What this group is for?

The intention of this space is for individuals who self-identify as Indigenous peoples and who have intersected the disciplines of physics, astronomy, planetary science to connect and build community. As a group, we are uniquely equipped to support and hold space for each other as we navigate academia, industry, non-profit, and consulting spheres. 

Given the impact of colonization on our Indigenous communities, the modern expression of Indigenity is far-reaching. Within this organization, we do not place barriers that might exclude anyone who is called to our collective (see below for our self definition for Indigeneity). We welcome Indigenous Peoples whose ancestral homes span the Americas (North, Central, and South) and the Pacific Ocean (Polynesia, Melanesia, and Micronesia). 

In this group, we allow ourselves to be who we are and to operate in exactly the way that we know. We invite others to take note of the powerful ways we are showing up in the world and the quality of our work.  Some of our members collectively wrote an article written in the American Physical Society newsletter, which you can find here (page 4). This article addresses some of the barriers Indigenous Peoples face in pursuing degrees (in physics, astronomy, and planetary science), highlights the considerable body of work done by Indigenous physicists (science and community leadership), and suggests action items for allies. This article provides a starting place guided by the authors.

If you are not an Indigenous physicist and are looking to build meaningful, mutually-beneficial, and respectful relationships with Indigenous people in the physical sciences, then you’ve come to the right place.

What this group is not?

We are not at your disposal to be tokenized. If you are looking to connect with someone in this group, evaluate your intentions first.

We are not here to participate in blessing your event. Some of our members may have the expertise to do this from their home community, but this is not the place to solicit such things. 

We are not here as an encyclopedia of Indigeneity. Our members identify as Indigenous, but we do not speak for Indigenous people as a whole. There is a considerable amount of extensive knowledge about that which you can find through a quick internet search.

What do you all mean by Indigenous?

‘Indigenous’ is the most general, encompassing, and widely accepted term and we recommend its use. ‘Native’ is also widely adopted in the arts, humanities, and particular social contexts. A person who identifies as Indigenous may choose to identify with terms such as Indigenous, American Indian, Native American, First Nations, Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian, Chamorro, Native Samoan, Tongans, and Pasifika. Many also identify with more specific terms from their Indigenous languages or sovereign nations.

It is the responsibility of each ally to take an active role in self-educating more about the Indigenous Peoples of each physical location they occupy. There is no monolith to the Indigenous experience, but one commonality is that Indigenous Peoples are the very first to exist on the land. Our ancestors developed strong familial relationships with our ancestral lands and built rich knowledge systems in relation to them.

The modern-day expression of Indigenity is wide-reaching given the impact of colonization and genocide. There are some Indigenous people who are federally recognized and others that are not. There are some who inhabit lands that are designated by the federal government to be sovereign to individual tribes.  These are typically called ceded lands or reservations. Some Indigenous People grew up on reservations while there are others who did not. Some have grown up in rural areas while others have grown up in urban and suburban spaces. There are Indigenous people who have been able to rescue their language from extinction whereas there are others that have lost their language forever. There are some Indigenous people and groups that know their genealogical history whereas others have lost those direct links due to colonialism and genocide. With this history, Indigenous populations will likely be mixed with other ethnic populations. 

Indigeneity transcends U.S. borders. Indigenous Peoples have familial and cultural ties across North, South, and Central Americas and the Pacific Ocean. There are Indigenous Peoples whose tribal lands do in fact span across and beyond both the U.S.-Mexico border as well as the U.S.-Canada border. Migratory patterns across the Americans connect Indigenous Peoples throughout the Americas. Our Indigenous connections span oceans. Migration of the Indigenous peoples across the Pacific means there are cultural ties between Pacific Islanders.

All the above considerations are crucial when forming an Indigenous centered framework. The SIP community includes people who identify with Indigenous Populations in the Pacific Islands and the American continents. We recognize that Indigenous Peoples exist beyond these areas of the world, but we have not yet connected with them. 

For these reasons, we have opted to move beyond siloed definitions of Indigeneity to a more inclusive model. Our collective goal is to cultivate a community space within the physics worlds we occupy that enables each of us to wholly be the truest expression of ourselves and therefore to reach our greatest potential.

How can I become a member?

If you identify as an indigenous physicist, then contact us!

How to be an active ally?

• Join our ally list.  We will email you about upcoming events that we are hosting, etc.

• Donate money (see how to below).

• Invite Indigenous Physicists into research projects based on their expertise, not as a token to your project.

• Learn whose ancestral lands you are on through apps like https://native-land.ca/resources/mobile-app/ 

• Find ways to engage with the Indigenous populations in your area and build relationships. Understand what has happened to them.

• Acknowledge the Indigenous people and their ancestral lands in any space your occupy.  Acknowledge them in your publications and talks.  Before doing so, check with those peoples’ tribal or cultural website of center to see if there is a preferred manner of acknowledgement, or if that tribe prefers not to be acknowledged at all.

• Look out for any open, local events led by Indigenous groups and attend. Be respectful and ask what the best practices for interacting are.

• Hold yourself and those in your community accountable for their language and attitudes around Indigenous peoples. Educate yourself in the particular forms of racism experienced by Indigenous peoples and our histories. We each play a role in ensuring that the language used and practices within the culture of physics are anti-racist towards Indigenous populations.

How can I donate?

We are currently in the process of becoming a non-profit organization.  In the meantime, you can support our work through financial donations after contacting us directly. 

We need to make it explicitly clear that when you donate to us, that means you are entrusting us to lead in a way that will directly serve the needs of our community. This may include paying people for the time they contribute to create content for the website, writing, holding space for community engagement, organizing events, scholarships to attend conferences, emergency relief funds, etc. If you donate and try to add restrictions on how we will use the funds based on a narrow, culturally inappropriate framework, then we will not accept your money.