The psychological, cultural, social and economic problems of Indian communities have been widely publicized. In spite of this there exists a lack of documentation of the conflicts between our aboriginal natives and the Federal government. This study has identified some of these conflicts by focusing on: 1) The current inter-governmental relationship between the Department of Indian Affairs (a client centred administrative bureaucracy) and the Indian Band Council (local government) and its effect on planning and administration at the local level. 2) The planning and administrative process at the local government level. The main purpose of the study is to propose a policy of self-reliance for the Indian people. A gradual phasing out of the Department of Indian Affairs is a means towards achieving this policy. Though this is not a study about aboriginal rights it is suggested that any proposed Federal government policy would be unworkable if it did not acknowledge the significance of the aboriginal rights issue for the Indian people. The study is an analysis of material gathered over a three year period during which the author was serving as a Social Service Consultant to the Squamish Indian Band. The material drawn on includes inter-office memoranda, related published documents, information gained as a result of attendance at meetings, and personal discussions in the course of the consulting work. Use is made of applicable theory and practice to help understand the administrative and organizational relationships that exist at the bureaucratic and local level. This study has identified various administrative and behavioral changes that are required in order to correct faults in the current administrative and planning process. These faults must be corrected if the program of self-reliance is to succeed. Case study material of the Squamish Indian Band is used to illustrate conflict areas between an Indian Band and the Department of Indian Affairs. The resulting observations and recommendations may be useful to planning personnel and to Indian communities in pursuing their future developmental objectives. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Community and Regional Planning (SCARP), School of / Graduate

In this thesis I investigate social processes that motivate the contemporary reproduction and public dissemination of older Central Coast Salish spindle whorls. In a case study, I develop a cultural biography of spindle whorls to examine how material culture produced by past generations informs contemporary activity. Visual materials, first- and third-person accounts and writings in three areas—material culture, the social nature of art and colonialism—are drawn together to demonstrate that spindle whorl production and circulation is grounded in social and historical contingencies specific to Central Coast Salish First Nations. I propose that in using spindle whorls, Central Coast Salish people are drawing on the past to strengthen their position within current circumstances. / Arts, Faculty of / Anthropology, Department of / Graduate

Revising earlier historical interpretations of the Ghost Dance, this dissertation traces the religion's emergence as an American Indian prophet movement and describes its intersections with evangelical Protestantism and Mormonism in the Far West from the mid-nineteenth century to the late-twentieth century. This project problematizes earlier studies by taking a longer view of Ghost Dance religion and incorporating its engagement with and resistance to Protestantism and Mormonism into the narrative. It also seeks to correct interpretations that focus solely on the Ghost Dance's 1890 manifestation and the violence of federal suppression at Wounded Knee, thereby eliding the movement's broader cultural context before and after the massacre. By examining the confluence of historical encounters, political forces, and the perceptions they engendered, this study distinguishes Ghost Dance religion from other American Indian prophet movements and demonstrates how its 1890 and 1973 manifestations marked crisis points in American history through which national authority was exerted and thereby consolidated. By reconceptualizing American history through Native American history, this dissertation also discloses the union of religion and politics at work in the Ghost Dance and the prophetic traditions of its major competitors as they sought to enshrine their own versions of American nationalism in the West. The first chapter of this project aims to situate its contribution by discussing how reactions to the violence at Wounded Knee in 1890 shaped the historiography of the Ghost Dance movement and constrained interpretations of the movement in significant ways. Chapter two traces the emergence of Ghost Dance religion to the activity of the Bannock Prophet and his efforts to forge an alliance between American Indians and Mormons in opposition to U.S. rule at the start of the Utah War in 1857. Chapter three details the general war against whites in the West that results from the collapse of Bannock and Mormon efforts to unite as a single people through their perceived prophetic affinities. Through the examination of this conflict, the study reveals how religious identities are performed through violence – a process that results in the emergence of highly politicized and radicalized national identities. Chapter four connects manifestations of the Ghost Dance in the late 1860s and early 1870s to this tradition of spirited resistance to U.S. authority, demonstrating how Ghost Dance adherents ordered their opposition to white rule through a powerful fusion of religious and social realities that galvanized collective identity and motivated action to create a new world. Chapter five adds to this discussion by narrating Ghost Dance manifestations of the late 1880s and early 1890s within this context to reveal the revolutionary potential inherent in Wovoka's prophetic ministry. This focus works to erode lines between militancy and quietism as well as politics and religion drawn in earlier studies, revealing how prophetic religion functions to create and to sustain national identity. The final chapter investigates the persistence of Ghost Dance religion into the twentieth century, tracing its history through the Saskatchewan Dakota's New Tidings community and the American Indian Movement's 1973 takeover of Wounded Knee. In examining how both groups express their connection to the radical millennialism of the nineteenth-century Lakota Ghost Dance, this study reveals how prophetic religion works to mediate political engagement in complex ways and further confirms the union of religion and politics within the Ghost Dance movement. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Religion in partial fulfillment of the Doctor of Philosophy. / Fall Semester 2015. / December 11, 2015. / national identity, prophetic religion, religion and politics / Includes bibliographical references. / Amanda Porterfield, Professor Directing Dissertation; Andrew Frank, University Representative; John Corrigan, Committee Member; John Kelsay, Committee Member.

The purpose of this study is to explore one aspect of American Indian life: the personal situations and political implications of the American Indian residing in an urban setting.

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