Indigenous Studies Commons^™

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.

Examining The Relational Space Of Native Faculty Members In Higher Education, Stevie Lee

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Currently, the available research on Native faculty experiences emphasizes the challenges and hardships of being an Indigenous faculty member. Native faculty members are often underrepresented and rarely appreciated for the cultural teachings and knowledge they contribute within settler-colonial institutions. Nonetheless, Native faculty continue to demonstrate resilience and leadership navigating in higher education.

This qualitative research study examines the experiences of 11 Native women faculty members within higher education. The settler-colonial framing of teaching, research, and service (TRS) are areas often associated with faculty for the purposes of determining promotions and achieving tenure. However, this method of framing seldomly comprehends the …

Cherokee Abstract Artist Leon Polk Smith: A Convergence Of Traditions, Danielle Montanino

Dissertations and Theses

This paper analyzes how Leon Polk Smith's Indigenous roots and upbringing in Indian Country had a significant impact on his artistic practice in a time of discrimination and segregation in the United States. Through examination contextualizing his work within the history and political events of the Cherokee, Chickasaw, and Choctaw Nations it is revealed how Polk Smith developed a formal language that could navigate both worlds and be viewed through a pure abstraction lens or a lens embodying his Indigenous traditions. In addition to his Indigenous philosophies, Mesoamerican Inca Nation’s cultural motifs further ground Polk Smith’s Indigenous aesthetic, and avant-garde …

Relationship Between Religion And Native American Identity, Gennaro W. Milo

Graduate Research Posters

The purpose of this study was to determine whether there is a relationship between religious affiliation and Native American Identity. Based on the findings of this study, a component of a Native American's Identity is their religious affiliation. To contribute to the research on Native American and Alaskan Native identity, this study targeted the teenage demographic of ages 12 to 19 years old. Over growing concern, expressed by tribal elders, about a loss of cultural identity amongst teens, this study investigates a connection between a teen’s sense of identity and their religious affiliation (Quigley, 2019). This study used a multiple-choice …

Tourism Trails And Resurgent Pathways: An Exploration Of The Nexus Between Indigenous-Led Tourism And Resurgence Discourses Alongside Karajarri Traditional Owners Of The Saltwater Kimberley, Australia, And Beyond, Bobbie Chew Bigby

Theses

This research explores the intersections between Indigenous-led tourism and resurgence among Indigenous communities. Resurgence is understood as practices promoting connections with culture, Country (i.e. Indigenous lands and waterways), and community. The research utilises a comparative case study approach to specifically analyse the experience of Karajarri Traditional Owners (TOs) of the saltwater Kimberley region of northwestern Australia. Comparative examples are drawn from Indigenous-led tourism development by other coastal Kimberley Aboriginal tourism leaders, as well as from the author’s own Tribal Nation, the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, United States.

The conceptual framework for this work is derived from the following concepts from …

Colonial Prehistories Of Indigenous North America, Mark A. Mattes

Faculty and Staff Scholarship

One of the most common inquiries received by Filson Historical Society librarians concerns the myth of Prince Madoc and the Welsh Indians. Of the myth’s many versions, the one most familiar to Ohio Valley History readers goes like this: Madoc, a Welsh prince escaping an internecine conflict over political rule at home, supposedly sailed to North America in the twelfth century. His force either landed at the Falls of the Ohio or made it there after landing further south and being driven north by hostile locals, possibly Cherokee people. Madoc and his contingent intermixed with Indigenous populations, whose fair-haired, blue-eyed, …

Boundary As Borderland: Mexico City’S Central Plaza And The Politics Of Presence, Re'al Christian

Theses and Dissertations

In the postcolonial era, the land surrounding national borders—the borderland—has inherited a specific identity and relationship with those who navigate it. While national borderlands are oft discussed amid conversations on globalization, land disputes, and war, the Spanish colonization of the Americas in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries saw the new establishment of borderlands from within in the form of segregative boundaries that purported to separate Indigenous and European peoples. This thesis concerns the manifestation of the borderland as not only an external entity, but an internal one as well. Using Mexico City, the center of the Spanish colonial empire, as …

Shapeshifting Power: Indigenous Teachings Of Trickster Consciousness And Relational Accountability For Building Communities Of Care, Ionah M. Elaine Scully

The Seneca Falls Dialogues Journal

Difficult dialogues are necessary work in order for communities to form coalitions, yet often these dialogues pose challenges for engaging in long-term work for social justice and systemic change. Power dynamics, microaggressions, and discomfort unlearning power and privilege can make long-term collaboration difficult. It is for this reason I discuss thinking of coalitions as communities of care and offer practical strategies for collaborating differently for sustainable action. Using Indigenous epistemology and methodology, Indigenous feminist and Indigequeer scholarship, as well as Indigenous land-based pedagogy and storytelling, I offer interventions using trickster teachings or trickster consciousness which I describe as comprised of …

