Indigenous Governance Database
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Remaking Constitutions: International Challenges
U.S. District Court Judge John R. Tunheim, whose work in Kosovo helped the United Nations re-establish and improve Kosovo's legal system and ultimately restructure its entire judiciary, discusses his observations as the principal outside advisor to the process that developed the Kosovo Constitution…
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…
Why beggar thy Indian neighbor? The case for tribal primacy in taxation in Indian country
The law governing taxation in Indian country is a mess. The accretion of common law precedents and the general tendency of states to assert primacy over the taxation of non-Indians create absurd outcomes. This article makes the case three ways. The argument based on the law shows that…
Protecting Our Children Through Tribal Law: Part II
This graphic presentation highlights key findings from 4 of these topics: jurisdiction, tribal-state relationships, child abuse reporting, and paternity. For highlights of the other topics please see Protecting Our Children Through Tribal Law (Part I).
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…
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.
It's Hard to See the Future with Tears in Your Eyes
To commemorate its 20th anniversary, the American Indian Studies Programs (AISP) at the University of Arizona staged a speakers series entitled "Poetics and Politics." Launching the series was Wilma Mankiller (Cherokee), a nationally renowned Native leader, author, and community development…
A Call to Action
As Native peoples across the country celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Indian occupation of Alcatraz (1969-1971) this fall, many newspapers, magazines and networks are filing stories that attempt to assess both the event's immediate impact as well as its cultural legacy. While many of these…
Closing the Gap: A North American Perspective
This series of lectures is about “closing the gaps”–the socioeconomic and other gaps between Indigenous and mainstream populations in Australia. You might well wonder what a Yank academic is doing leading off such a series. I have to admit that I’ve wondered that myself. And I find myself somewhat…
Rosebud Sioux Tribal Education Department and Code
Responding to disproportionately low academic attendance, achievement, and attainment levels, the Tribe created an education department (TED) in 1990 and developed a Code that regulates and coordinates various aspects of the tribal schools, public schools, and federally-funded Indian education…
The Menominee Community Center of Chicago: Creating an Innovative Partnership Between Urban and Reservation Communities
Over half of the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin lives off-reservation. Regrettably, the ties between the Menominee’s reservation and urban populations, like those between the split populations of so many Indian nations, have been tenuous for decades. In 1994, a group…
Poeh Center: Sustaining and Constructing Legacies (Pojoaque Pueblo)
Faced with the common challenge of raising funds for construction of a cultural center and museum, the Tribal Council created the Pojoaque Pueblo Construction Services Corporation in 1993. The Corporation’s chartering mandate was to generate revenues for cultural activities and to oversee the…
Yakama Nation Land Enterprise
In an effort to consolidate, regulate, and control Indian land holdings, the financially self-sustaining Yakama Nation Land Enterprise has successfully acquired more than 90% of all the fee lands within the Nation’s closed area — lands which were previously highly "checker-boarded." The Enterprise’…
Navajo's Pine Hill Health Center
In the Ramah Chapter of the Navajo Nation–as in many parts of Indian Country–late detection of breast cancer leads to disproportionally high rates of breast cancer mortality. Ramah Navajo’s Pine Hill Health Center devised a creative response: it launched a series of "Mammo Days," educational and…
Pte Hca Ka, Inc. (Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe)
This tribally chartered corporation developed a culturally compatible management system for reestablishing buffalo as a focal point for socio-economic development, community cohesion, and self-determination. Pte Hca Ka, Inc. operates a mobile meat processing facility, and is currently seeking…
Mille Lacs' Small Business Development Program
The Small Business Development Program assists Band members in developing the private sector economy by providing low-interest loans up to $75,000 to businesses that are at least 60 percent owned and operated by Band members located on or near the Reservation. The Program offers both "micro" loans…
Coquille: Southwest Oregon Research Project (SWORP)
Driven by the belief that possessing historical documents and archival collections is essential for cultural self-determination, the Coquille Indian Tribe partnered with the University of Oregon and the Smithsonian Institution to launch the Southwest Oregon Research Project (SWORP) in 1995. Through…
Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission's Treaty Rights/National Forest MOU
The Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission (GLIFWC), a tribally chartered intertribal agency, negotiated a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the US Forest Service that both recognizes and implements treaty-guaranteed hunting, fishing, and gathering rights under tribal regulations and…
Saginaw Chippewa Tribal Land Title and Records Office
With the ultimate goal of seeing a time when Native people and nations once again own and manage the land within the boundaries of every reservation as well as those lands that are culturally important to them beyond reservations, the Tribal Land Title and Records Office keeps all records and…
Trust Resource Management (Salish and Kootenai)
For more than three decades, the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes (CSKT) have been building capable governing institutions and taking over management of resources and programs previously managed by outsiders. Recognizing that self-management both allows the tribal government to determine its…