This thesis is a biographical life history of Dr. Bernard "Bunny" Fontana who was a cultural anthropologist, archaeologist, field researcher, writer, historian, a co-founder of a non-profit organization, a father, a husband and a friend. He spent his life writing about the Southwest primarily the Papago Tribe which is now known as the Tohono O'odham Nation (TON). In addition, he maintained a unique relationship with many O'odham people especially in the San Xavier community for nearly six decades, which is not something you hear every day. Prior to this thesis there has never been an extensive biography about Bunny nor has it ever been told from an O'odham's perspective. Furthermore, this thesis does not critique his work but instead dives into discovering "Who Is Dr. Bernard "Bunny" Fontana?"

Southern Paiute people stipulate that when the world was formed, the Creator gave them sole possession of the lands that constitute the traditional Southern Paiute nation and the Creator gave them the responsibilities to tend to the land, resources, and each other. As a result, from these stewardship duties, Southern Paiute people developed complex socio-ecological methods for promoting and maintaining both ecological and spiritual balance. One method was used by medicine people or Puha'gants and it involved them traveling to special ceremonial areas to acquire knowledge and power. These journeys required Puha'gants to undergo intense purification and preparation and they traveled along designated trails to places far away from their home communities. The pilgrimage process allowed the pilgrims to gain knowledge and power at their destination places to use in ceremonies to restore balance and promote sustainability in their home communities. My dissertation study examines six pilgrimage trails across Southern Paiute territory in an effort to understand this process. As a way to frame my discussion, this analysis draws upon four concepts--(1) Southern Paiute place logic, (2) cultural landscapes, (3) pilgrimage, and (4) communitas. For trail systems under study, I examine the types of places visited and their associated performance characteristics, and specifically the types of relationships pilgrims, or Puhahivats with each other, the places visited, and objects used.

At one time before European contact Indigenous groups flourished on the American continent and maintained their ideas of conveying knowledge, history, and beliefs through the oral tradition. It is widely concluded that hundreds of Native languages were spoken to convey the aspects related above, which were unique and specific to each individual tribe. With the colonization of the American continent by European peoples, came the beginning of the end of the Indian way of life. Because of this reality and circumstances that were yet to be endured by Indigenous groups, the destruction of many Native languages also occurred over time. Presently, only a few hundred Indigenous languages have survived. In the effort at preserving some of the remaining Indigenous languages, writing systems which often have a foundation in non-Native higher academia have been developed for some; O'odham being one. This paper examines developing a more grassroots O'odham writing system.

The Navajo Nation comprises 110 local communities spread over 16 million acres and linked under a highly centralized system of tribal government. Since the creation of the Navajo chapter system, which facilitates local governance for the Navajo Nation, there have been growing tensions between some of these local communities and the central government in Window Rock. In the 1990s and early 2000s, several of these communities moved to claim greater decision-making authority as an assertion of local empowerment. This dissertation examines three such communities and their empowerment strategies: a grassroots secession movement at Tohajiilee, Shonto's use of the Navajo Nation's Local Governance Act (LGA), and the establishment of the Kayenta Township. This comparative study examines these strategies and considers their significance for the future of Navajo leadership and self-government.

Western patriarchy has become deeply ingrained in Indigenous Nations. Patriarchal ideology takes many harmful forms in Indigenous communities, most notably sexism, misogyny, family violence, and violence against women. Indigenous feminists are identifying and resisting patriarchy in Indigenous communities. However, Western patriarchy is so deeply rooted that many people believe it has always been there. Additionally, several Indigenous people resist all forms of feminism, believing the word "feminist" is synonymous with "white," and therefore suspicious. In order to increase trust in Indigenous feminisms, it must be proved that Indigenous feminist theories stand up to scrutiny. The characters in Debra Earling's Perma Red and Eden Robinson's Monkey Beach, particularly the protagonists Louise White Elk and Lisa Hill, are negatively affected by Western patriarchal ideology in their communities. By examining these texts through Indigenous feminist lenses, my thesis seeks to prove that Indigenous feminisms are viable additions to Indigenous Studies.

Utilizing data from the Oklahoma Department of Health Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS) for the years 2004 through 2011, this study examines racial and ethnic differences in unhealthy maternal behaviors and the consequences of those actions on the health of both mother and child. The maternal behavior variables include smoking cigarettes, drinking alcohol, multivitamin use, and prenatal care utilization. The maternal health variables include gestational diabetes and hypertension. The labor and delivery outcome variables include placental issues, premature rupture of membranes (PROM), low birth weight, and child placement in an intensive care unit. This researcher hypothesized that minorities would engage in risky and unhealthy behaviors while pregnant more often than whites due to social disadvantages in the economic and educational realms. Furthermore, minorities would be more likely than whites to have unfavorable outcomes regarding labor, delivery, and health of the child due to lower socioeconomic status, poor maternal health, and underutilization of preventative care. The researcher finds that minority women seem to adhere to proper maternal health recommendations associated with personal choice, including smoking and drinking, though disparities are evident when compared to whites regarding behaviors associated with socioeconomic status, including prenatal care utilization and multivitamin use. African American women are more likely than whites to experience premature rupture of the membranes, have an underweight baby, and to place their baby in ICU, though less likely to experience placental issues. Native American women are less likely than whites to experience premature rupture of the membranes, have an underweight baby, and to place their baby in ICU, but more likely to experience placental issues. As expected, substantial changes have occurred in the maternal health and well-being of Oklahoma mothers over the course of the two PRAMS data collection phases.

