United States History Commons^™

[2024 Honorable Mention] Diversifying Local Histories: Religion’S Erasure Of Indigeneity, Christina Fultz, Helene Marie Kristensen, Camille Herrera

Ethnic Studies Research Paper Award

Our podcast explores the nature in which the Carmel Mission has been projecting a false narrative of their religious origins. Hence, erasing the indigenous culture and communities while developing the Mission System. Our research unveils the historical discrepancies, the accurate portrayal of Junipero Serra. While acknowledging the traumatic experiences of Indigenous communities when facing religious indoctrination.

Frontier: Land, Architecture, And Abstraction, Jacob Boatman

Masters Theses

The abstraction of land is a colonial process by which physical land is transformed into a conceptual or symbolic entity. This transformation occurs through various economic, architectural, and cultural practices that imbue land with abstract values, meanings, and functions beyond its physicality. This includes the division of land into parcels for economic transactions, the design and construction of built environments that shape human interactions with the land, and the cultural narratives and representations that ascribe significance to particular landscapes. Through abstraction, colonial powers devalue indigenous perspectives and relationships to the land, reducing them to mere obstacles in the path of …

Corporate Environmental Responsibility: Navigating Policy, Impact, And Equity, Tyler Halligan

Graduate Student Portfolios, Professional Papers, and Capstone Projects

"Corporate Environmental Responsibility: Navigating Policy, Impact, and Equity" examines the profound influence of corporations on environmental degradation through three pieces.

The first piece, "Understanding Factors Shaping Corporate Environmental and Social Responsibility: Navigating a Path Towards Greater Accountability," explores seven critical areas: legal frameworks, global trade, multilateral development banks, international investment laws and agreements, corporate lobbying, transparency and environmental accountability, and economic growth priorities and negative externalities. It traces these topics from pre-1970s regulatory contexts to contemporary contexts, advocating for stronger regulations and ethical practices to foster accountability and sustainability.

The second piece, "Treatment as a State (TAS) under the Clean …

Mixed Feelings: The Emotional Appeals Of Zitkala-Ša’S American Indian Stories, Kayla Joan Baur

Publications and Research

Zitkala-Ša (Lakota: Zitkála-Šá, meaning Red Bird) was among the first to write about the experiences of Native American children in the U.S. Indian boarding school program to an English-speaking audience. As a writer and political activist, Zitkala-Ša uses emotional appeals and cultural ideas she learned through her white education to expose the very boarding school institutions that taught her. In American Indian Studies (1921), Zitkala-Ša critiques the violence that the Indian boarding school system inflicts on young Native Americans. She presents these critiques through emotional appeals that take two forms: one, a more traditional sentimental appeal associated with middle-class white …

Towards Sociobiogeochemistry: Critical Perspectives On Anthropogenic Alterations To Soil Nitrogen Chemistry Via U.S. Urban And Suburban Development, Christopher D. Ryan

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The ecological impacts of changes to land use are relevant to concerns about climate change, eutrophication of waterbodies, and reductions in biodiversity. As a foundational component of ecosystem functioning, changes to soil biogeochemistry have significant effects on overall ecosystem health. With cities continuing to grow and develop in extent, the impacts of urbanization and suburbanization on soils are of particular concern. Despite a wide range of natural climatic and geologic conditions, several factors have driven similar patterns of land transformation and management across the United States. In particular, federal initiatives including the Home Owners Loan Corporation, the Federal Housing Administration, …

"Many Fabulous Stories And Idle Tales": The Intersection Of Elizabethan Political Gambits And Indigenous Erasure In The Early American Republic, Daniel Ryan Lewis

Theses and Dissertations--History

Welsh Indian Theory, originating in Elizabethan England, stated that a group of Welsh explorers settled in the Americas in the late 12^th century and intermarried with the Indigenous tribes, thereby explaining “advanced cultures” ranging from the Mississippians to the Aztec Empire. This act of erasure became rooted in Kentucky and the surrounding area in the 18^th and 19^th centuries; a series of prominent individuals from Kentucky in turn contributed to a growing body of false historical narratives that denied Indigenous Americans their cultural identities and connection their ancestral lands in the United States. With a 460-year trail …

