Indigenous Studies Commons^™

Teaching Culture With A Modern Valuable: Lessons About Money For And From Tongan Youth In New Zealand, Ping-Ann Addo

Pacific Studies

This article explores how diaspora, monetary wealth, and kinship intersect in transnational Tongan families, framing diaspora as both a cultural phenomenon and a means of engaging with modernity. While remittances are often emphasized, the study examines nonremittance money practices among Tongans in New Zealand, showing how shifting uses of money redefine kinship and obligation. Traditional forms of wealth, like koloa and ngāue, remain significant, but money now plays a vital role in expressing family values and sustaining social bonds. The article highlights tensions between tradition and modernity, obligation and autonomy, and material and relational value, offering insights into how …

Kapingamarangi People In The United States, Michael D. Lieber, Willys Peters, Rosita Peters, Mike Borong

Pacific Studies

This article explores the Kapingamarangi diaspora, focusing on the formation and transformation of their communities outside their ancestral homeland. Since their initial migration to Pohnpei in 1919, Kapinga people have established enclaves across Micronesia and the United States, driven by educational opportunities and labor recruitment. The study examines how Kapinga migrants sustain cultural identity through face-to-face interactions and digital communication, redefining the concept of community in a transnational context. By analyzing their lived experiences—including challenges related to healthcare, employment, and social integration—the article highlights the interplay between traditional Kapinga cultural models and adaptation in the diaspora. Ultimately, this work contributes …

Pohnpeians In Hawai‘I: Refashioning Identity In Diaspora, Suzanne Falgout

Pacific Studies

This article explores the enduring significance of voyaging in Micronesian life, tracing its evolution from ancient exploration to modern migration. Historically, Oceanic peoples navigated vast distances, guided by sophisticated techniques such as etak, and maintained strong kinship and trade connections. Pohnpeians, once skilled voyagers, transitioned to a land-centered lifestyle due to their island’s abundant resources, yet travel remained a culturally marked practice associated with prestige and danger. In recent centuries, migration patterns have shifted, driven by colonial influences and economic necessity. Pohnpeian migrants in Hawai‘i navigate identity transformation while preserving traditional values, adapting through social networks and cultural practices. This …

Discourses On Chuukese Customary Adoption, Migration, And The Laws Of State(S), Manuel Rauchholz

Pacific Studies

This article concerns Chuukese adoption, child exchange, and fosterage practices and how they are continued or discontinued when Chuukese migrate to Guam, Hawai‘i, or the continental United States.1 By focusing on one cultural practice and the system of values attached to it, I hope to pinpoint some of the major changes that take place when key identity- shaping factors diversify and are no longer shared by an ethnic group, let alone families within that ethnic group. We will see how, for Chuukese today, “cultural citizenship” is a “dual process of self-making and being made within the webs of power linked …

Return Migration To American Samoa, Fepulea‘I Micah Van Der Ryn

Pacific Studies

This article examines the rising phenomenon of return migration to American Samoa, driven by economic, social, and familial factors. With a growing percentage of residents consisting of "returnees" from the U.S.-based Samoan diaspora, this migration reflects deep connections to land, kinship, and cultural identity. Using case studies and interviews, the study analyzes how returnees reintegrate into traditional Samoan structures, navigating values such as tautua (service), alofa (compassion), and fa‘aāloalo (respect). Differences in governance between American Samoa and independent Samoa shape migration patterns, influencing land tenure and chiefly authority. Socioeconomic and environmental factors also impact migration decisions, revealing a complex interplay …

Pacific Islands Diaspora Studies, Michael A. Rynkiewich

Pacific Studies

This article highlights the underrepresentation of Pacific Islands in diaspora studies, arguing that their migration history is deeply significant and worthy of greater academic attention. While diaspora research has expanded in recent decades, traditional frameworks such as diffusion and acculturation struggle to capture contemporary mobility patterns shaped by new technologies and global networks. The study explores how migration has evolved from ancient voyaging traditions to modern transnational connectivity, emphasizing hybridity and sustained cultural ties rather than assimilation. By examining shifting theoretical perspectives, the article calls for an updated approach to diaspora studies that better reflects Pacific Islanders' ongoing exchanges between …

You’Ll Always Be Family: Formulating Marshallese Identities In Kona, Hawai‘I, Laurence Marshall Carucci

