‘We usually just start dancing our Indian dances’: urban American Indian (AI) female youths’ negotiation of identity, health and the body

In this article, we utilise qualitative research techniques to explore how 14 urban American Indian (AI) females (aged 11–17) living in the state of Maryland discursively construct and experience health and the body, as well as how/if traditional culture shapes their understandings. In doing so, we address a significant gap in the knowledge base concerning the health beliefs of urban AI youth, and build upon research utilising a decolonising approach. Using a two‐step process of thematic analysis and poststructuralist discourse analysis, we arrived at three key findings: (1) while youths are taught (and learn) mainstream lessons about health and bodily norms (mostly at school), they negotiate these lessons in complex and at times contradictory ways; (2) they do not view their AI status as conferring more or less risk upon them or their community; and (3) AI identity appears to be fluid in nature, becoming more salient, even a resource, in certain situations. We conclude with a discussion of the importance of spaces within the urban context in shaping youths' embodied subjectivities, and in particular, contrast the space of the school with that of the urban AI community centre.