Looted Cultural Objects, Elena Baylis

Articles

In the United States, Europe, and elsewhere, museums are in possession of cultural objects that were unethically taken from their countries and communities of origin under the auspices of colonialism. For many years, the art world considered such holdings unexceptional. Now, a longstanding movement to decolonize museums is gaining momentum, and some museums are reconsidering their collections. Presently, whether to return such looted foreign cultural objects is typically a voluntary choice for individual museums to make, not a legal obligation. Modern treaties and statutes protecting cultural property apply only prospectively, to items stolen or illegally exported after their effective dates. …

Wabanaki Experiences And Perspectives On “Our Shared Ocean”: Maine Indian Tribal-State Commission Special Report Sea Run, Anthony W. Sutton, Judson Esty-Kendall, Paul Thibeault

Maine Policy Review

The Maine Indian State Tribal Commission (MITSC) recently published a special report titled, Sea Run, documenting the impact of Colonial and Maine policies and activities on the quality and quantity of tribal fisheries spanning the time from first contact between Europeans and the Wabanaki Nations to today.

Historical Trauma: Literary And Testimonial Responses To Hiroshima, Mariam Ghonim

Theses and Dissertations

The concept of trauma is controversial in literature. While one may be able to come up with ways to describe trauma in fiction, representing historical trauma is a hard task for writers. Some argue that trauma can not be described through those who did not experience it, while others claim that, provided some elements are added, one can represent trauma to the reader. This thesis focuses on twentieth-century historical traumas related to a nuclear catastrophe and explores the different literary and testimonial responses to the catastrophic man-made event of Hiroshima (1945). In this thesis, Kathleen Burkinshaw’s historical fiction The Last …

Citing Seeds, Citing People: Bibliography And Indigenous Memory, Relations, And Living Knowledge-Keepers, Megan Peiser Choctaw Nation Of Oklahoma

Criticism

By turning the page or reading further, you are accepting a responsibility to this story, its storyteller, its ancestors, and its future ancestors. You are accepting a relationship of reciprocity where you treat this knowledge as sacred for how it nourished you, share it only as it has been instructed to share, and to ensure it remains unviolated for future generations.

This story is told by myself, Megan Peiser, Chahta Ohoyo. I share knowledge entrusted to me by Anishinaabe women I call friends and sisters, by seed-keepers of many peoples Indigenous to Turtle Island, and knowledge come to me from …

Heart Story Curation: Indigenous Feminist Justice Leadership & The Philanthropic Call To Action, Joannie M. Suina

Ed.D. Dissertations in Practice

Of the $3.9 Billion dollars flowing within the philanthropic sector, only 0.04% goes to Native American serving organizations according to a 2019 report (NAP & Candid, 2019). An even smaller amount goes toward supporting efforts for Native American women and girls. This mixed-methods study seeks to address the dire gaps in funding within Native philanthropy and seeks to define Indigenous Feminist Justice efforts from a post-COVID-19 lens. Evidenced through this study, the research highlights Indigenous resilience, as it relates to Native Women leading healing efforts in Indigenous communities. The researcher conducted a national survey and hosted two focus groups to …

A Confluence Of Cultural And Water History With The Seli’Š Ksanka Qlispe’ Dam Formerly Named The Kerr Dam, Allisen A. Hansen

2023 Symposium

The Seli’š Ksanka Qlispe’ Dam (SKC Dam), formerly known as the Kerr Dam is the first Native American tribally owned dam in the United States. Located on the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes(CSKT) of the Flathead Reservation, on the Flathead River in Montana, the dam was once considered the blight of the Whiteman’s landgrab and genocide of culture and language. Now it is a source of hope to the tribe to help its members and improve its future. Completed in 1938, it is one of two dams on the Flathead River, just south of the Flathead Lake. By following the …

Oo-Mah-Ha Ta-Wa-Tha (Omaha City), Fannie Reed Giffen, Susette La Flesche Tibbles, Judi M. Gaiashkibos

Zea E-Books Collection

“This little book tells many important tribal stories for today and for future generations. These historic vignettes of the Omaha Nation and its leaders are shared so personally by author Fannie Reed Giffen and her col­laborators, Susette and Susan La Flesche. It has been a treasure of mine for 25 years and I hope it becomes one of yours.

The re-publication of the original comes on the 125-year anniversary of the 1898 Omaha Trans-Mississippi Expo­sition and Indian Congress. Its arrival is timely as many of its stories and people are vital to our nation’s history. A sculpture of Omaha Chief …

Technology & Tradition: Shaping Indigenous Collections For The Future, Gretchen Faulkner, Harold Jacobs, Alex Cole, Jonathan Roy, Reed Hayden, Anna Martin, Duane Shimmel

Technical Publications

The Hudson Museum received a UMAI seed grant to support
a collaboration with the Advanced Structures and Composites
Center and Intermedia Programs to replicate a culturally -
sensitive object in our collection. This is a technical publication to describe the process of replicating a Tlingit Frog Clan Helmet (HM5040) requested for repatriation by the Central Council of Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska (CCTHITA).

