Native Studies Keywords explores selected concepts in Native studies and the words commonly used to describe them, words whose meanings have been insufficiently examined. This edited volume focuses on the following eight concepts: sovereignty, land, indigeneity, nation, blood, tradition, colonialism, and indigenous knowledge. Each section includes three or four essays and provides definitions, meanings, and significance to the concept, lending a historical, social, and political context.

Take sovereignty, for example. The word has served as the battle cry for social justice in...

"Aloha" is at once the most significant and the most misunderstood word in the Indigenous Hawaiian lexicon. Considering the way aloha is embodied, performed, and interpreted in Native Hawaiian literature, music, plays, dance, and drag performance, Stephanie Nohelani Teves shows that misunderstanding of the concept has not prevented the Kanaka Maoli from using it to create and empower community.