Building Confidence Of Academic Library Staff In The Selection Of Culturally Authentic Native American Picture Books, Cassondra Leeport

Dissertations, Theses, and Projects

This study aimed to explore the confidence and ability of library staff to select and identify culturally authentic Native American picture books. The researcher, a self-identified Native American, developed a tool designed to assist in library staff in identifying key elements of a picture book that lend themselves to a work being culturally authentic. Assisting patrons in selecting materials is a key element in the library profession. The setting of this research is a university with a large Professional Education Program as well as a documented dedication to serving Native students and surrounding tribal communities and the participants of the …

A Workers' Paradise: Re-Integrating Newfoundland Into Colonial American History, Elena Hynes

Electronic Theses & Dissertations

The island of Newfoundland is conspicuous in colonial British and North American histories, most particularly and paradoxically, in its absence, a state of affairs which this study aims to help address. Multiple factors, including a paucity of documentary sources and various historiographic trends, have traditionally contributed to Newfoundland’s marginalization within colonial historical narratives. However, developments in recent years have made Newfoundland’s potential integration into the broader colonial dialogue more feasible including the advent of the Atlantic perspective, the expansion of available sources, and the work of multiple regional historians who have challenged enduring historiographic trends characterizing Newfoundland colonial settlements as …

Charles Gibson And Indian Territory's Periodical Press, Tereza M. Szeghi

Biennial Conference: The Social Practice of Human Rights

I argue that Charles Gibson (Creek writer and journalist) offers an important but woefully understudied voice of resistance to the changes imposed upon the tribes of Indian Territory around the turn of the 20th century (such as forced allotment of tribal lands, dissolution of tribal governments, and Oklahoma statehood). In his regular column, “Rifle Shots,” Gibson offered a dynamic space in which to process and comment upon these changes. More specifically, while Gibson was quite outspoken in his critiques of the ways in which U.S. policies threatened Creeks’ sovereignty, culture, and well-being, his column also frequently contained reworkings of traditional …

Checkerboard Of Interests: Native American Tribes And The Politics Of Land Tenure Reform, Anika Manuel

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

People have long disputed over the financial system constructed for indigenous communities and their resulting economic rights within U.S. native reservations. Indigenous tribes themselves remain split concerning the state of their tribal economies. Although scholars have extensively researched the historical component regarding the construction of the financial system we see in place today, very few have focused on the politics and rationale behind certain policy positions of relevant actors in modern-day society. In an attempt to fill this gap, this research paper will focus on answering two key questions: How has public policy shaped the economic and property rights of …

Women And The Mealing Room: Presenting A Comparative Analysis Of Female Spaces Across The Chacoan Landscape, Olivia H. Thomsen

Department of Anthropology: Theses and Student Research

In the two papers presented in this thesis, I examine mealing facility architecture both within and beyond Chaco Canyon. Both ethnographic and archaeological evidence tie the secular and sacred action of grinding corn to the gendered labor of women in modern and Ancestral Pueblo societies. In both chapters I utilize the defining elements of context, scale, association, and access to measure the ways in which corn grinding facilities in various Chacoan sites are similar and dissimilar to one another.

In chapter 2, I examine the dichotomy between great and small houses located within Chaco Canyon regarding mealing facilities. Utilizing legacy …

Improving Veteran Access; Status Of Operations Of The United States Department Of Veteran Affairs Work-Study Program, Kirk Allen

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

The usage status of The U.S. Department Veterans Affairs Work-Study Program is examined. Beneficiary numbers from the Global, Unites States, State, and Local/County perspective are reviewed. While of essential value, the program suffers from a lack of scholarly research and government oversight, and is further hindered by restrictive administrative rules lived first-hand. Research suggests that the program is operating outside of accountability to the taxpayer, presents as unnecessarily/overly-restrictive in accessibility, and is underutilized. The program appears to not be serving all veterans to full potential.

The Work-Study Program is codified in Veterans Benefits', Title 38 United States Code, Part III, …

Review Of Nicholas Black Elk: Medicine Man, Catechist, Saint, Ryan C. Hendrickson Dr.

Jesuit Higher Education: A Journal

No abstract provided.

