A Discussion of Scholarly Responsibilities to Indigenous Communities

As the editor of H-Amlndian, a joint project between the History Department at Arizona State University and the Center for Humane Arts, Letters, and Social Sciences Online housed at Michigan State University, I have discovered that discussion threads go in cycles. Sometimes the listserv has a lively exchange of ideas between scholars on the subjects of American Indian history, culture, ideas, and professional behavior. Inexplicitly, for stretches of time the listserv is quiet, as if all subscribers are on vacation. In an effort to stimulate conversation during one of these silent periods, I asked each of my four graduate student editors to formulate a timely and provocative question that they would like to see discussed by the HAmIndian subscribers. Once I approved their questions, they all invited four scholars to respond to their queries. James Precht drew the short straw and was the first to undertake the challenge. After extensive discussions with fellow students and faculty, he settled on the following question: "To what extent do scholars have a responsibility to the Indigenous communities they study, and how can they fulfill this responsibility?" He invited Professor Devon Mihesuah of Northern Arizona University, Professor Clara Sue Kidwell of the University of Oklahoma, doctoral candidate Daniel Cobb of the University of Oklahoma, and doctoral student Matthew Makley of Arizona State University to write responses to the question. The discussion that followed illustrated that there are significant disputes between scholars and American Indian communities over scholarly research and Indigenous cultural heritage and intellectual property rights. Devon Mihesuah argued "Scholars absolutely do have a responsibility to the people they study" and "authors need to be accountable to