Pacific Studies

This article examines the challenges faced by Enewetak Marshall Islanders living on the Big Island of Hawai‘i, highlighting their struggle for acceptance in a community where they often feel unwelcome. Despite U.S. President Ronald Reagan's 1985 remarks about their inclusion as "family," Marshall Islanders have encountered ethnic stereotyping and social exclusion. The study traces their displacement history, from World War II upheaval to nuclear testing, and their eventual return to a diminished homeland. Faced with limited resources and deteriorating health, many relocated to Hawai‘i, forming a growing community. The article explores how their identities have evolved in response to negative …

Intimate Frontiers: Indians, French, And Africans In Colonial Mississippi Valley, Sonia Toudji

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Historians have agreed that the French were more successful than their competitors in developing cordial relations with Native Americans during the conquest of North America. French diplomatic savoir faire and their skill at trading with Indians are usually cited to explain this success, but the Spaniards relied upon similar policies of trade and gift giving, while enjoying considerably less success with the Indians. Intimate Frontiers proposes an alternative model to understand the relative success of French Colonization in North America. Intimate Frontiers, an ethno-historical examination of the colonial encounters in the Lower French Louisiana, focuses on the Social relations between …

The Effects Of Tribal Governments On Reservation Poverty Rates, Heather Raisch

Political Science Theses and Capstones

Poverty rates on Indian reservations are far higher than the national average. Since Tribal Governments have at least some control over these reservations, to what extent are they to blame for these higher than average poverty rates? I look at each reservation and their type of government, constitution, policies and demographics to analyze the causes of their poverty as it relates to tribal government. There are many other pieces of research that are similar to this, but none looking specifically at the overall effects the government has on its community. My hypothesis is that communities with higher poverty rates tend …

Refusing “To Lie Low In The Dust”: Native Women’S Literacies In Southern New England 1768-1800, Renee Poisson

Honors Theses and Capstones

No abstract provided.

Fort St. Joseph And The American Revolution, Scott T. Macpherson

Fort St. Joseph Archaeological Project

Bennett’s Expedition 1779, Raid on Fort St. Joseph 1780, The “Spanish Raid” 1781, Deportation of the French, and Demise of Fort St. Joseph.

Adams County History 2011-2012

Adams County History

No abstract provided.

Girl Abducted By Indians, Kevin L. Greenholt

Adams County History

Who was this girl? Why was this account not known to others who had researched Indian abductions in the Adams County area? A former volunteer at the Adams County Historical Society suggested that I look into these matters. Using the collections of the historical society, the Pennsylvania 27 State Archives, and the Daughters of the American Revolution Library in Washington, D.C., my search began.

It should be noted before going any further that the 1765 date, which is repeated in various accounts of this abduction, is incorrect and will be examined later. Also incorrect is the fact that the Zimmerman/Carpenter …

The Military At Fort St. Joseph, Scott T. Macpherson

Fort St. Joseph Archaeological Project

Showing the Flag, Troupes de la Marine, Militia, and Fort St. Joseph’s Military Actions.

The French And Indian Wars: New France's Situational Indian Policies During The Fox And Natchez Conflicts, 1701-1732, Stephen Jay Fohl

Online Theses and Dissertations

This research examines the often-glorified relationship between New France and the American Indians with which that empire came into contact in North America, focusing primarily on the conflicting policies seen during the Fox Wars and the Natchez Wars. Many recent histories of New France, including Richard White's seminal study The Middle Ground: Indians, Empires and Republics, 1650-1815, focus primarily on the lands surrounding the Great Lakes. These histories champion a French Indian policy that was dominated by the fur trade and illustrated by the outbreak of the Fox Wars in 1712. However, New France's Indian policy was not always dictated …

Deterritorialization, Pure War, And The Consequences Of Indian Captivity In Transnational Colonial Discourse, Billy J. Stratton

English and Literary Arts: Faculty Scholarship

The genre of the captivity narrative has operated as a vital circuit for transnational colonial discourse since its inception. Throughout the age of discovery, accounts of the captivity became an indispensible means of connecting the European metropole to foreign lands in Asia and Africa, as well as North and South America. The development of the Indian captivity narrative within the Atlantic context functioned as an effective tool for the dissemination of knowledge concerning the New World and its Indigenous inhabitants. In this essay, I examine some of the ways in which the captivity narrative functions as a colonial apparatus vital …

