Indigenous Governance Database
Other Papers & Reports
Chemşhúun Pe'ícháachuqeli (When our Hearts are Happy): A Tribal Psychosocial Climate Resilience Framework
Tribes are keenly aware of the interconnection between health, nature, and personal wellbeing. Leading experts in climate change and wellbeing are increasingly encouraging communities to be proactive about protecting and building psychological, social, cultural, and spiritual wellbeing. Often…
Access and Management: Indigenous Perspectives on Genomic Data Sharing
As genomic researchers are encouraged to engage in broad genomic data sharing, American Indian/Alaska Native/Native Hawaiian (AI/AN/NH) leaders have raised questions about ownership of data and biospecimens and concerns over emerging challenges and potential threats to tribal sovereignty. Using a…
Tribal Technology Assessment: The State of Internet Service on Tribal Lands
Access to high-speed Internet service has become an essential component to the nation’s economy, education, and healthcare. However, federal data continues to show tribal lands are the least connected areas of the country. AIPI launched a survey to collect information from residents of tribal…
Becoming Visible: A Landscape Analysis of State Efforts to Provide Native American Education for All
Native Americans are unfortunately invisible to many. Most Americans likely have attended or currently attend a school where information about Native Americans is either completely absent from the classroom or relegated to brief mentions, negative information, or inaccurate stereotypes. This…
Tribal Data Governance and Informational Privacy: Constructing "Indigenous Data Sovereignty"
There is a growing movement among Indigenous peoples to assert aright to “Indigenous data sovereignty,” and yet, the term “data sovereignty” is not widely understood. What does it mean to control the collection, useand management of information in an era of “Big Data,” in which digital technology…
Genomic Research Through an Indigenous Lens: Understanding the Expectations
Indigenous scholars are leading initiatives to improve access to genetic and genomic research and health care based on their unique cultural contexts and within sovereign-based governance models created and accepted by their peoples. In the past, Indigenous peoples’ engagement with genomic research…
How does measuring poverty and welfare affect American Indian children?
For one group of children in particular, American Indians and Alaska Natives, exceedingly high poverty rates have had profound impacts on community wellbeing and long-term cohesiveness. Given the best available data, from the U.S. Census data, child poverty rates among American Indians and Alaska…
Policy Brief: Indigenous Data Sovereignty in the United States
We live in the information age. Governments, industries, and organizations of all kinds are claiming a right to gather information on everything from our spending habits to our health records. Data has become a global currency, a valuable asset, and a source of power. Native nations are part of…
Progressing Issues of Social Importance Through the Work of Indigenous Artists: A Social Impact Evaluation of the Native Arts and Cultures Foundation’s Pilot Community Inspiration Program
In 2014, the Native Arts and Cultures Foundation (NACF) launched a new initiative, the Community Inspiration Program (CIP), which is rooted in the understanding that arts and cultures projects have an important role to play in motivating community engagement and supporting social change. This…
Ahwahsiin (The Land/Where We Get Our Food)
Indigenous Peoples’ knowledge and food systems are fast disappearing but are of the utmost importance, not only for sustaining Indigenous Peoples but also for providing alternative paradigms for coping with diverse ecosystems in a changing global environment. This research examines Blackfeet tribal…
Policy Brief: Data Governance for Native Nation Rebuilding
Native nations in the United States are increasingly exercising Indigenous data sovereignty (ID-Sov)— the right of a nation to govern the collection, ownership, and application of its own data. While ID-Sov is the goal, data governance— the ownership, collection, control, analysis, and use of data…
Data as a Strategic Resource: Self-determination, Governance , and the Data Challenge for Indigenous Nations in the United States
Data about Indigenous populations in the United States are inconsistent and irrelevant. Federal and state governments and researchers direct most collection, analysis, and use of data about U.S. Indigenous populations. Indigenous Peoples’ justified mistrust further complicates the collection and…
Access to Capital and Credit in Native Communities: A Data Review
As the second part of a two-part follow-up to the NALS, this report uses a range of datasets to document the evolution of Native Communities’ capital access since 2001. Its three main sections summarize data describing access to capital and credit for Native consumers, Native business owners, and…
Access to Capital and Credit in Native Communities
This report emerges from the Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) Fund’s commitment to helping Native Communities develop through increased access to capital. The ideas presented are grounded in an understanding of current economic conditions in Native Communities and in established…
Determinants Of Development Success In The Native Nations Of The United States: English Version
The poverty of indigenous North Americans, especially those living on reservations, has beenconcerned Indian and federal policymakers for more than a century. After the treatymaking phase and the establishment of the reservation system, federal policies to address Native poverty vacillated between…
Reimagining Indigenous Health: Moving Beyond the Social Determinants of Health
Senior researcher Stephanie Carroll Rainie critiqued the application of social determinants of health models in Native communities and challenged readers to reconsider how they think about Indigenous health.
Residence, Community Engagement, and Citizenship: How do non-resident tribal citizens connect with Native nations?
The research draws from an online survey targeted primarily at younger tribal citizens living away from tribal lands; this project provides preliminary insight into 1) non-resident citizens' engagement with their tribes, and 2) the ways tribes might connect more effectively with non-resident…
Beyond Health Care: Community, Governance, and Culture in the Health and Wellness of Native Nations. Project Summary
This project asked, "What actions can Native nations and organizations take outside the conventional healthcare system to improve the health and wellness of Native communities?" Three lines of inquiry emerged: DATA SOVEREIGNTY AND DATA GOVERNANCE Data availability and data quality issues limit…
Tribal Child Welfare Codes as Sovereignty in Action. 2016 NICWA conference edition
With passage of the Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978 (ICWA), Congress formally recognized Native nations’ inherent authority to govern child welfare matters and provided support for tribal self-determination over child welfare. Because ICWA “assumes that a tribal code is the governance mechanism by…
Indigenous Land Management in the United States: Context, Cases, Lessons
The Assembly of First Nations (AFN) is seeking ways to support First Nations’ economic development. Among its concerns are the status and management of First Nations’ lands. The Indian Act, bureaucratic processes, the capacities of First Nations themselves, and other factors currently limit the…