Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Piecing Together The Ponca Past Reconstructing Degiha Migrations To The Great Plains, Beth R. Ritter

Great Plains Quarterly

The twenty-first century presents opportunities, as well as limitations, for the American Indian Nations of the Great Plains. Opportunities include enhanced economic development activities (e.g., casino gambling, telecommunications, and high-tech industries) and innovative tribal programming such as language immersion programs made possible through enhanced self-governance initiatives. Limitations include familiar scripts that perpetually threaten tribal sovereignty and chronically underfunded annual appropriations for Native American health, housing, and social service programs.

The Ponca Tribe of Nebraska, terminated in 1965 and restored to federally recognized status in 1990,¹ embraces these challenges by exploring the limits of self-governance, economic development opportunities, and cultural …

Review Of Comanche Political History: An Ethnohistorical Perspective 1706-1875 By Thomas W. Kavanagh, Daniel J. Gelo

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences

The precise nature of pre-reservation Comanche political organization has long been a vexing question. Key issues include the meaning of numerous reported names for Comanche-speaking subgroups and the construction of power and authority within and across these units. The present work is the most successful attempt to clarify ethnonyms and describe Comanche organizational principles.

Comanche Political History offers a valuable synthesis and interpretation and will be useful to a variety of scholars.