Assessing Colonization’S Historic And Enduring Impact On Native American Food Culture From An Adult Education Perspective, Angela Kissel

Adult Education Research Conference

The purpose of this Research Roundtable is to connect pre- and post-colonization adult education discourse to the historic and continued preservation of Native American food culture.

Bàalam Ajaw, Ismael Briceño Mukul

Maya America: Journal of Essays, Commentary, and Analysis

Bàalam Ajaw es un poema original de Ismael Briceño Mukul in his Yucatec Maya language. Se presentó en español y en inglés en otro lugar de esta revista bajo el título Príncipe Jaguar y Prince Jaguar.

Poetic Commodities: Exploration Of The Familial Impacts And History Of Indigenous Food Insecurity In “Why I Hate Raisins”, Katarina Rothhorn

Conspectus Borealis

This essay looks at Natalie Diaz's poem "Why I Hate Raisins" and the historical and contemporary implications of Native American reliance on government commodity programs.

Full Issue

The Forum: Journal of History

No abstract provided.

Complete Issue: Volume 4 Issue 1

Maya America: Journal of Essays, Commentary, and Analysis

Maya America presents this special issue as a stand-alone primary document to further an understanding of the life experiences of Guatemalan adoptees and to encourage the inclusion of irregular adoption as part of the Maya diaspora and as an integral part of the migration of peoples from Central America. Indeed, it is striking to see Maya heritage adoptees, raised in various parts of the world, add to the concept of "Maya America.”

Decolonizing Genderqueer: An Inquiry Into The Gender Binary, Resistance, And Imperialistic Social Categories, Lauren E. Abruzzo

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation examines core metaphysical properties of nonbinary and genderqueer categories in dominant U.S. contexts. I address a prevailing argument that these categories, by definition, resist the gender binary and are therefore radical modes of existing. In response, I put forth a view of ‘nonbinary’ and ‘genderqueer’ that I call the Diachronic Approach, which describes these categories as yet another set of tools within an imperialistic gender system, much like ‘man’ or ‘woman.’ In other words, they are what I refer to as imperialistic social categories. While nonbinary and genderqueer people do not fall perfectly within the U.S. gender …

The Malleability Of Home: A Genealogy Of Clark University's English House, Christina Rose Walcott, Justin Shaw

English

This essay details the history of the land and structures that occupy the property currently located at the corner of Hawthorne and Woodland Streets in Worcester, Mass. Covering over 300 years, it begins with the legacies of the Nipmuc and the early English colonialist settlers before moving into a discussion of Worcester's 19th Century industrialists and 20th Century acquisition by the University. The essay builds on extensive archival research using materials from both physical and digital collections such as atlases, censuses, biographies, directories, criticism, and more. To further develop the story of the English Department and its home, the essay …

Oklahoma V. Castro-Huerta, United States Supreme Court, Brett Kavanaugh

US Government Documents related to Indigenous Nations

This United States (US) Supreme Court decision, argued April 27, 2022 and decided June 29, 2022 expanded the reach of state jurisdiction to allow for prosecution of crimes that occur on Indigenous land, regardless of whether or not a state is named as having such jurisdiction under US Public Law 280. In 2020, the US Supreme Court's decision on McGirt v. Oklahoma established that much of the eastern part of the state of Oklahoma is Indigenous land and therefore falls under either tribal jurisdiction or Federal jurisdiction. In 2015 Victor Manuel Castro-Huerta was charged and convicted of child neglect by …

Ryan Hitt Collection, University Archives And Special Collections, Prescott Memorial Library, Louisiana Tech University

University Archives Finding Aids

The Ryan Hitt Collection (800 C.E. - 1600 C.E.; 2 linear feet) is a collection of pottery shards, points, and plumbs found by the donor hunting for artifacts in fields and woods.

