By

Mainstream histories often do not include detailed and effective narrations about the lives and experiences of American Indian women in North America from the era of contact to the twenty-first century. This thesis critiques historical methodologies that ignore American Indians, their histories, and their roles in the evolution of North American societies. The body of the text focuses on historiography and methodology. It also offers solutions historians and other scholars may consider when writing American Indian histories, including the use of interdisciplinary methods and ethical research of American Indian oral traditions. This thesis is concluded with a brief study of popular culture to illustrate how applying alternative methodologies to mainstream scholarship could help scholars to create more inclusive historical texts