Native American Studies: Governance

Wilma Pearl Mankiller’s great-grandfather survived the deadly forced westward march of Native Americans known as the Trail of Tears. She rose to lead the Cherokee Nation more than 150 years later as principal chief, the first elected female chief of a Native nation in modern times. Throughout her reign from 1985-1995, cut short only by her own severe health challenges, she advocated for extensive community development, self-help, and education and healthcare programs that revitalized the Nation of 300,000 citizens. Wilma Mankiller will continue to shine as an inspirational example of the faith in her belief that ethnicity should never be forgotten—nor come before family unity, society, and country.

Native Americans are disproportionately represented as offenders in the U.S. criminal justice system. Routledge Handbook on Native American Justice Issues is an authoritative volume that provides an overview of the state of American Indigenous populations and their contact with justice concerns and the criminal justice system. The volume covers the history and origins of Indian Country in America; continuing controversies regarding treaties; unique issues surrounding tribal law enforcement; the operation of tribal courts and corrections, including the influence of Indigenous restorative justice practices; the impact of native religions and customs; youth justice issues, including educational practices and gaps; women's justice issues; and special circumstances surrounding healthcare for Indians, including the role substance abuse plays in contributing to criminal justice problems.

The story of “western expansion” is a familiar one: US government agents, through duplicity and force, persuaded Native Americans to sign treaties that gave away their rights to the land. But this framing, argues Martin Case, hides a deeper story. Land cession treaties were essentially the act of supplanting indigenous kinship relationships to the land with a property relationship. And property is the organizing principle upon which US society is based. US signers represented the relentless interests that drove treaty making: corporate and individual profit, political ambition, and assimilationist assumptions of cultural superiority. The lives of these men illustrate the assumptions inherent in the property system—and the dynamics by which it spread across the continent. In this book, for the first time, Case provides a comprehensive study of the treaty signers, exposing their business ties and multigenerational interrelationships through birth and marriage. Taking Minnesota as a case study, he describes the groups that shaped US treaty making to further their own interests: interpreters, traders, land speculators, bureaucrats, officeholders, missionaries, and mining, timber, and transportation companies. Odds are, the deed to the land under your home rests on this system.

In clear and straightforward language, Justin B. Richland and Sarah Deer discuss the history and structure of tribal justice systems, the scope of criminal and civil jurisdictions, and the various means by which the integrity of tribal courts is maintained. This book is an indispensable resource for students, tribal leaders, and tribal communities interested in the complicated relationship between tribal, federal, and state law.

If you want to know why American Indians have the highest rates of poverty of any racial group, why suicide is the leading cause of death among Indian men, why native women are two and a half times more likely to be raped than the national average and why gang violence affects American Indian youth more than any other group, do not look to history. There is no doubt that white settlers devastated Indian communities in the 19th, and early 20th centuries. But it is our policies today—denying Indians ownership of their land, refusing them access to the free market and failing to provide the police and legal protections due to them as American citizens—that have turned reservations into small third-world countries in the middle of the richest and freest nation on earth. The tragedy of our Indian policies demands reexamination immediately—not only because they make the lives of millions of American citizens harder and more dangerous—but also because they represent a microcosm of everything that has gone wrong with modern liberalism. They are the result of decades of politicians and bureaucrats showering a victimized people with money and cultural sensitivity instead of what they truly need—the education, the legal protections and the autonomy to improve their own situation. If we are really ready to have a conversation about American Indians, it is time to stop bickering about the names of football teams and institute real reforms that will bring to an end this ongoing national shame.

The arrival of European and Euro-American colonizers in the Americas brought not only physical attacks against Native American tribes, but also further attacks against the sovereignty of these Indian nations. Though the violent tales of the Trail of Tears, Black Hawk's War, and the Battle of Little Big Horn are taught far and wide, the political structure and development of Native American tribes, and the effect of American domination on Native American sovereignty, have been greatly neglected.This book contains a variety of primary source and other documents--traditional accounts, tribal constitutions, legal codes, business councils, rules and regulations, BIA agents reports, congressional discourse, intertribal compacts--written both by Natives from many different nations and some non-Natives, that reflect how indigenous peoples continued to exercise a significant measure of self-determination long after it was presumed to have been lost, surrendered, or vanquished. The documents are arranged chronologically, and Wilkins provides brief, introductory essays to each document, placing them within the proper context. Each introduction is followed by a brief list of suggestions for further reading.Covering a fascinating and relatively unknown period in Native American history, from the earliest examples of indigenous political writings to the formal constitutions crafted just before the American intervention of the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934, this anthology will be an invaluable resource for scholars and students of the political development of indigenous peoples the world over.

