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[helpful]

My opinion of the OP"s point of view is a bit colored right now by the subject hu puts forward. Being Native American is not a racial category. And there are many Native American "nations".  And the ad never stated that they preferred Native Americans, but they preferred fluency in a particular language.

In my experience, there are so many jobs in Native Studies, Native Literature, Native History, etc, and, as LarryC says, so few PhDs from Native American background, that there will always be non-natives in these jobs, too.

Hopefully, an increase in Native American Phds in all fields will come from having Native American mentors in these fields. (Studies have shown that higher education success is encouraged by having Native American mentors in communities, organizations and universities).

[sockgumbee]

And the ad never stated that they preferred Native Americans, but they preferred fluency in a particular language.

Are you for real? Do you teach Native studies--if so please get a wider education. I say please. The OP said the ad stated preference for an aboriginal person. Aboriginal refers to Native Americans in North American. More commonly used in Canada, the term, to some people, is a bit like n*gg*r. Most like the term indigenous better.

Hopefully, an increase in Native American Phds in all fields will come from having Native American mentors in these fields. (Studies have shown that higher education success is encouraged by having Native American mentors in communities, organizations and universities).

If you mean Indians with PhDs, yes having Indian mentors helps a lot. But some of us get by without having any Indians teach us. Still thanks for the plug there.

[selah]

I ended up not applying because I don't want to have to deal with territorial, essentialist mfkers. By the way, I just had one of my Native students email me saying, "Thank you for being a real teacher and mentor to me." Irony of ironies. Thanks to those of you who were supportive.

[mdwlark]

This may "out" my alma mater, because the combination is a little unusual.  One of my professors in graduate school was a Native American with a Ph.D.   His wife was not Native, but also had a PhD and was on the faculty in the same department, and one of her specialties was Native American studies.   She worked very hard to mentor Native American students and often traveled to reservations to promote higher education or to do research. 

It is true, it is categorically a different experience for a professor of ethnic studies to be of a different ethnic group than if the professor were of the same culture, but this particular professor earned her place as a mentor with the Native American students.  It is not an exaggeration to say she was loved by the Native people as well as respected.  I never heard any of the Native students mention her ethnicity.  It just never came up.  In fact, she was regarded and was spoken of as if she were Native American by most Native American students.  Probably the marriage was a factor in her level of acceptance, but mostly it was her service to the Native American community.  Often the couple were spoken of in the same sentence as XXXX and XXXX, even though their other subspecialties were different, and both of them mostly taught in their other specialties.   She won the University's distinguished teaching award one of the years before she retired. 

[bigsky]

I ended up not applying because I don't want to have to deal with territorial, essentialist mfkers. By the way, I just had one of my Native students email me saying, "Thank you for being a real teacher and mentor to me." Irony of ironies. Thanks to those of you who were supportive.

I don't think anyone is suggesting that it is impossible to be an effective mentor, just that you might find it more difficult. I am a member of a national organization that promotes the participation of Native Americans in science (SACNAS). There are a number of non-minority members that serve as excellent role models. However, in many cases much of their work tends to be at tribal colleges and they have earned their acceptance with the community. Whether or not this is fair is immaterial, just reality.

[sockgumbee]

Sad that the OP is mixing up personal ability to connect with individual students as a mentor with what a particular department wants or implies by wanting a language speaker. Nothing ironic at all that Selah can be a good advisor and not be what they want/need.

As Bigsky stated, wanting folks that have some community connection is not unusual for Native American Studies. All the folks I know who are not Native who are respected in Native American Studies have done work in Native communities of some kind or another.

Selah, if you

don't want to have to deal with territorial, essentialist mfkers.

I suggest applying to English departments that happen to want a specialist in NA Lit. They will be much less likely to want/need you to have a community connection.

On the other hand, if you really do see Native American Studies folks as

territorial, essentialist mfkers.

I have to wonder what interests you in Native American Lit since place and culture are foremost. Hardcore post modernists sometimes see the cultural focus, or as you say, essentialism, as naive, backward and make other criticisms that work better in theory than in practice. You might say that many Native American scholars have other fish to fry . . .

[sockgumbee]

Actually I want to correct my last post.

What I should have said is
"Nothing ironic at all that Selah can be a good advisor and not apply for a job because hu thinks the SC are territorial essentialists. Nothing ironic because since Selah did not apply Selah has no way to know."