The Impact Of Dakota Missions On The Development Of The U.S.-Dakota War Of 1862, Daphne D. Hamborg

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

This thesis explores the relationships between three groups of people on the mid-nineteenth century Minnesota frontier: evangelical Protestant missionaries, the Dakota who converted to the Christian faith and lifestyle taught by these missionaries, and the Dakota who remained traditional in their outlook and lifestyle. It does this through an analysis of the impact of these relationships on the development of the U.S.-Dakota War of 1862. As is made clear through the use of both primary and secondary sources, the missionaries helped create tensions within the Dakota community, tensions expressed through shifting social structures, argument, alienation, and, at times, violence. As …

American Indian Easter Eggs, Mark G. Thiel

Library Faculty Research and Publications

No abstract provided.

Review Of Red Power Rising: The National Indian Youth Council And The Origins Of Native Activism. By Bradley G. Shreve. Foreword By Shirley Hill Witt, Bruce E. Johansen

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences (through 2013)

While many histories of the "Red Power" movement trace its origins to the founding of the American Indian Movement in Minneapolis during 1968 and the occupation of Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay a year later, Bradley G. Shreve offers a compelling case that youth activism began during the 1950s, most notably in the Southwest. The Kiva Club (University of New Mexico), the Tribe of Many Feathers (Brigham Young University), and the Sequoyah Club of Oklahoma, among others, joined into the Regional Indian Youth Council in 1959 and the National Indian Youth Council in 1961. In contrast to AIM, which …

Review Of Light From Ancient Campfires: Archaeological Evidence For Native Lifeways On The Northern Plains. By Trevor R. Peck., Matthew Boyd

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences (through 2013)

Despite the relatively long legacy of professional archaeological research in the northern Great Plains, few comprehensive syntheses of the region's 13,000- year human history have been produced in recent years. This is particularly the case for the Canadian side of the region, which has tended to be overlooked in most scholarly summaries of Great Plains prehistory. The shadowy nature of the Canadian prairies to the wider community of Plains archaeologists is not due to a lack of archaeological research in the region-Alberta, alone, has over 35,000 registered sites-but instead reflects the poor dissemination ofCRM (Culture Resource Management) reports and other …

“We Will Hold Our Land:” The Cherokee People In Postrevolutionary North America, 1781-1792, Kevin T. Barksdale

History Faculty Research

In June of 1783, Spain’s newly-appointed Governor of Louisiana Estevan Miro convened a conference of southeastern Indians in Pensacola with representatives from the dominant regional Amerindian groups, including the Choctaw, Chickasaw, and Creeks in attendance. Among the attendees at the West Florida congress was a small contingent of Chickamauga Cherokee, led by their principal chief Dragging Canoe. During the parlay, Governor Miro implored the Indians to “not be afraid of the Americans,” promised to provide guns and ammunition in their ongoing efforts to prevent the further loss of their lands, and urged them to “continue to fight against American” westerners.

Recent Investigations Of Mission Period Activity On Sapelo Island, Georgia, Richard W. Jeffries, Christopher R. Moore

Journal of Global Initiatives: Policy, Pedagogy, Perspective

Prior to their retreat to Florida in 1684, Muskogean-speaking Guale Indians inhabited much of what is now the Georgia coast. The arrival of Spanish missionaries in Florida and Georgia in the mid-1500s began what is known archaeologically as the mission period (1568-1684), a time of sustained interaction between the Spanish and the Guale people. Over time, population loss due to European-introduced diseases and conflict with English-backed Native American slave raiders resulted in a drastic reconfiguration of Guale society and the abandonment of the Guale's ancestral homeland (Worth 2007).

