American Indian Culture and Research Journal

As a descendant member of the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin but raised in Phoenix, Arizona, I was culturally and geographically displaced from my tribe while growing up. In this article, I explore the marginal space that I inhabit now as an adult and as a linguistic anthropologist. In this article, I describe my ambivalence at being indebted to the cruel and bloody history of anthropological and linguistic research perpetrated upon Indigenous nations throughout the last 300 years. I analyze the moral and ethical implications of past social scientists’ works, as well as how I navigate my journey through an academic system built on the oppression and subjugation of my people.