Emerging Ideas: The near invisibility of Native Americans and their families within the flagship journals of family science

• Published date: 01 July 2023
• Author: Stephen M. Gavazzi
• Date: 01 July 2023
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/fare.12650

RESEARCH

Emerging Ideas: The near invisibility of Native

Americans and their families within the flagship

journals of family science

Stephen M. Gavazzi

Human Sciences, The Ohio State University,

1787 Neil Avenue, Columbus, 43210, United

States

Correspondence

Stephen M. Gavazzi, Human Sciences, Ohio

State University, 161 Campbell Hall, 1787 Neil

Avenue, Columbus, OH, USA.

Email: gavazzi.1@osu.edu

Abstract

Objective: To assess the family science literature’s focus on

Native Americans and their families through articles publi-

shed in the flagship journals of the National Council on

Family Relations.

Background: Historically, Native Americans and their

families have been underrepresented in the social sciences

literature. Scholars have attributed this near invisibility to

shifting census categories, underrepresentation in samples,

and residence in more rural geographic areas. Combined

with elements of systematic and structural racism and

other forms of oppression, the continued representation of

Native American populations as an “asterisk”in scholar-

ship contributes to their ongoing marginalization as a

people.

Method: A literature search of all published issues of the

three flagship journals published by the National Council on

Family Relations—Journal of Marriage and the Family,

Family Relations,andJournal of Family Theory and Review—

was conducted using the terms “Native American,”“Ameri-

can Indian,”and “Indigenous.”Articles identified using those

search terms subsequently were placed into three categories:

(a) articles that focused specifically on Native Americans,

(b) articles that included Native Americans in a substantive

but not exclusive manner, and (c) articles that mentioned

Native Americans only as part of the demographics of a study

or cited other literature in the reference section.

Results: Of more than 10,000 scholarly works published in

the three flagship journals by the end of 2020, only 28 total

articles (one third of 1%) included any mention of Ameri-

can Indians, Native Americans, or Indigenous Peoples. Of

these identified publications, six articles were classified

as scholarly works that focused specifically on Native

Americans and their families, five articles that included

Received:2April2021 Revised:17September2021 Accepted:27November2021

DOI: 10.1111/fare.12650

© 2022 National Council on Family Relations.

Family Relations. 2023;72:923–931. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/fare 923