Bringing Indigenous Experiences into the Classroom

• In Event: TLC at APSA Diversity & Inclusion Track Panel 1: Identities in the Political Science Classroom

Abstract

While many scholars have taken efforts to promote diversity and inclusion in the Political Science classroom, indigenous experiences remain under-explored in such contexts. This manuscript makes the case for more frequent examination of such experiences in the classroom and provides practicable recommendations on how to do so. It focuses in particular on the subfield of International Relations, where indigenous experiences have often been excluded from state-centric analyses, and it outlines the ways that indigenous experiences complicate conventional understanding of key concepts in the subfield, including power, sovereignty, security, and development. The paper explores to a lesser extent the ways that Americanists, Comparativists, and Political Theorists can also begin to bring indigenous experiences more frequently into their classrooms. In all of this, the paper relies on a broad survey of the indigenous politics literature and on the author's previous teaching experiences.

Author

• Andrew A. Szarejko, Naval Postgraduate School