The American Indian Mind in a Linear World: American Indian Studies and Traditional Knowledge (review)

It is a well-established form in academia to give credit where credit is due. From an Indigenous standpoint, holistic maintenance of respectful kinship relations throughout the universe is paramount across innumerable cultures and peoples. An Indigenous projection of this ethos into the academic realm is congruent with the opening line of this review. It would read something like this, "Pay homage to your academic forbearers and kin to maintain balance for respectful relations." This has an added twist for the Indigenous academic in today's context of "Academic Gatekeeping," to quote and draw upon the relevant Indigenous scholars who contribute to the topic of discussion.¹ Unfortunately, one of "our" "leading historian[s] of the Indigenous experience," Donald Fixico, in The American Indian Mind in a Linear World: American Indian Studies and Traditional Knowledge (hereafter AIMLW), has chosen not to follow this simple advice. What follows is a review of AIMLW.²

To begin with, there is the schizophrenic publishing of the book in that two covers are available for the same text. Both feature Indigenous males with the title situated accordingly. One features the author, the other an anonymous male. The version I reviewed featured Fixico's visage in what may be an Edward Said tribute attempt. At any rate, the individual with a capital "I" comes through. Perhaps Fixico is buying into the American frontier mythology of "rugged individualism" that he critiques in relation to the collective orientations of Indigenous peoples (67). This speculation comes after reconciling the content of the work and the paucity of citations of relevant works authored by Indigenous scholars. It could be that Fixico, in agreeing to the publisher's cover design, is attempting in a none too subtle manner to subliminally suggest that he alone will lead the reader(s) through the wilderness in which the "American Indian Mind" finds itself in a "Linear World."

Delving into the structure of AIMLW, our guide on this adventure has arranged AIMLW into nine chapters, respectively "Indian Thinking and a Linear World," "Oral Tradition and Traditional Knowledge," "American Indian Circular Philosophy," "Native American Genius and Indian Intellectualism," "Indian Minds and White Teacher," "Rise of American Indian Studies," "Cultural Patrimony and Native Scholars in Academia," "Institutionalizing Traditional Knowledge," and "The Full Circle and Its Center." The arrangement of the book, ironically, is in the mold of the circle explicitly. Thus, while juxtaposing linear and circular thought in chapter three, "American Indian Circular Philosophy," Fixico falls into the very clap trap that he decries.³ That is, he tackles AIMLW in a linear fashion without consideration of adopting a circular framework to speak from, such as Micmac scholar Marie Battiste did in the edited compilation Reclaiming Indigenous Voice and Vision. ⁴ The end result is an oxymoronic presentation whereby the "American Indian genius of circular thought" is expounded on by an American Indian utilizing linear methodology, even though he writes course notes beginning in the center of the black board rather than the upper left (125).

In terms of content, chapter1, "Indian Thinking and a Linear World," starts the text with a discussion of metaphysical understandings from various cultural perspectives. In what becomes the text's hallmark, Fixico goes on to discuss natural democracy (4), religion (7), the three dimensions of "new American Indian History" (8), and the relational dynamics between the Indigenous and linear mindsets and cultures (9-17) with no reference to relevant authors who have contributed to the discourse in these areas. For example, the respective works and contributions of E. O. Wilson, Vine Deloria Jr., Angela Cavender Wilson, and Devon Mihesuah are not mentioned anywhere in Fixico's discussion of these topics. Furthermore, while discussing questions of voice and appropriation of Indigenous scholarship and research, Fixico enshrines a cowardly and calculated proposition:

Can non-Indians...