Sifting through the blogosphere

I entered the blogosphere for selfish reasons: to crystallize my thoughts while working on Native science at the National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI) this summer. Turns out few writers have taken up the gauntlet, although there are bloggers about science communication and there are bloggers about Indian Country. But I’ve found no one (so far) who has bridged the two, which I’m attempting to undertake with humility.

Levi Strauss ad from 1954

Today I’m departing from my usual introspection to share with you some other blogs. I can’t take credit for their discovery: my daughter Rachel keeps me updated on cool views and one of our graduate students, Melissa Shavlik, who designed my blog Native Science, shares her web connections. They deserve credit for linking me to the information networks.

The first discovery is Racialicious, “A blog about the intersection of race and pop culture.” Frequent references to Native American issues emerge on the feed, and the current postings include thoughts about Indians, casinos, Levi jeans and Native stereotypes. One blogger discovered a 1954 brochure from Levi Strauss that appropriates Indian imagery to sell blue jeans. See http://www.racialicious.com/

Blue Corn Comics, which has floated on the Internet for years, is the “online standard bearer of Native American pop culture commentary,” according to one critic. Spearheaded by graphic artist Rob Schmidt, the mission “is to dispel stereotypes of Native Americans in mainstream society.” Schmidt pens a multicultural comic book called Peace Party, and his blog, newspaperrock, provides insight into pop culture and Indians. See http://newspaperrock.bluecorncomics.com/

Turning to science, ScienceBlogs hosts 120 blogs and boasts an audience of 2 million monthly readers. Some consider this the big dog of popular science communication, but you have to pick through the postings to find promising stories about Indigeneity and science. See http://scienceblogs.com/newblogs/

Finally, I recommend getting the feeds from NMAI. Their staff updates posts daily, including news stories that run the gamut from the Iroquois Lacrosse team’s recent troubles to a family member’s efforts to rebury the remains of Jim Thorpe. Join the Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/NationalMuseumoftheAmericanIndianinDC