Reservation Mathematics: Navigating Love in Native AMerica

Reservation Mathematics: Navigating Love in Native America explores the different ways blood quantum requirements impact tribal members’ relationships and lives through the voices of Native individuals and families in western Montana. While their perspectives on the blood quantum system range greatly, one message is clear: a person’s Native identity cannot be calculated by fractions of blood.

In November 2019, Michael Irvine, 22, and his partner, Leah Nelson, 21, were awaiting the birth of their first child, a daughter. They chose to raise their family on the Flathead Indian Reservation in western Montana, home to the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes and where Michael grew up and where they both currently reside.

Irvine, a member of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, has a blood quantum of 7⁄16. Nelson, a member of the Navajo Nation, has a blood quantum of 3⁄4. Because Irvine’s tribes require 1⁄4 Salish and Kootenai blood for enrollment, their child will not qualify to be a member of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes and will be enrolled in the Navajo Nation.

Nizhóní Ajéí Irvine was born in November 2019. Her first and middle names are the Navajo words for “beautiful” and “my heart,” respectively. As is her mother, Nizhóní will be enrolled in the Navajo Tribe, whose reservation is located in the Southwest, more than 1,000 miles from the Flathead Indian Reservation where the family lives. Here, she will grow up and learn Salish culture and traditions from her father.

The first chapter of this project was funded by the Smithsonian and will be exhibited at the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian in New York in 2022.

This is an on-going project continued with funding from National Geographic and We, Women.