The Experience Of White Captives Among The Natives Of The Old Northwest Territory Between 1770 And 1850, Analucia Lugo

The Purdue Historian

In the late 18^th to mid-19^th centuries, hundreds of white settlers were taken captive by Native American groups across the Old Northwest Territory. Reasons for their capture varied from revenge to adoption, however, the treatment they received greatly depended on the captive’s gender. While females were more likely to be kept alive and better-taken care of, males faced a greater probability of facing violence or even death, though torture was common among both groups. Many captives undertook participatory roles within their respective captive communities, with some deciding to assimilate completely into a new way of life. Captivity narratives …

Where Do I Belong In The United States Public School System?, Christiana R. Becker

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

I seek to inquire about the world as it relates to my identity as a first generation descent of the Penobscot tribe living in the United States by utilizing four methodologies in my research: life histories/autobiographies, narrative inquiry, a/r/tography and practice-based and practice-led. Through coupling my artistic practice with those four methodologies I am able to creatively show the information I have unearthed in hopes that others will benefit from a fresh and augmented understanding of what it historically and culturally means to be a part of a community that makes up a very small percentage of the United States …

The Rise Of An Eco-Spiritual Imaginary: Ecology And Spirituality As Decolonial Protest In Contemporary Multi-Ethnic American Literature, Andrew Michael Spencer

English Theses and Dissertations

The Rise of an Eco-Spiritual Imaginary reveals a shared ecological aesthetic among contemporary U.S. ethnic writers whose novels communicate a decolonial spiritual reverence for the earth. This shared narrative focus challenges white settler colonial mythologies of manifest destiny and American exceptionalism to instantiate new ways of imagining community across socially constructed boundaries of time, space, nation, race, and species. The eco-spiritual imaginary—by which I mean a shared reverence for the ecological interconnection between all living beings—articulates a common biological origin and sacredness of all life that transcends racial difference while remaining grounded in local ethnicities and bioregions. The novelists representing …

All These Things We've Done Before: A Brief History Of Red-Power Inspired Projects, Programs, And Efforts At The University Of Nebraska-Lincoln And What They Can Do For Us Today, Jake Borgmann

Honors Theses

The Red Power Movement from 1969-1975 inspired both Indigenous and non- Indigenous students and faculty from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) to work for the betterment of Indigenous peoples in areas of affirmation, education, leadership, and language preservation and revitalization. For a time, student efforts by the Council of American Indian Students, faculty sponsored Indigenous education-centered programs, educational outreach through television, and Lakota language courses helped carve out an Indigenous space on campus where Indigenous students could thrive and seek empowerment through education. This era of Red Power-inspired projects, programs, and efforts at UNL peaked from 1969 to the early …

Opinion Regarding The Status Of Mineral Ownership Underlying The Missouri River Within The Boundaries Of The Fort Berthold Reservation (North Dakota), United States Department Of The Interior, Robert T. Anderson

US Government Documents related to Indigenous Nations

This memorandum, dated February 4, 2022, from the United States (US) Department of the Interior (Office of the Solicitor) to the Secretary and Assistant Secretary of Land and Minerals Management, the Assistant Secretary of Indian Affairs, and the Director of the Bureau of Indian Affairs rescinds the Solicitor’s May 26, 2020 opinion regarding mineral rights on the Fort Berthold Reservation which declared the state of North Dakota to be the owner of said rights. This memorandum reaffirms the January 17, 2017 opinion of Solicitor Hilary Tompkins that the rights belong to the Three Affiliated Tribes of the Fort Berthold Reservation. …

Reclamation: Managing Water In The West; An Overview Of The Pick-Sloan Missouri Basin Program, United States Bureau Of Reclamation, Roger S. Otstot

US Government Documents related to Indigenous Nations

This undated summary released by the Bureau of Reclamation offers a concise overview of the Pick-Sloan Missouri Basin flood control plan which was enacted when Congressed passed the Flood Control Act of 1944. This plan led to the construction of several dams in the Missouri River basin, including the Garrison Dam. The completion of the Garrison Dam displaced the majority of the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara people living on the Fort Berthold Reservation. This document contains tables, graphs, maps, and a photograph.

Demonstratives In Nsélišcn ‘Montana Salish’, Aspen A. Decker

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This thesis presents a detailed analysis of the Nsélišcn ‘Montana Salish’ demonstrative system. I propose that there are three features encoded in the demonstratives that I examined in this thesis: (i) proximity of the speaker in relation to the referent, (ii) common ground between the speaker and addressee, and (iii) visibility of the referent. I further propose that the Nsélišcn demonstrative system distinguishes three degrees of proximity: proximal, medial, and distal. Nsélišcn is a member of the Southern Interior branch of the Salishan language family. The data analyzed in this thesis was collected from native Nsélišcn speakers.