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

Now in its second edition, The American Indian Mind in a Linear World examines the persistence of Native peoples in retaining their own worldviews, from the pre-Columbian era into the twenty-first century.

The book explores the ways in which Indian people who are close to their cultural traditions think in a circular fashion, understand by relying on visual analysis, and make decisions from an Indigenous logic. Yet, Comanches have a different reality from Mohawks, Apache ethos is not like that of the Lakotas, and Indian men and women see things differently. How and why is the Native mind different from the western world? Why have white teachers and missionaries tried to change the minds of Native students? The Indian perspective is not wrong; it is simply different and inclusive, another way of looking at the world and universe. This edition updates the discussion with a new chapter on contemporary American Indian intellectualism and further analysis of the preservation of Indigenous traditional knowledge.

Approachable and engaging, this volume is a key resource for students and scholars of Native American and Indigenous studies and Indigenous history.

Donald L. Fixico (Shawnee, Sac and Fox, Muscogee and Seminole) is a Regents’ and Distinguished Foundation Professor of History at Arizona State University. He has worked on 25 documentaries on American Indians and has authored or edited 15 books. He is the author of Being Indian and Walking Proud: American Indian Identity and Reality.