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- All Subjects: American History
- Creators: Fixico, Donald L
Description
Power relations among cultural, socio-economic, and political groups have been dynamic forces shaping American history. Within that changing world, relations between indigenous and non-indigenous groups have been complicated by a fundamental difference often ascribed to Western philosophy versus Native American spiritual traditions. In 1990, Congress codified that difference when it passed the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) stipulating that Indian tribes and Native Hawaiians are unique among United States cultural groups. At the same time, NAGPRA began breaking down the Western vs. indigenous paradigm. The legislative process of NAGPRA strongly encouraged cooperation among indigenous peoples and the non-indigenous peoples who had collected their bones and belongings under earlier policies. NAGPRA required museums and other agencies accepting federal monies to inventory any collections of Native American items with the intent of giving control to tribes over the disposition of culturally affiliated human remains and certain classes of objects. In the rearranging power relations NAGPRA instigated, people maneuvered for power over the "truth," over whose memory, meaning, and spiritual worldview held authenticity. This dissertation considers cases that pushed or broke the limits of cooperation fostered by NAGPRA. Ignoring the bones and related funerary objects, Tangled Truths analyzes repatriation disputes over cultural artifacts to illuminate changing power relations among cultural groups in the United States. The repatriation negotiations in which people would not compromise were cases in which there existed strong differences in spiritual worldviews, cultural memories, or material interests. Congress could encourage cooperation, but it could not legislate acceptance of others' spiritual worldviews, nor could it persuade people to relinquish engrained cultural memories. And without solid enforcement, the NAGPRA process could be outmaneuvered by those intent on pursuing their own material interests.
ContributorsBiggs, Patricia Allyn (Author) / Fixico, Donald L (Thesis advisor) / Kintigh, Keith W. (Committee member) / Thoompson, Victoria E (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2011
Description
This dissertation examines a long-term activist effort by American Indian educators and intellectual leaders to work for greater Native access to and control of American higher education. Specifically, the leaders of this effort built a powerful critique of how American systems of higher education served Native individuals and reservation communities throughout much of the twentieth century. They argued for new forms of higher education and leadership training that appropriated some mainstream educational models but that also adapted those models to endorse Native expressions of culture and identity. They sought to move beyond the failures of existing educational programs and to exercise Native control, encouraging intellectual leadership and empowerment on local and national levels. The dissertation begins with Henry Roe Cloud (Winnebago) and his American Indian Institute, a preparatory school founded in 1915 and dedicated to these principles. From there, the words and actions of key leaders such as Elizabeth Roe Cloud (Ojibwe), D’Arcy McNickle (Salish Kootenai), Jack Forbes (Powhatan-Renapé, Delaware-Lenape), and Robert and Ruth Roessel (Navajo), are also examined to reveal a decades-long thread of Native intellectual activism that contributed to the development of American Indian self-determination and directly impacted the philosophical and practical founding of tribal colleges and universities (TCUs) in the 1960s and 1970s. These schools continue to operate in dozens of Native communities. These individuals also contributed to and influenced national organizations such as the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) and the National Indian Youth Council (NIYC), while maintaining connections to grassroots efforts at Native educational empowerment. The period covered in this history witnessed many forms of Native activism, including groups from the Society of American Indians (SAI) to the American Indian Movement (AIM) and beyond. The focus on “intellectual activism,” however, emphasizes that this particular vein of activism was and is still oriented toward the growth of Native intellectualism and its practical influence in modern American Indian lives. It involves action that is political but also specifically educational, and thus rests on the input of prominent Native intellectuals but also on local educators, administrators, government officials, and students themselves.
ContributorsGoodwin, John A (Author) / Fixico, Donald L (Thesis advisor) / Osburn, Katherine MB (Committee member) / Lomawaima, K. Tsianina (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2017
Description
Located in Southwest Alaska on the Bering Sea, Bristol Bay covers the area of land and water that lies north of the Alaska Peninsula. The Bristol Bay region consists of more than 40 million acres and is home to approximately 7,400 people of mostly Alaska Native descent. Many Natives still maintain a subsistence lifestyle. The region’s Indigenous inhabitants include Aleuts, Eskimos, and Indians. Bristol Bay’s Indigenous cultures developed around the abundant salmon runs. The Bristol Bay watershed, with its extensive lake and river systems, provides the ideal breeding grounds for all five species of Pacific salmon. As a keystone species, salmon directly or indirectly impact many species in the ecosystem. This dissertation focuses on the ecology and environment, culture, and economy in the Bristol Bay salmon fishery from its beginnings in 1884 until the present. The arrival of Euro-Americans altered the human/salmon relationship as Alaska Natives entered the commercial salmon fishery. The commercial fishery largely marginalized Alaska Natives and they struggle to remain relevant in the fishery. Participation in the subsistence fishery remains strong and allows Bristol Bay Natives to continue their cultural traditions. On a global scale, the sustainable Bristol Bay’s salmon harvest provides over half of the world’s wild sockeye salmon. Salmon cultures once existed throughout the Atlantic and Pacific. With the decline of salmon, few viable salmon cultures remain today. I argue that because of the ecological, cultural, and economic factors, salmon in Bristol Bay deserve protection from competing resource development and other factors that threaten the valuable fishery. The unique ecology of Bristol Bay needs clean water to continue its bountiful production. As a member of the Bristol Bay community, I include my own experiences in the salmon fishery, incorporating “writing from home” as one of my primary methodologies. I also include ethnohistory and oral history methodologies. I conducted interviews with elders in the Bristol Bay community to incorporate Indigenous experiences as Natives faced changes brought on by the commercial salmon fishery.
ContributorsGroat, Bridget Lee (Author) / Fixico, Donald L (Thesis advisor) / Bauer, William (Committee member) / Hirt, Paul (Committee member) / Riding In, James (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2019