era (Removed from homelands & confined to reservation, boarding schools, land allotment)
  4. Termination/Relocation Era (IRA 1934, Relocation Act, Termination)
  5. Self-Determination Era (ISDEAA 1975, community-controlled programs, IGRA 1988)
  6. Native Nation Building Era (Enterprise building, language revitalization, governance reform)

 Connections to Understandings

  1. Understandings of land
  2. Complexity of Identity
  3. Power/hegemony
  4. Empowerment/Agency/Resistance

Core Concepts