Between Virtual Roles and Sovereign Worlds: Tribal Liaisons in Historically White Institutions

Abstract

This research looks at the experiences of tribal advisors at historically white institutions. I explore patterns and relationships of their role in relation to the institution they work in and the Indigenous communities they work with. The study’s purposes are threefold. First, I aim to explore, from the perspective of the tribal advisors, how their institutions and senior leaders socially construct Indigenous communities, as evidenced in the charges they receive from the administration. Second, I aim to explore patterns in the tribal advisors’ responsibilities, in addition to the limitations, institutional barriers, and tensions they experience in their jobs negotiating the multi-faceted relationships between the institution and the Indigenous communities. Tribal advisors tend to navigate between the dominant, white settler world and those of their own Indigenous cultures and sovereign nations with which they liaise as institution representatives. Third, through interviews, document analyses, and observations, I aim to consider patterns in the titles, organizational positions, and resources of the tribal advisor role and their offices, and what these suggest by way of institutional prioritization of and commitment to institutionalizing them.