Online Scholarly Resources for Indigenous Studies
Online Reference Sources
Use reference sources, such as encyclopedias, to find background information on your topic, in additon to important dates, people, and locations. Handbooks are also excellent resources, which give in depth discussions on multiple aspects of a topic or area of study.
- Gale eBooksThis collection contains many encyclopedias covering topics in religion, US history, environmental studies, medicine, and the social sciences.
Encyclopedia of the U. S. Government and the Environment by ISBN: 9781598842371Publication Date: 2010
The Gale Encyclopedia of Public HealthISBN: 9781414498768
Other General Resources
- Native Land MapView land areas occupied by first people groups around the world.
- Indigenous Weather KnowledgeA joint project between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders and the Australian government to present indigenous knowledge of their weather, climate, and environment.
- Native Governance Center"Our mission is to assist Tribal nations in strengthening their governance systems and capacity to exercise sovereignty through leadership development and Tribal governance support." Focused on groups in Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota.
Finding Scholarly Ebooks
Scholarly eBooks
You can locate scholarly ebooks through the library catalog. As you start your search, think about what search terms you might use, and how you might construct your search to get the best results. Using an "*" and OR in your search can help you find more useful results. For example, medic*=medic, medics, medical, medicine, medicinal, etc... You can use OR to combine medic* with other similar terms to get related results: medic* OR health* OR well*. Limit your search to the library catalog, and your search results to available online to see the ebooks that are available. See the results of the search below here.
Finding Schoarly Journal Articles
Scholarly Journal Articles
There are a number of databases that will contain article on native or indigenous studies, environmental studies, and health.
As you are looking through your results, keep these criteria in mind to locate scholarly/peer-reviewed/academic journal articles:
- at least 8-10 pages in length (may be slightly less for medical articles)
- author is a professor, advanced researcher, doctor, or practitioner
- the article is published in a scholarly journal
- there is a bibliography appropriate to the length of the article (not five sources for a thirty page article)
- America: History and Life This link opens in a new windowSearch for articles about the history and culure of the United States and Canada. Publications include peer-reviewed journals, magazines, dissertations, books, and more. Access is limited to six simultaneous users. Note: For world history topics, use the Historical Abstracts database. Coverage: 1964-
- Anthropology Plus This link opens in a new windowProvides access to periodicals, journals, and edited works, with an emphasis on archaeology, anthropology, and linguistics. Coverage: Late 19th century-present
- Atla Religion Database with AtlaSerials PLUS This link opens in a new windowThe premier database for research in religious studies, the Atla database provides full-text coverage for major international journals, magazines, and professional publications. Multiple religious traditions and related disciplines, such as anthropology, political science, counseling, and history are represented. Coverage: 1818-
- Academic Search Premier This link opens in a new windowProvides access to journals covering the social sciences, humanities, education, and more. Good general-purpose database for researching most topics. Coverage: 1985-
- JSTOR This link opens in a new windowA full-text database of archived issues of academic journals. Since JSTOR is a backfiles project, a typical coverage range is the beginning of a journal until three or five years ago. Artstor images are now integrated into JSTOR. Supported in part by the Dail Endowment Fund. Coverage: Varies
- Environment Complete This link opens in a new windowProvides coverage in applicable areas of agriculture, ecosystem ecology, energy, renewable energy sources, natural resources, marine & freshwater science, pollution & waste management, environmental technology, environmental law, urban planning, and more. Coverage: 1901-
- ProQuest Agricultural & Environmental Science Database This link opens in a new windowFull-text articles covering all aspects of environmental science, including ecology, sustainability, pollution, water management, and other areas. Coverage: 1988-
- ProQuest Earth, Atmospheric & Aquatic Science Database This link opens in a new windowContains full-text titles from around the world, including scholarly journals, trade and industry journals, magazines, technical reports, conference proceedings, and government publications.
- PubMed This link opens in a new windowCitation database with access to MEDLINE covering the fields of medicine, nursing, dentistry, veterinary medicine, the health care system, and preclinical sciences. Other services include the Journal Browser, MeSH (Medical Subject Heading) Browser, Citation Matcher, and Clinical Queries. Coverage: 1946-
- Health Source: Nursing/Academic Edition This link opens in a new windowProvides indexing and abstracts for nursing & allied health scholarly literature. Includes the USP Pharmacopoeia DI: Volume II Advice for the Lay Patient and Stedman's Medical Dictionary. Coverage: varies
Tribal Information
Tribal Resources
You can find great information from tribal sources on current news events, community iniatives, and local concerns.
Below are examples of native government websites and newspapers. Most tribal groups or regional confederations should have similar resources available online. If a tribal news source doesn't exist, try searching for a newspaper, TV station, or radio station from a nearby city.
- The Carolina Indian VoiceArchived collection of The Carolina Indian Voice (1996-2005), a newspaper published in Pembroke, Robeson County, NC, which "primarily served the interests of members of the Lumbee Tribe..."
- Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission: Yakama, Umatilla, Warm Springs, and Nez Perce TribesCRITFC’s mission is “to ensure a unified voice in the overall management of the fishery resources, and as managers, to protect reserved treaty rights through the exercise of the inherent sovereign powers of the tribes.”
This mission is accomplished with four primary goals:
1. Put fish back in the rivers and protect watersheds where fish live
2. Protect tribal treaty fishing rights
3. Share salmon culture
4. Provide fisher services
United States Federal Resources
Federal Resources and Organizations
There are many federal organizations that impact tribal affairs and collect historical records of the interactions between federal and tribal groups.
Below are a few examples, many more can be found online.