Indigenous Governance Database
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Brian Cladoosby: The Swinomish Indian Tribal Community's Approach to Governance and Intergovernmental Relations
In this wide-ranging interview with NNI's Ian Record, Chairman Brian Cladoosby of the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community discusses Swinomish's unique governance system, its approach to building relationships with other governments to achieve its strategic priorities, and what he feels are the…
Cherokee National Youth Choir - Video
This video -- produced by the Cherokee Nation Education Department -- is a sample reel of the Cherokee National Youth Choir, an innovative approach to promoting and encouraging the use of the endangered Cherokee language among its youth while also instilling Cherokee cultural pride. The award-…
Richard Luarkie: Leadership and Nation Building at Pueblo of Laguna
In this informative interview with NNI's Ian Record, Governor Richard Luarkie of the Pueblo of Laguna discusses Laguna's approach to nation building, the roles their core values and time-tested process for cultivating effective leaders has played in that effort, and how and why Laguna has worked to…
Matthew Fletcher: Defining Citizenship: Blood Quantum vs. Descendancy
Michigan State University Law Professor Matthew Fletcher compares and contrasts between Anishinaabe conceptions of citizenship and belonging historically and today, and proposes that conference participants consider taking some innovative approaches to redefining citizenship that address the…
John "Rocky" Barrett: Constitutional Reform and the Citizen Potawatomi Nation's Path to Self-Determination
In this wide-ranging interview with NNI's Ian Record, longtime chairman John "Rocky" Barrett of the Citizen Potwatomi Nation provides a rich history of CPN's long, difficult governance odyssey, and the tremendous strides that the nation has made socially, economically, politically, and culturally…
Walter Echo-Hawk: In the Light of Justice: The Rise of Human Rights in Native America & the U.N. Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
Walter Echo-Hawk, legendary civil rights attorney, discusses his latest book In the Light of Justice: The Rise of Human Rights in Native America & the UN Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, stressing the need for Native nations and peoples to band together to mount a campaign to…
Suzan Shown Harjo: Five Decades of Fighting for Tribal Sovereignty and Self-Determination
In this wide-ranging interview, longtime Native American rights advocate Suzan Harjo discusses her involvement in the development and ratification of the American Indian Religious Freedom Act, the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, and the legislation creating the National…
Sophie Pierre: Enacting Self-Determination and Self-Governance at Ktunaxa
In this informative interview with NNI's Ian Record, Sophie Pierre, longtime chief of the Ktunaxa Nation, discusses Ktunaxa's ongoing effort to reclaim and redesign their system of governance through British Columbia's treaty process, specifically Ktunaxa's citizen-led process to develop a new…
Migizi Business Camp
This video -- produced by the Little River Band of Ottawa Indians -- depicts the Band's efforts to implement a work readiness and job training program for teenagers and young adults. Five years ago, the Band’s planning and education departments joined forces to create the Migizi Business Camp for…
Karen Diver: Nation Building Through the Cultivation of Capable People and Governing Institutions
In this informative interview with NNI's Ian Record, Chairwoman Karen Diver of the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa discusses the critical importance of Native nations' systematic development of its governing institutions and human resource ability to their ability to exercise sovereignty…
Jill Doerfler: Defining Citizenship: Blood Quantum vs. Descendancy
Scholar Jill Doerfler (Anishinaabe) talks about the colonial origins of blood quantum as a criterion for determining "Indian" and tribal identity, and explains how the federal government imposed that criterion upon the White Earth people in order to divest them of their land. She also stresses the…
Angela Wesley: Huu-ay-aht First Nations' Forging of a New Governance System
Angela Wesley, Chair of Huu-ay-aht Constitution Committee, discusses the painstaking effort the Huu-ay-aht First Nations undertook to develop a new constitution and system of governance, and how they continue to work to turn the promise of self-governance embodied in their new constitution into…
David Wilkins: Indigenous Governance Systems: Diversity, Colonization, Adaptation, and Resurgence
In this in-depth interview with NNI's Ian Record, federal Indian law and policy scholar David Wilkins discusses the incredible diversity and sophistication of traditional Indigenous governance systems, the profound impacts colonial policies had on those systems, and how Native nations are working…
John Petoskey: Tribal Sovereign Immunity and the Michigan v. Bay Mills case: What the Future Likely Holds and How Native Nations Should Prepare
In this lecture for faculty and students of the University of Arizona's Indigenous Peoples Law and Policy Program, NNI Indigenous Leadership Fellow John Petoskey provides a comprehensive background of the Michigan v. Bay Mills case currently pending before the U.S. Supreme Court and discusses what…
James R. Gray: Rebuilding Osage Governance from the Ground Up
In this informative intervew with NNI's Ian Record, James R. Gray, former Principal Chief of the Osage Nation, details his nation's effort to design a new constitution and government from the ground up, and provides an overview of the thorough education and consultation process the nation developed…
Native Leaders: The Purpose and Challenge of Redefining Citizenship
Several Native leaders share their thoughts on why their nations are deliberating potential changes to their citizenship criteria, and they discuss some of the many challenges that Native nations face in this complex area of governance.
Carole Goldberg: Internal Considerations in Redefining Citizenship
Scholar Carole Goldberg discusses the internal considerations that Native nations should ponder when deciding whether and how to change their citizenship criteria.
Gwen Phillips: The Relationship Between Constitution, Culture, and Citizenship
Gwen Phillips, Director of Corporate Services and Governance Transition with the Ktunaxa Nation, discusses some of the issues that the Ktunaxa Nation is deliberating as it engages the question of how to redefine its criteria for citizenship.
Sophie Pierre: Embracing Ancestry as the Basis for Ktunaxa Citizenship
"One of the key elements or one of our key pillars of course are our people, and our people embody our language and culture and you don't have a choice what you're going to be born as. Any of our people, when they're born, we're Ktunaxa, just as Italians are Italians and it doesn't matter if they…
Native Leaders and Scholars: Citizens Versus Members: Some Food for Thought
Native Leaders and scholars discuss the pervasive role that terminology plays in conceptions of Native nation sovereignty and citizenship, comparing and contrasting the terms "member" and "citizen" and discussing the origins of the term "member" in Native nations' definitions of who is to be…