Media filters and personal preconceptions can make it hard to get a clear view of present-day Indian America. The reality is that the 500+ Native nations in the United States confront many of the same day-to-day challenges that are faced by other nations and communities--raising children with strong identities, practicing religion, providing economic sustenance, strengthening culture, managing business and governmental affairs, and protecting public health and safety--but they are doing so from foundations built on their distinct histories, cultures, and circumstances. "The State of the Native Nations: Conditions under U.S. Policies of Self-Determination" chronicles the efforts, obstacles, and accomplishments that are shaping Indian Country under contemporary federal policies and responsive tribal strategies of self-determination. In "The State of the Native Nations", The Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development brings together scholars and Native leaders to produce the most comprehensive, cohesive interdisciplinary study available on current conditions and trends in Indian Country. Broad in scope and thematically organized, the volume features twenty-three chapters covering issues ranging from tribal governance, land and natural resources, and economic and social development, to arts and culture, the large off-reservation Native population, and federal Indian policy. Fourteen accompanying essays bring to life the personal perspectives of noted national leaders in Native affairs. The result is invaluable insight into the universal challenges of creating resilient, sustained, and self-determined communities.

A revolution is underway among the Indigenous nations of North America. It is a quiet revolution, largely unnoticed in society at large. But it is profoundly important. From the High Plains states and Prairie Provinces to the southwestern deserts, from Mississippi and Oklahoma to the northwest coast of the continent, Native peoples are reclaiming their right to govern themselves and to shape their future in their own ways. Challenging more than a century of colonial controls, they are addressing severe social problems, building sustainable economies, and reinvigorating Indigenous cultures. In effect, they are rebuilding their nations according to their own diverse and often innovative designs. Produced by the Native Nations Institute for Leadership, Management, and Policy at the University of Arizona and the Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development, this book traces the contours of that revolution as Native nations turn the dream of self-determination into a practical reality. Part report, part analysis, part how-to manual for Native leaders, it discusses strategies for governance and community and economic development being employed by American Indian nations and First Nations in Canada as they move to assert greater control over their own affairs. "Rebuilding Native Nations" provides guidelines for creating new governance structures, rewriting constitutions, building justice systems, launching nation-owned enterprises, encouraging citizen entrepreneurs, developing new relationships with non-Native governments, and confronting the crippling legacies of colonialism. For nations that wish to join that revolution or for those who simply want to understand the transformation now underway across Indigenous North America, this book is a critical resource.

Doctoral thesis focussing on Indian legislation in the late nineteenth century, especially from 1862 to 1907. Attempts to show that while the members of Congress were in principle not necessarily enemies of the Indian, because of their belief in the linear theory of development they became such in practice.

Until now, books about American Indian Policy have dealt with laws and acts long since adopted and in effect. In "American Indian Policy in the Twentieth Century," edited by Vine Deloria, Jr., a group of writers deals with present realities and future possibilities, taking the lead in encouraging discussion and further research into areas of concern to American Indians. The articles treat both historical problems and current issues that must be confronted if Indians are to move forward to stabilize their communities and protect their rights and resources. In part speculative, the book defines many of the factors that bear on the formation of policies at the federal level, and it discusses new institutions and legislation that can assist American Indians, enabling tribal members and other individuals to better understand their present status and draw reasonable conclusions about their future. This book will be of interest in several fields of study. History and law classes, short courses on Indian affairs, tribal governments and training programs, and state agencies that deal with Indians will find it of benefit, as well as the general reader interested in the welfare and future of American Indians.

Baffled by the stereotypes presented by Hollywood and much historical fiction, many other Americans find the contemporary American Indian an enigma. Compounding their confusion is the highly publicized struggle of the contemporary Indian for self-determination, lost land, cultural preservation, and fundamental human rights—a struggle dramatized both by public acts of protest and by precedent-setting legal actions. More and more, the battles of American Indians are fought—and won—in the political arena and the courts. "American Indians, American Justice" explores the complexities of the present Indian situation, particularly with regard to legal and political rights. It is the first book to present an overview of federal Indian law in language readably accessible to the layperson. Remarkably comprehensive, it is destined to become a standard sourcebook for all concerned with the plight of the contemporary Indian. Beginning with an examination of the historical relationship of Indians and the courts, the authors describe how tribal courts developed and operate today, and how they relate to federal and state governments. They define such key legal concepts as tribal sovereignty and Indian Country. By comparing and contrasting the workings of Indian and non-Indian legal institutions, the authors illustrate how Indian tribes have adapted their customs, values, and institutions to the demands of the modern world. Describing the activities of attorneys and Indian advocates in asserting and defending Indian rights, they identify the difficulties typically faced by Indians in the criminal and civil legal arenas and explore the public policy and legal rights of Indians as regards citizenship, voting rights, religious freedom, and basic governmental services