Sapelo Island (Figure 6.1) is the site of at least one Spanish …

Indian Agency In Spanish Florida: Some New Findings From Mission Santa Catalina De Guale, David Hurst Thomas

Journal of Global Initiatives: Policy, Pedagogy, Perspective

The resurgence of Spanish mission archaeology in the American Southeast over the last three decades demonstrates the fallacy of the rigid and misleading Borderlands perspective on Franciscan-American Indian interactions. While engaging in the archaeology of Mission Santa Catalina de Guale, I suggested a broader-based,"cubist" approach toward the Spanish Borderlands history to seek, "multiple, simultaneous views of the subject" (Thomas 1989:7). Archaeology can indeed provide a critically important window through which to glimpse the Native American and European interactions in the Borderlands as elsewhere. By "democratizing" the past, archaeologists are framing new perspectives on minority populations and their experiences with dominant …

The Debate Over Indian Removal In The 1830s, George William Goss

Graduate Masters Theses

The US in the 1830s debated the relationship between the US and Indian Communities of North America. The principles calling for equal rights and political democracy were in contradiction with the principles calling for the US to follow colonial principles of the European empires that had begun to invade North America in the late 1400s. The colonies that had revolted against British rule in the late 1700s continued their expansion of settlements and political incorporation. The proposal of Indian Removal was a straightforward expression of that expansionism. There was a national campaign developed in support of the Indian resistance, particularly …

The Establishment Of The United States National Parks And The Eviction Of Indigenous People, Emily A. Vernizzi

Social Sciences

No abstract provided.

Jackpot! A Legal History Of Indian Gaming In California, Aaron Peardon

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Indian Gaming has transformed the economic, political, and sociological landscape of California. The growth of Indian casinos has had a profound impact on both Indian and non-Indian communities alike. California tribes took the lead in legalizing Indian Gaming throughout the nation. The efforts of California tribes in the legislative and political process have enabled many tribal groups to rise out of poverty and to gain prosperity that would otherwise be impossible to achieve. They have also brought increased revenue to local communities and have provided thousands of jobs to all Californians.

This thesis discusses the historical relationships between Native American …

Exploratory Studies Into Possible Uses Of Calcareous Dolostone On The Shivwits Plateau, Jennifer Durk, Lauren Falvey, Karen G. Harry

Festival of Communities: UG Symposium (Posters)

Excavations at pueblo habitation sites on the Shivwits Plateau suggest that calcareous dolostone was regularly procured and used by the inhabitants of the Mt. Dellenbaugh region. Calcareous dolostone, a soft, powdery calcium carbonate, is not local to these sites but was presumably procured from somewhere beneath the rim of the Grand Canyon. In this poster, we present the results of exploratory experiments into possible uses of this resource. Specifically, we evaluate the performance characteristics of powdered dolostone with reference to two activities: pigment production and ceramic manufacture.

Portland's Goose Hollow, Tracy J. Prince

Curriculum and Instruction Faculty Publications and Presentations

One of Portland’s oldest neighborhoods, Goose Hollow is steps from downtown and beloved for its quirky character, historic homes, spectacular views, and walkability. Over a century ago, the actual “hollow” was dramatically altered when the meandering Tanner Creek, in a deep gulch with several trestle bridge crossings, was diverted underground and infilled. The creek’s presence is still felt in the ravine carved through the Tualatin Mountains (spanned by the Vista Bridge) and in the neighborhood’s identity. This book provides definitive answers to how Goose Hollow got its name and how Tanner Creek Gulch was filled. Stories are also told of …

From Famine To Feast: The Give And Take Of Food In A Global Subsistence Environment, Laurence M. Carucci

Pacific Studies

Food is the primary transactional substance for Enewetak/Ujelang people [Republic of the Marshall Islands] and its production, preparation, consumption and exchange are central to how local people fashion and maintain social relationships and how they construct identities. At the same time, while the constitutive properties of food have remained culturally vigorous, the foods themselves have changed radically under colonialism. In particular, rehabilitation attempts in the post-nuclear testing era on Enewetak introduced extraordinary rapid dietary changes in the community and resulted in the onset of an epidemic of sedentary illnesses. The social practices that relate to food production and consumption are …

Review Of The Seminole Nation Of Oklahoma: A Legal History. By L. Susan Work. Foreword By Lindsay G. Robertson., Andrew K. Frank

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences (through 2013)

In this fascinating and well-documented account, L. Susan Work illustrates how a myriad of federal laws and legal rulings limited tribal self-government and otherwise sought to dissolve the modern Seminole Nation. Along the way, the former attorney general of the Seminole Nation and a member of the Choctaw Nation explores the legal peculiarities of Seminole history and the ways that the federal government frequently chose to homogenize the Five Tribes into a single legal standard. Dissolution, of course, did not occur, and Work carefully reconstructs the process by which the Seminole Nation capitalized on changes in federal policies and various …