Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Texas at Arlington, 2009.

The modernization decade of the 1990's marked the beginnings of irreversible political and economic changes that shifted away from the revolutionary legacy, for a liberal market-base system. New laws and constitutional amendments were designed to alleviate the country's economic stagnation. Decentralization programs hoped to relieve the financial burdens endured for years. Although, these plans were supposed to be inclusive, the most vulnerable populations were often left out or limited in their participation. In the case of irrigation district transfers, the changes were immediate and successful except for five indigenous irrigation districts. After a decade in limbo, Colonias Yaquis is still a zone of contention where land, water and autonomy demands confront historical legacies in the midst of modernization. The district exemplifies a revolutionary promise that is yet to be achieved. It is then the purpose of this study to evaluate historical, social and political factors that hinder the transfer process.

<p> Modern studies of site distribution, utilization of near-coastal riverine resources, and the development of cultural complexity during the Holocene in southwestern Washington are hampered by the limited amount of data from previous archaeological investigations. This study of Willapa River Valley archaeology provides a context in which to interpret southern Northwest Coast near-coastal pre-contact archaeological sites. </p><p> Three areas for investigation became evident during the initial research phase and directed subsequent inquiries. The first dealt with prehistoric site distribution in the Willapa region landscape, the potential for locating sites, and site distribution patterns on the Willapa River Valley alluvial terraces. Bayesian GIS modeling and geomorphologic-based survey techniques identified a new sample of 26 localities representing approximately 10,000 years of occupation. Eustatic sea level rise, seismic movement, tsunamis, and fluvial processes formed the Willapa region's landscape, and promoted natural redox reaction formation processes within submerged archaeological contexts. </p><p> The second involved the pre-contact utilization of lithic, floral, and faunal natural resources, and how these adaptations relate to what we know from past work at coastal-adjacent midden sites. Excavation at the Forks Creek terrace site revealed a detailed chronology of a 2700 BP Willapa River Valley camp oriented toward the seasonal hazelnut, bitter cherry, elk, deer, and salmon resources of a fire-maintained prairie "garden" and the Willapa River. Microblades were manufactured for their technological qualities, illustrating similarities to Salish Sea "Locarno Beach" assemblages. </p><p> The third encompassed the archaeology of the Athabaskan Kwalhioqua, and addressed the potential for recognizing cultural enclaves in the archaeological record through the study of exotic obsidian and blueschist artifacts. Obsidian "wealth blades," blueschist clubs, and nephrite adze artifacts define a pattern of late prehistoric long-distance trade and exchange. The "Pacific Athabaskan coastal trade network" hypothesis poses that direct sea-going canoe trade occurred between Athabaskan cultures of the southern Northwest Coast within a counter-seismic ceremonial dance network prior to the great earthquake of AD 1700. </p><p> New insights into the prehistory of the Willapa River Valley are provided with consideration given to site location, age of occupation, cultural landscapes, and the position of the Willapa River Valley prehistoric occupation within the Pacific Northwest.</p>

<p>This thesis presents an oral history of the Advocates for Indigenous California Language Survival (AICLS) and its Breath of Life Workshop. Held every other year since 1996, the workshop is designed to meet the language revitalization needs of California Indian people whose languages have no living fluent speakers. Breath of Life Workshop organizers arrange visits to four archives on the University of California, Berkeley, campus and connect participants with linguistic mentors to read and interpret archival documents in their language for the purpose of bringing their language back into use. </p><p> Through interviews with AICLS founders, Breath of Life Workshop participants, and University of California, Berkeley, linguists and archivists, this study uncovers the role archivists play in the Breath of Life Workshops and in the care of Native language collections more generally. Topics addressed include the selection and use of archival documents in the program and the changes to archival practice and policies that have resulted from archivists&rsquo; work with Breath of Life participants. The thesis also examines issues involved in the collection, arrangement, description, preservation, and access to the documentation of California Indian languages. The study concludes with recommendations for future language revitalization programs. </p>

<p>Few activities have the power to bring people together as sports; victory is contagious, defeat unifies, and the concept of a team can create common goals and unbreakable bonds among teammates, communities, and even an entire nation. In a sense, sport has the power to change lives. The lessons that athletics can teach&mdash;preparation, competitiveness, overcoming obstacles, persistence, mental and physical health, problem solving, and setting life goals&mdash;seem particularly apt for American Indian youth today. Athletics can serve as a pathway to college for American Indian students who participate in individual or team sports. Access to higher education, in turn, offers the opportunity for larger income and greater economic opportunities. The American Indian students&rsquo; college experience, including statistics on enrollment, retention and drop-out rates, is prevalent in both quantitative and qualitative research. Moreover, research concerning the roles athletes and athletics have within higher education institutions is historically rich. The intersection of these two topics however, has received little to no attention. This dissertation will explore the impact of sports on American Indian collegiate athletes to determine the factors that both inspired and inhibited them from the pursuit of athletics in college. It will provide the first in-depth look at several American Indian collegiate athletes who can document how sports helped or failed to help them reach their educational aspirations. </p>

