Family/Tribal Ethnography: Combining Family/Tribal History and Intimate Ethnography

ABSTRACT I decided to coin a new term, family/tribal ethnography, by which I mean focusing on tribal perspectives of Native families. I argue here that family/tribal ethnography occupies the intersection of anthropology and history, and more specifically family/tribal history and intimate ethnography. For far too long, White anthropologists wrote biographies about Natives, assuming Indigenous people could not write their own life stories, and did not gain permission to write about Native family archival material. Family/tribal ethnography helps Natives learn about our kinship relations, claim Indigeneity, and expand family to include more‐than‐humans.

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Publication Details

Journal
American Anthropologist
Published
2025-05-26
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1111/aman.28084
Primary Topic
Anthropological Studies and Insights
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00
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article

Family/Tribal Ethnography: Combining Family/Tribal History and Intimate Ethnography

Renya K. Ramirez
American Anthropologist
Anthropological Studies and Insights
article

Family/Tribal Ethnography: Combining Family/Tribal History and Intimate Ethnography

Renya K. Ramirez
article en

Abstract

ABSTRACT I decided to coin a new term, family/tribal ethnography, by which I mean focusing on tribal perspectives of Native families. I argue here that family/tribal ethnography occupies the intersection of anthropology and history, and more specifically family/tribal history and intimate ethnography. For far too long, White anthropologists wrote biographies about Natives, assuming Indigenous people could not write their own life stories, and did not gain permission to write about Native family archival material. Family/tribal ethnography helps Natives learn about our kinship relations, claim Indigeneity, and expand family to include more‐than‐humans.

American AnthropologistVol. 127(3)
University of California, Santa Cruz (US), Santa Cruz County Office of Education (US)
Openalex Percentile: Top 86%
Anthropological Studies and Insights
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