An online journal written primarily by American Indian educators has been launched by the University of Minnesota Duluth.
Called "Bemaadizing: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Indigenous Life," the journal is an outlet for American Indian faculty to publish their work, said Tom Peacock, associate dean of the College of Education and Human Service Professions at UMD and an organizer of the journal.
Created by UMD's Center for Indigenous Knowledge and Language Revitalization, the first issue includes work based on the theme "the place of indigenous scholarship in preserving native life."
The group that put the journal together includes faculty from social work; education; American Indian studies and history, culture and language departments. The site is interactive, and allows readers to communicate with the authors.
"It could lead to collaborative research with other people," said Priscilla Day, editor of the journal and a UMD professor and director of the Center for Regional and Tribal Child Welfare. "We aren't aware of anything else quite like this."
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The journal allows faculty and staff members from different disciplines to work together, and will take contributions from American Indian scholars and faculty and those experienced in the American Indian worldview, Day said, including from people across thecountry.
"In the past there has been some bad research conducted because the lens was through a non-native lens," she said. "There is a need for good research-based information out there from native people."
The center has been presenting the journal at various educational conferences and through professional e-mail lists.
The audience is expected to be those who work in academics, social work and with American Indians, and those interested in learning about issues, solutions and challenges regarding tribal communities and American Indian life. Journal topics will not focus on negativity.
"We are all aware of the kind of deficits that occur in our communities," Day said. "We hope to provide some of the things that are working, some of the success stories."
The current issue -- at www.bemaadiz ing.org -- includes pieces on American Indian leadership, university and tribal community partnerships and teaching American Indian classes by way of American Indian pedagogy. The next issue will deal with resiliency. Two issues a year are expected, but as it grows more probably will be added, Day said.
