Indigenous Governance Database
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Guatemala’s Indigenous Women in Resistance: On the Frontline of the Community’s Struggle to Defend Mother Earth and her Natural Assets
The objective of this study is to examine the social process at work in the defense of natural resources from the perspective of the indigenous women involved in it. Given the country’s broad cultural diversity and the time limits for completing this report, we assumed right from the start that it…
How Does Household Income Affect Child Personality Traits and Behaviors?
Existing research has investigated the effect of early childhood educational interventions on the child's later-life outcomes. These studies have found limited impact of supplementary programs on children's cognitive skills, but sustained effects on personality traits. We examine how a positive…
Processes of Native Nationhood: The Indigenous Politics of Self-Government
Over the last three decades, Indigenous peoples in the CANZUS countries (Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the United States) have been reclaiming self-government as an Indigenous right and practice. In the process, they have been asserting various forms of Indigenous nationhood. This article…
New Zealand's Constitution: A Report on a Conversation He Kotuinga Korero mo Te Kaupapa Ture o Aotearoa
The appointment of the Constitutional Advisory Panel in August 2011 was another step in a longer and continuing conversation about how to govern the people, land and resources of Aotearoa New Zealand.The Panel was appointed as part of the Consideration of Constitutional Issues, which was agreed to…
Culture and Law: Preliminary Findings in a Review of 100+ Tribal Welfare Codes
Over the last 35 years numerous tribes have created their own child welfare standards. By crafting child welfare codes that balance traditional culture and contemporary needs, tribes both protect member children (and their families) in culturally appropriate ways and reaffirm their sovereign…
Sustaining Indigenous Culture: The Structure, Activities, and Needs of Tribal Archives, Libraries, and Museums
Sovereignty, self-determination, and self-governance are primary goals of Indigenous nations worldwide and they take important steps toward those goals by renewing control over their stories, documents, and artifacts. To better support it, a core team of Native professionals formed the…
Land and Indigenous Business Development in Canada
Indigenous Business in Canada addresses contemporary concerns and issues in the doing of Aboriginal business in Canada, reveals some of the challenges and diverse approaches to business in indigenous contexts from coast to coast to coast, and demonstrates the direct impact that history and…
Critical junctures and economic development - evidence from the adoption of constitutions among American Indian nations
Utilizing a novel data set on American Indian Nations, we investigate how conditions at critical junctures of development can have long-lasting economic effects. We investigate the effect of the party of the US President at the time when American Indian tribes adopt a written constitution for the…
Reframing return on investments for tribal colleges and universities: Aligning analyses with tribal priorities and educational missions
TCUs serve dual missions: educating students and addressing American Indian tribal priorities. Due to this unique status, mainstream ROI metrics fail to fully align with TCU missions. This paper critiques mainstream measures of ROI in the tribal context and provides insights into alternative ROI…
Rebuilding Family Life in Alice Springs and Central Australia: the social and community dimensions of change for our people
This paper has been released by the Central Australian Aboriginal Congress as a constructive contribution to the debate on the social crisis facing Alice Springs and Central Australia. It presents powerful ideas as well as concrete strategies for change that we believe can make a real difference…
The Standing Rock Next Generation Plan
The Standing Rock Government is engaging in strategic planning. The Standing Rock strategic/government planning model differs from traditional planning models in that it defines 25 years as long term goals, 10 and 5 years as mid-term goals and takes into account the unique dynamics of the…
Tribal Nations and the United States: An Introduction
Tens of millions of Indigenous peoples inhabited North America, and governed their complex societies, long before European governments sent explorers to seize lands and resources from the continent and its inhabitants. These foreign European governments interacted with tribes in diplomacy, commerce…
Considerations in Implementing VAWA's Special Domestic Violence Criminal Jurisdiction and TLOA's Enhanced Sentencing Authority: A Look at the Experience of the Pascua Yaqui Tribe
On February 20, 2014, pursuant to the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2013 (VAWA 2013), the Pascua Yaqui Tribe was one of only three Tribes across the United States to begin exercising Special Domestic Violence Criminal Jurisdiction (SDVCJ) over non-Indian perpetrators of domestic…
Attorney General's Advisory Committee on American Indian/Alaska Native Children Exposed to Violence: Ending Violence so Children Can Thrive
This report was created as part of the Defending Childhood Initiative created by Attorney General Eric H. Holder, Jr. This initiative strives to harness resources from across the Department of Justice to: Prevent children's exposure to violence. Mitigate the negative impact of children's…
Resource Center for Implementing Tribal Provisions of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA): Webinars
The Intertribal Technical-Assistance Working Group on Special Domestic Violence Criminal Jurisdiction (ITWG) has participated in a series of webinars focused on defendants' rights issues (including indigent counsel); the fair cross section requirement and jury pool selection; prosecution skills;…
Tribal Code Development Checklist for Implementation of Special Domestic Violence Criminal Jurisdiction
This checklist (click to download) is designed as a tool to assist tribal governments seeking to develop tribal codes that implement special domestic violence criminal jurisdiction (SDVCJ) under section 904 of VAWA 2013. Tribal governments will likely be amending existing criminal codes, and every…
Climate Change Adaptation Plan for Akwesasne
The Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe’s (SRMT) Environment Division is investigating the impacts of climate change on the resources, assets, and community of Akwesasne and is developing recommendations for actions to adapt to projected climate change impacts. This plan is a first step in an effort to…
Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe: Climate Change and Adaptation Planning for Haudenosaunee Tribes
Tribes are beginning to identify potential climate change impacts on their cultural and environmental resources and to develop climate change adaptation plans. The Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe, located in New York and Canada, is in the early stages of adaptation planning. The Tribe is bringing together…
Climate Change Vulnerability Assessment and Adaptation Plan
Jamestown S'Klallam Tribal Citizens and their descendants reside in a landscape that has sustained them for thousands of years, the Olympic Peninusula of Washington State. Particularly over the last two centuries, the Jamestown S'Klallam people have successfully navigated a variety of soceital…
Confederated Salish & Kootenai Tribes Climate Change Strategic Plan
Overwhelming scientific evidence demonstrates that human inputs of greenhouse gases are almost certain to cause continued warming of the planet. (Environmental Protection Agency, 2013) The Northwest has already observed climate changes including an average increase in temperature of 1.5°F over the…