Repensando A San Simón, El Sincretismo Y La Autoridad Antropológica, C. James Mackenzie

Maya America: Journal of Essays, Commentary, and Analysis

The tradition of San Simón in Guatemala has long garnered considerable interest among foreign and national academics, tourists, and Guatemalans in general from a range of backgrounds. Many, though not all, are drawn to the ambiguity and multiple identities often attributed to this deity, including associations with Pedro de Alvarado and Judas Iscariot as well as autochthonous figures such as the Maya deity Mam or other figures from Indigenous history and culture. In this article, based primarily on ethnographic research conducted since 1994, I trace opinions and assessments concerning San Simón, from a range of interlocutors, and consider how these …

“Why Would Anyone Leave?”: Development, Overindebtedness, And Migration In Guatemala, Lauren Heidbrink, Giovanni Batz, Celeste Sánchez

Maya America: Journal of Essays, Commentary, and Analysis

Over the past two decades, policymakers have expressed considerable optimism about the capacity of international development to curb transnational migration, yet there is a dearth of research examining how and under what conditions development interventions impact migration decisions. Enlisting a case study approach in the Maya-K’iche’ community of Almolonga, this article examines divergent meanings and practices of “development” and its impact on the migratory aspirations and outcomes of Indigenous families in Guatemala. Government authorities and international development experts exalt Almolonga as a prosperous example of a globalized, agrarian-based economy. Key to its ‘success’ is the growing microcredit industry which advertises …

Biographies/Biografías, Alan Lebaron

Maya America: Journal of Essays, Commentary, and Analysis

Biographies for all authors

Trends In Language Choice And Effects Of Choice On Acquisition: Kaqchikel Maya And Spanish In Central Guatemala, Jonathan Homquist, Hana Muzika Kahn

Maya America: Journal of Essays, Commentary, and Analysis

This study reveals trends in the choice of Kaqchikel Maya, Spanish, or both languages for household activities and by the generations, that is, the children, parents, and grandparents, in a village and a town in the central highlands of Guatemala. Similarities and differences between the village and town are described in both cases. The study also highlights the direct relationship between the language choice of parents and the acquisition of Kaqchikel by children. A total of 171 indigenous residents in the town and the village participated in the study. Findings are based on responses to a sociolinguistic questionnaire that also …

Migración Indígena Ayuujk: Recuento De Una Trayectoria Familiar, Telmo Jiménez Diaz

Maya America: Journal of Essays, Commentary, and Analysis

La migración es un fenómeno complejo que impacta en las formas de vida de las comunidades, las familias y las personas que emigran. Las comunidades indígenas se han integrado a la migración interna e internacional desde mediados del siglo XX. En este texto, hago un recuento de la trayectoria migratoria de mi familia, en un ejercicio reflexivo, muestro una mirada diacrónica de los cambios en la región mixe y desde ahí retomo mi experiencia de investigación en la antropología.

Complete Issue: Volume 3 Issue 3, Alan Lebaron, Adriana Cruz-Manjarrez

Maya America: Journal of Essays, Commentary, and Analysis

The full Issue 3, Volume 3 of Maya America, published November 2021

A History Of Land Tenure In The Ixil Region, Elaine Elliott

Maya America: Journal of Essays, Commentary, and Analysis

After the Spanish conquest, the IxilMayainitially remained less affected than more centrally located groups. However, dramatic changes occurred due to Guatemalan national government laws in the late 1800s which allowed claims on “vacant land”. Maya on those lands quickly adapted, claiming the areas where they had lived for over a millennium. The government favored large landowners who contributed to the national economy with export crops, particularly coffee. In the 1950s era of land reform, small farmers briefly obtained land, something quicklyreversed with the overthrow of the national government, accused of communism for these reforms. Conflict escalated when a leftist guerrilla …

¿Cómo Migramos? Una Perspectiva Autoetnografíca Sobre La Migración, Yunitza Vásquez Vásquez

Maya America: Journal of Essays, Commentary, and Analysis

El tema de la migración resulta ser muy amplio y se puede abordar desde la identidad, el género, el racismo, y el cuerpo, por esta razón me resulta importante hablar sobre este proceso desde mi experiencia como antropóloga, mujer, e indígena migrante. Este trabajo se presenta en cuatro partes. En la primera reflexiono sobre mi origen zapoteco-mixe y la discriminación étnica dentro y fuera de la comunidad Villa Hidalgo Yalálag. En la segunda parte abordo las causas de la migración yalalteca, en la tercera hablo sobre los medios de comunicación y su contribución para fortalecer los lazos entre los migrantes …

Cover And Introductory Note, Alan Lebaron, Adriana Cruz-Manjarrez

Maya America: Journal of Essays, Commentary, and Analysis

Front matter of Maya America Vol.3 Iss.3, including Introductory Note from the Editors