This dissertation is a creative piece that reflects a dual focus in the American Indian Studies program - American Indian Law & Policy and Native American Literature. This "epidemic of violence," as James Anaya labeled it, underpins the writing of this dissertation. Some statistics: One in three Native women will be sexually assaulted in her lifetime. Some sources purport that 88% of assailants are non-Native. Only 13% of reported assaults on Native women are prosecuted. The core of the dissertation is a novella bookended by an Introduction and an Epilog. The Introduction includes the factors and influences that led to the writing of this novella. The novella presents the convergence of the stories of four damaged women and their individual paths toward healing. An Epilog provides a space for thoughts on the writing process and the final product. The purpose of this dissertation is three-fold: Bring attention to the problem of violence committed against Native women, to promote the sharing of stories to begin the path to healing, and to add to the scholarship of American Indian Studies.

This thesis uses Native American Student Affairs (NASA) at the University of Arizona (UA) as a case study to see where NASA matches and diverges from the current literature on Native American Cultural Centers (NACC). Twenty-eight current Native American undergraduates and graduates were surveyed about their views on NASA, and their responses were then analyzed for common themes. The findings showed that NASA was similar to the current research when it came to themes of community, promoting culture, feeling less isolated, networking, and having an independent space. It diverged on one demographic aspect, namely a significant portion of student respondents came from reservations, which is not reflective of the Native community in the United States as a whole. Additionally, it mentioned the importance of event hosting, which is not mentioned in the current literature at all. The majority of students identified NASA as creating a space for them to feel supported, provide resources, network, and host events that promote awareness of Native American issues. The thesis ends with recommendations for NASA based on the responses, and advocates for further research to delve deeper into the nuances of NACC's and their responsibility to continuously adapt to the needs of their students.

Native American doctoral student enrollment has not increased over the past twenty years, despite a steady increase in enrollment at the undergraduate level. Native Americans are the only group to not see an increase in doctoral degrees granted. There are many individual and institutional factors affecting Native American student success such as cultural and social isolation, financial stressors, racism, and access to indigenous faculty and mentoring. What are American Indian/Native American Studies (AIS/NAS) programs doing about it? AIS/NAS programs are uniquely qualified to address these factors. They were originally created to increase enrollment and recruitment of Native American students on campuses. Many of these programs have incorporated Native student retention into their missions and are often the only ones taking the next step to promote Native American graduate student success on campus. There are eight "pure" AIS/NAS graduate programs in the country. "Pure" means that the program is a stand-alone unit and the degree is earned in AIS/NAS. There are only three such doctoral programs in AIS/NAS: University of Alaska Fairbanks, University of California-Davis, and the University of Arizona. The University of Arizona is the number one doctoral degree granting institution in the United States for Native American students. Despite lack of funding and resources, forty percent of these doctoral recipients are from the American Indian Studies Program. A mixed method approach consisting of intense empirical research and data mining was used in order to find enrollments of Native students, identify AIS/NAS programs and enrollment trends, and identify factors affecting student success. Native American students are vastly underreported in the federal data base (IPEDS), which affects federal student aid and relegates many students invisible. The following were identified as the key factors for Native American graduate student success: determination and resiliency, supportive relationships through mentoring and access to faculty, and a desire to give back to their communities. It is recommended that AIS/NAS graduate programs honor their land grant obligations in order to increase access and funding for Native students through endowments and tuition waiver programs, develop a detailed mentoring plan, and improve outreach to Native communities.

This study examines the traditional views surrounding Indigenous birthing and mothering, as well as the mother-child relationship cycle in contemporary Indigenous literature, and compares the traditional past to the contemporary present. Five contemporary Indigenous novels from four different American Indian and Indigenous Nations are included: Louise Erdrich's The Painted Drum (Ojibwe), Betty Louise Bell's Faces in the Moon (Cherokee), Dawn Karima Pettigrew's The Way We Make Sense and The Marriage of Saints (Creek), and Alan Duff's Once Were Warriors (Maori). Themes in the novels are studied individually and collectively, through the frameworks for literary analysis that Arnold Krupat terms nationalism, indigenism, and cosmopolitanism. Each novel will be analyzed first using Arnold Krupat's theory of literary nationalism, which suggests that in order to fully comprehend an Indigenous text, it must be explored using only a culturally-specific framework that focuses specifically on the Nation depicted within the novel. However, on a broader scope Krupat's literary theory of indigenism will addressed throughout this study, examining ways in which similar parallels within each selected text and Nation overlap to create common areas of study. Lastly, aspects of the mother-child relationship will be assessed using Krupat's theory of literary cosmopolitanism, which suggests that even though there are very unique aspects of Indigenous literature that must be viewed from a tribally-specific vantage point, there are also cosmopolitan, or common, elements within the human experience that link all individuals together like the act of birthing and mothering.