International Journal of Public Administration

This interdisciplinary project seeks to highlight tribal and indigenous perspectives regarding collaborating with other indigenous nations/entities, and/or with various levels of the national governments, NGOs, and/or local community-based organizations. Specific emphasis is placed on understanding collaborative relationships and processes that have resulted in more socially equitable interactions, relationships, public policy, administrative practices, public programs, and/or service provision.

Indigenous communities are guided by their own government structures and cultures, which shape interactions and engagement with other Nations, government agencies, NGOs, and other organizations. Historical and continued abuses of power, legacies of settler colonization, discrimination, and neglect have contributed to socially, culturally, politically, and economically inequitable circumstances that make collaboration between entities challenging. Within the discipline of public administration, there is very limited formal attention provided to Indigenous collaboration and governance within its associated academic journals.

For this special issue, we seek manuscripts that explore collaborative relationships and processes that have resulted in more socially equitable interactions, relationships, public policy, administrative practices, public programs, and/or service provision. Topical areas include, but are not limited to:

• Disaster/Emergency management
• Language reinvigoration/cultural sovereignty
• Traditional Ecological Knowledge
• Food insecurity/food sovereignty
• Homelessness, gangs, missing indigenous women, or other community issues
• Educational programs/policy
• Child welfare
• Community/Economic development
• Public health/COVID-19
• Resource rights – water access, mineral rights, grazing lands, contamination and cleanup (toxic spills, mine tailings, oil spills), etc.
• Treaty rights – access to pilgrimage routes, sacred sites, etc.
• Incarceration and/or Reentry
• Housing
• Climate change/adaptation – land/resource loss; forced migration

This is not an exhaustive list. We welcome work in other topic areas as well; however, all papers should be tied to broader discussions related to public administration.

We seek papers utilizing a broad range of methodological approaches, research designs, and theoretical orientations that are aimed at understanding “good” and “bad” collaborative tribal and Indigenous experiences as a means of enhancing current and future government interactions in the pursuit of social equity.

Proposals of no more than 500 words not including references should be submitted by December 15, 2022 to both Dr. Jason Rivera ([email protected]) and Dr. Michèle Companion ([email protected]) with the email subject line, “Tribal Collaborative Experiences.”

Guest editors will inform authors of decisions on proposal by the beginning of January 15, 2023. Proposals will be evaluated based on the relevance of the topics, their connection to broader public administration discourse, and their proposed methods. Full papers will be due by June 30, 2023. Acceptance of a proposal does not guarantee publication, as papers will undergo a double-blind peer review process.

Based on this timeline, we anticipate publication of this special issue in 2024.

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