La Tenencia De Tierra En La Región Ixil, Elena Elliott

Maya America: Journal of Essays, Commentary, and Analysis

Después de la Conquista Española, los Ixiles no fueron tan impactados como otros grupos más centrales. Sin embargo, cambios dramáticos ocurrieron debido a leyes del gobierno nacional de Guatemala al final de los años 1800 que permitieron reclamo de tierras baldías. Los Mayas en estas tierras adaptaron, reclamando las áreas donde habían vivido más de un milenio. El gobierno favoreció terratenientes que contribuyeron a la economía nacional con cultivos para exportación, especialmente el café. En los años 1950 en un tiempo de reforma agraria pequeños agricultores obtuvieron tierra, algo rápidamente cancelado con el derrocamiento del gobierno, acusado de comunismo debido …

Contrastes En La Migración Internacional De Trabajadores Agrícolas Purhépechas, José Roberto González Morales

Maya America: Journal of Essays, Commentary, and Analysis

Esta investigación documenta la emergente migración de los trabajadores agrícolas purhépechasde la comunidad indígena de Comachuén, municipio de Nahuatzen, Michoacán, México, que año tras año acuden al estado de Nueva York a través de la visa H2A. En el texto se contrasta la migración de los trabajadores purhépechas en México y en Estados Unidos,es decir, las causas, efectos e impactos económicos, sociales y culturales que está teniendo la migración por contrato en Comachuén. La observación participante como migrante contratado H2A, me permitió vivir y sentir la dureza del trabajo agrícola en el field, además de conocer, describir y analizar las …

Buscando Eela Chil Vatz En El Tiichajil Tenam: El Concepto Del Buen Vivir En El Pensamiento Maya Ixil, Monika Banach, Elena Brito Herrera

Maya America: Journal of Essays, Commentary, and Analysis

A través de un acercamiento a los conceptos ancestrales del tiichajil (buen vivir) y eel achil vatz (igualdad, balance) se analiza la utilización de la epistemología Ixil en el trabajo de las mujeres indígenas dentro de organizaciones de base, con el propósito de cambiar su realidad presente. En el contexto del aumento de la violencia de género, extractivismo y los efectos del cambio climático, estas prácticas cuestionan las nociones occidentales acerca del bienestar, y se buscan y recuperan propuestas más sostenibles. Se resalta que, entre diferentes ideas sobre el bienestar, en la cosmovisión Ixil se incluye tanto seres humanos como …

́ ́¿Por Qué Alguien Se Iría?": Desarrollo, Sobreendeudamiento Y Migración En Guatemala., Lauren Heidbrink, Giovanni Batz, Celeste Sánchez

Maya America: Journal of Essays, Commentary, and Analysis

En las dos décadas pasadas, los encargados de desarrollar políticas han expresado un optimismo considerable sobre la capacidad del desarrollo internacional para frenar la migración transnacional; sin embargo, hay una escasez de investigación que analice cómo y bajo qué condiciones las intervenciones del desarrollo pueden impactar las decisiones de migrar. Siguiendo un enfoque de estudio de caso en la comunidad Maya-K’iche’ de Almolonga, este artículo examina las prácticas y significados divergentes de “desarrollo” y su impacto en las aspiraciones y los resultados migratorios de las familias indígenas en Guatemala. Las autoridades gubernamentales y los expertos en desarrollo internacional exaltan a …

Renewing The World: Disrupting Settler-Colonial Destruction, Kerri J. Malloy

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

Destruction of the religious practices of Indigenous people strikes at the core of their identity and connection to the places they have existed in since time immemorial. Northwestern California saw the world renewal ceremonies of the Tolowas (at the Yontocket in 1853) and the Wiyots (at Tuluwat in 1860) horrifically interrupted by massacres as they prayed for a better world for all humanity. The cultural and spiritual identities of the tribes were nearly erased by settler-colonists intent on destroying people they perceived as less than human and an obstacle in their quest for land acquisition. This chapter approaches the targeting …

Intersectionality, Relational Positionality, And The Lived Experiences Of Inequality: Contextualizing Intergenerational Opioid Use And The Constrained Choices Of Indigenous, Latina, And White Women Caregivers In Rural New Mexico, Carmela M. Roybal

Sociology ETDs

Opioid addiction is a serious and persistent global health issue. The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that between 1999 and 2016, more than 630,000 people in the United States died of an overdose of a prescription opioid or illicit drug (CDC 2018). Extant research has suggested that for nearly a century, New Mexico has experienced some of the highest rates of prescription and illicit opioid death in the nation (Goldstein and Herrera, 1995; Landon, 2003; Shah et al., 2008). I examined intergenerational opioid dependence through the lived experience of women caregivers of opioid-addicted family members. Data …