The centering processes of geographic information system (GIS) development at the United States Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) was an extension of past cartographic encounters with American Indians through the central control of geospatial technologies, uneven development of geographic information resources, and extension of technically dependent…

For millennia, Navajo society was self-sufficient. After 1863, beginning with Kit Carson's murderous rampage among the Navajo and the subsequent removal to the Bosque Redondo reservation, Navajo nationhood changed. Navajo society began a slow transformation away from the distinct Dine way of life. In the twentieth century Navajo nationalism was…

Hurricanes Katrina and Rita affected hundreds of thousands in southern Louisiana. To say that they touched people of every stripe and color dramatically is a gross understatement. Aside from the loss of life and property damage, families were uprooted, traditions disrupted, and one of the largest migrations in American history forced on a state…

This article examines a brief period of Lake Superior Ojibway history in detail. It describes the territorial dimensions of usufructuary rights and tells how one Ojibway community at Keweenaw Bay, William Jondreau's home, reorganized itself as an Anishnabe state in the 1840s and early 1850s. It also argues that this state-building grew out of…

American Indian treaties and treaty law may seem to fall solely within the purview of legal methodology and critical analysis, yet the 367 American Indian treaties signed with the US federal government beg for the type of dissection and analysis generally associated with cultural and literary critical theory. The tools by which texts are dissected…

In Leslie Marmon Silko's 1977 novel "Ceremony" the "primacy of the geographical" has often been interpreted as a particularly holistic and healing sense of place--what the critic Robert M. Nelson has characterized as the "spirit of place." This heightened awareness of the spiritual and redemptive power of the natural and the imaginative in…

In this comprehensive effort to study Indian education policies, the report categorizes the policies of five Northwest Region states based on 13 key policies identified in the literature and describes the legal methods used to adopt them, such as statutes, regulations, and executive orders. The study found that six of the key policies had been…

Examines the complexities of the taxation issue in Indian affairs, both for American Indian reservations and adjacent local governments. Demonstrates the role of statutes and case law in the recurring struggle to balance tribal immunities guaranteed by the federal government with the expectations of non-Indian taxpayers. (SV)

Examines work of author D.H. Lawrence and John Collier, later Bureau of Indian Affairs Commissioner, during 1920s when they stayed as Mabel Dodge Luhan's guests in Taos, New Mexico. Examines their perceptions of Pueblo Indian culture, federal-Indian relationship, and Indian influences on Lawrence's and Collier's work. (TES)

Examines federal and state governments' attempts to suppress peyote use in Indian rituals as historically Christian-inspired. Focuses on questions of morality versus criminal law. Explains history and development of Native American Church of North America. Examines nine contemporary peyote trials. Concludes larger questions of tribal sovereignty…

Reviews efforts by American Indian tribes during the previous 50 years to reacquire lands within reservation boundaries from non-Indian ownership. Describes efforts of the Rosebud Sioux, Muckleshoot, Umatilla, Navajo, Quinault, and Blackfeet tribes, as well as the Indian Land Working Group, an intertribal group promoting the exchange of…

This proceedings contains 10 papers that examine specific aspects of Indian political history together with commentaries that relate the papers to broader historical themes. All papers were drawn from works in progress. The commentators are senior scholars and Indian political leaders. Papers include "The Context of American Indian Political…

This newspaper article describes an educational event held by Apache leaders in Arizona to help college students learn more about tribal water issues. The students were addressed by William Veeder, a veteran attorney defending Apache rights to the headwaters of the Salt River in state and federal courts. The article describes the lawyer's address,…

Discusses California Indian Claims Cases, focussing on the Indians of California Case. Presents a background sketch of the major claims and the nature of influences determining the wording of petitions, particularly in the Missions Indian Claims Case in which anthropological misunderstanding of socio-political-territorial organizations created…

Summarizes the history since 1936 of the Northern Utes, a tribe rich in energy resources. Describes political and economic development and demonstrated the tribe's dependence on federal funding. Discusses tribal sovereignty with regard to enrollment issues, rights of mixed-bloods, and disputes with local Whites. (SV)