The Five-Factor Model of Indigenous Studies: A Quantitative Content Analysis of Postsecondary Indigenous Studies Websites in Canada, the United States, Australia, and New Zealand

Abstract

Indigenous Studies (IS) is a multidisciplinary academic discipline chartered to offer more than just an education about Indigenous peoples. Indigenous Studies is a fought-for space on campus to properly represent the perspectives, processes, and communities of Indigenous peoples, for the benefit of Indigenous communities, organizations, and interests. Unfortunately, the extent to which IS fulfills its mission is ambiguous due to the wide variation in IS program composition, the broad scope of the discipline’s topical foci, and the lack of parameters or core ingredients that distinguish it from other disciplines. In this article, we describe the process and results of a content analysis of IS websites in the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. The goal of this study was to identify the major features of IS internationally and to show how IS programs vary in their embodiment of those major features. After an extensive coding process, we ran an exploratory factor analysis on the quantitative codings to derive a five-factor model of IS. Accordingly, IS included (1) Indigenous methodologies, (2) Indigenous community member involvement, (3) Indigenous Ways of Knowing and Doing, (4) Indigenous languages, and (5) Indigenous student community. How much these factors were emphasized depended on the country, institution type, and level of degree offered, controlling for website complexity and aesthetics. Our findings show that there is common ground across IS programs internationally, according to their websites, but that some countries (e.g., Canada), institution types (e.g., tribal colleges), and degree programs (e.g., undergraduate) reflect these factors more than others.