For the record, everyone supported your applying OP. Some of us, more than others, gave you a lot of info about the lay of the land in Native American Studies. I work at a Native American org where almost all the volunteers are not-Native. They seem like they do a good job. Would we, me, the program director and workers, etc rather they were Indians? YES. Do we hate that they are not? NO. Do we treat them differently? NO. We accept who they are, are thankful for their work, do what we can to educate them about Indians and try to find other ways to bring in successful Natives for our participants to meet and see as Indian role models.

OP, you'd do good to step back from what has been written here and see it in context. You'd do well to not take any of this personally. You'd do well to take what you know about being a successful scholar, advisor, teacher and add knowledge about how Indians do things. Don't let a postmodern paradim be your only perspective on the world.

[mdwlark]

I ended up not applying because I don't want to have to deal with territorial, essentialist mfkers.

This suggests that you might have problems getting along with colleagues that go beyond ethnic status.  If you work in a department, what other issues are going to set you off?  It was just a job posting.  Whoever wrote it may not have thought through all the possible implications that could be read into it.   

[norvell]

Don't let a postmodern paradigm be your only perspective on the world.

That's really good advice.

[larryc]

I ended up not applying because I don't want to have to deal with territorial, essentialist mfkers. By the way, I just had one of my Native students email me saying, "Thank you for being a real teacher and mentor to me." Irony of ironies. Thanks to those of you who were supportive.

Selah, everyone here was supportive, it just wasn't the kind of support that you wanted. You chose the mantle of imaginary victimhood over a job.

[sockgumbee]

I ended up not applying because I don't want to have to deal with territorial, essentialist mfkers.

This suggests that you might have problems getting along with colleagues that go beyond ethnic status.  If you work in a department, what other issues are going to set you off?  It was just a job posting.  Whoever wrote it may not have thought through all the possible implications that could be read into it.   

Maybe, but I think the OP issue is not global like this. I think it's more of a case of insecurity about one's own scholarship and abilities because of the added requirement of fitting it all into a cultural/community base. Many disciplines or sub-disciplines don't require scholars to do this. IMHO, they should but that's another thread.

I ended up not applying because I don't want to have to deal with territorial, essentialist mfkers. By the way, I just had one of my Native students email me saying, "Thank you for being a real teacher and mentor to me." Irony of ironies. Thanks to those of you who were supportive.

Selah, everyone here was supportive, it just wasn't the kind of support that you wanted. You chose the mantle of imaginary victimhood over a job.

Ditto, above. The OP seemed to want the pass that other areas in Literature get--no messy real life day-to-day connections to make. I don't say this judgingly--although I like the messy real life connections, but I see plenty of scholars that don't like them or want them and who aren't good at dealing with them. Most grad school don't exactly give this kind of training. In fact I'd say that many are prejudiced against this.

[dr_stones]

Don't let a postmodern paradim be your only perspective on the world.

HOF

[sockgumbee]

http://www.missoulian.com/articles/2007/11/30/jodirave/rave24.txt

[redding]

I know this thread is a bit old and got heated, but I would like to add to it.

My field of study is something like the equivalent to "Ethnic" American literature.  My degree is in the "literature" part, not the "ethnic" part.  My first job (just offered) is in the "ethnic" part. (I know the "ethnic" is annoying, but I'd like not to out myself.)

My perspective is much like that of the Native Americans who have posted to this thread.  I am shocked that someone could begin to feel qualified to teach about a culture with which they have no firsthand experience. 

I often hear the parallel with medieval history mentioned above (i.e. how can one be critiqued for having no contact with the community they study if we can't level the same critique on those who study the past?).  My spouse is a medievalist  and has, I think the clearest answer for this: if it were possible to meet and discuss culture, philosophy, literature or art with historical figures, I would in a second!  Who wouldn't want to sit down and have dinner with Voltaire?

I have run up against very few problems in a field in which my race/ethnicity  is different from the people I work with and write about.  I think the key for me is to try to be as much a part of the community as I can, and be very frank and open about recognizing my differences.  It quickly becomes clear to most of the skeptics that I know what I'm talking about.

Part of the problem is a disciplinary one.  In some fields of study, such as many social sciences, it would be completely unacceptable to call yourself an "ethnic-studies" person if you have been required to have exactly *no* contact with "ethnic" people.  In some humanities fields, however, this is not the case.  I think programs like this are doing their students (and the scholarly work) a vast disservice.

The road to becoming (at least a little) proficient in a culture that is different from my own has been long, and I have worked very hard at it.  I become a little irritated when I see some behaviors that seem like bandwagoning to me.  I think in many cases that the refusal to try to enter an unfamiliar community (or to continue trying after being snubbed) has everything to do with fear and very little to do with the sort of color-blind principles that the OP implies.