<p> The degree of accuracy in portrayals of Navajo culture at Salmon Ruins Heritage Park and Rock Art Ranch was assessed by comparing the Navajo structures assembled at each site to archaeological, ethnographic and historical data for traditional Navajo construction practices. Comparison and analysis revealed different degrees of accuracy in the portrayal of features with cultural and functional importance. Authentic practices were presented in a historical framework to permit the temporal characterization of each site. The aggregate of the temporal data from features at both sites was consistent with Navajo sites of the early twentieth century. The results of this study suggest a bias in contemporary portrayals of Navajo culture favoring the most extensively documented, and the more recent, aspects of Navajo culture.</p>

<p> This thesis discusses the process and results of research gathered from a field season on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation of South Dakota. By engaging in a community mapping project with Oglala Lakota elders, I show the benefits and reason behind the theory of participation. The project intends to "map" the indigenous <i>tiospaye</i> groups in the Porcupine District, and ends up gathering narrative representations of place rather than explicitly cartographic ones, a reification of the theorized "dwelling space." A discussion of the mapping project leads to a wider explication of the general practice of mapping indigenous lands throughout history. How indigenous perceptions of place and landscape are represented through acts of cartography is discussed to show the potential for empowerment or disempowerment of indigenous worldviews. The thesis concludes that a divestment of power to local communities is necessary for truly sustainable development, and further that the knowledge and perceptions of the traditional Lakota elders needs to be validated on their own terms in order to decolonize the relationship between their <i> tiospayes</i> and the tribal government.</p>

<p> Town Creek is a prehistoric Native American site in central North Carolina. The Mississippian period occupation, from about A.D. 1150-1350, saw the most intensive use of the site. The community transformed from a residential village during the first half of the occupation to a necropolis later on. The cemeteries were created within the original public and domestic structures, the largest of which is Structure 7, the focus of this thesis. According to historic accounts of Southeastern Indian groups, communities were comprised of ranked clans made up of multiple kin groups that maintained separate household spaces. Through visual analysis and the spatial analysis of the distribution of burial attributes that include burial depth, age, sex, grave goods, body positioning and body orientation, I identify five spatially discrete groups within the Structure 7 cemetery. I argue that these five groups represent smaller social groups within the clan. The first group is a Central Square cluster that includes key members from the smaller social groups in the cemetery. There burials were arranged in a square, a formation repeated throughout Southeastern Indian ideology and site architecture. A small, Central cluster enclosed by the Central Square cluster, is consistent with ritual activity, as the interred are all children without any grave goods or other distinguishing attributes. A cluster in the northern part of the cemetery is made up entirely of adult males and children. This Northern cluster is interpreted as a politically-based grouping, as adult males most often held positions of political power in historic native groups. The children interred are likely kin or youth in line for positions of significant social status. Alternatively, they could represent ritual offerings associated with the interments of the adult males. Adult males, adult females, and children were found in the Southeastern and Southwestern clusters, which led to their interpretation as kin groups. Each of these groups was distinguishable through the distribution of specific artifact types and body positioning. The presence of all five of these groups contributed to the 50 person burial population in Structure 7, making it the largest cemetery at Town Creek. Its large size indicates that those interred in the Structure 7 cemetery were part of the largest and /or longest lasting group in the Town Creek community. Should other clans at Town Creek have had similar organization, the burial attribute patterning identified through this analysis may assist in the interpretation of other cemeteries at the site.</p>

<p> Since the late 1980s, Canadian museum personnel have been actively engaged in collaboration with Aboriginal communities on issues to do with exhibition design and collections management. Despite these collaborative successes, tensions between museum employees and Aboriginal community members are commonplace, indicating that problems still remain within the relationships that have developed. </p><p> This thesis examines the implications of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada for the future of museum practice. It argues that unresolved colonial trauma is preventing those in the museum field from moving past an initial phase of relationshipbuilding to a successful era of partnership. When viewed through the lens of trauma, the museum field is heavily influenced by denial on the part of museum personnel as to the extent of violence committed against Aboriginal peoples at Indian Residential Schools and the resulting level of dysfunction present in current relationships between Aboriginal communities and non-Aboriginal museum employees. I provide a revised account of Canadian history, which includes the aspects of colonialism that are most often censored, in order to situate these problems as part of the historical trauma that is deeply embedded in Canadian society itself.</p><p> John Ralston Saul&rsquo;s concept of the M&eacute;tis nation is used as a framework for reconciliation, portraying Canada as a country that is heavily influenced by its Aboriginal origins despite the majority belief that the national culture has been derived from European social values. As a response to this proposition, the Circle is presented as the primary Canadian philosophical tenet that should guide both museum practice and Canadian society in the future. </p>

<p> The use of augmented reality and mobile applications offers a unique and applicable presentation experience for digital historians. This is a case study of such a presentation using Mound 72 at Cahokia Mounds.</p>