The inconsistencies of the state and federal policy toward Native populations and additionally those inconsistencies within the two governments themselves, require the maintenance of Indian and Alaskan Native organizations with sophisticated mechanisms developed to advocate “reforms” in Indian services to meet unique Indian needs. Indian and Alaskan Native social workers invariably find themselves at the confluence of client service provision and surviving the extension of policies available to them from resource allocators for the purpose of service provision. In order to approach this dilemma, the Native American Social Work Symposium, held in May of 1977, convened on the basis of three purposes: To provide a conferencing situation with Indian and Alaskan Native social workers and non-Indian social workers who primarily provide social welfare services to Indians, to address specific problems involving the provision of social welfare services, and to present a series of concurrent workshops to provide specific training curriculum pertaining to Native social service concerns.

Unlike most native American reservations in the United States, the Seminole and Miccosukee Tribes in Florida are more economically developed. The purpose of this research is to understand this economic development process of the tribes in Florida. Accordingly, there are three key questions guiding this study: What have been the priorities of the Native American reservation population in conceptualizing sustainable economic development? What external institutional factors have enabled or hindered economic development on Native American reservations? What internal tribal governance factors affected sustainable economic development on Native American reservations? I interviewed Seminole and Miccosukee tribe members and leaders to obtain insights into the research questions. I conducted 42 such interviews, spanning tribal council members, tribal members residing in the reservations and off the reservations, and others working directly with the tribes. My main findings are as follows. The Seminoles as well as Miccosukee have emphasized education as important. They actively practice their sovereignty, taking independent decisions on their development priorities, including education and environment. They take their own economic development decisions, without depending on extensive federal assistance. Moreover, they have successfully managed their gaming operations to the benefit of their members, in supplying education, healthcare, and other operations generally undertaken by municipalities. Internally, there are key differences between the Miccosukee and Seminoles. Whereas the Seminoles seek integration with the mainstream economy (for example, they own the Hard Rock Cafe, a large international franchise), the Miccosukee have been focused on their local ecology to sustain their environment. Governance wise, the Seminoles have a structurally sophisticated internal governance structure, whereas the Miccosukee model is smaller, grassroots-based. From a policy perspective, the main finding is that the tribes be allowed to exercise their sovereignty to fulfill their own economic development goals. External federal and state government relationships should be based on mutual respect and reciprocity in relationships. Distrust could be inimical to the tribes’ economic progress. Support should be provided to the tribes to develop their own governance structures appropriate to their economic development priorities.

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This thesis examines the display of Navajo baskets and examines some of the possible meanings Navajo baskets can reveal. Acknowledging that the meaning of a work of art changes when it is placed in different environments, the thesis explores what meanings are revealed and what meanings are concealed in basket displays in three venues: the trading post, the natural history museum, and the fine art museum. The study concludes that the fine art museum has the most potential to foster a dialogue about the contemporary Navajo, whose identity is a product of continuity and change. Chapter one discusses the basket's connotation as one of continuity and change, a meaning essential to understanding the contemporary Navajo. It becomes clear that when looking for the meaning of tradition and adaptation, the institutional utterance of an exhibition venue must be one that allows a complex modern Navajo identity to emerge. Chapter two examines the institutional utterance of the trading post. In such a setting, meanings of a mythical past emerge from the basket. The environment of the trading post reveals a romantic view of the Old West that hides the meaning of the contemporary Navajo from patrons and viewers. Chapter three focuses on the natural history museum and the effects of its institutional utterance on the Navajo basket's significance. In this learning environment, the Navajo basket acts as an artifact and meanings emerge about Navajo ritual and history. However, natural history museums often educate audiences through means like curiosity cabinets and living history displays that distance the contemporary Navajo. It is the fine art museum that has the most potential to reveal the adaptive, contemporary Navajo, discussed in chapter four. Art museums validate baskets as art objects when they exhibit them with Western painting and sculpture. Such displays can hide the contemporary Navajo in a discussion of formal elements. However, when an art museum exhibits a basket as a meaningful object, it allows the basket to reveal the Dine's desire for cultural continuity and the long Navajo history of adapting to changing environments.

Indigenous* college students in both Canada and the United States have the lowest rates of obtaining postsecondary degrees, and their postsecondary dropout rates are higher than for any other minority (Freeman & Fox, 2005; Mendelson, 2004; Reddy, 1993). There has been very little research done to uncover possible reasons for such low academic achievement and high dropout rates for Indigenous students. Some of the research that has been done indicates that one challenge for Indigenous students is the difficulty in navigating the cultural differences between higher education and their Indigenous cultures. Biculturalism is the ability of an individual to navigate two different cultures (Bell, 1990; Das & Kemp, 1997). Several scholars have suggested that biculturalism is an important construct in understanding academic persistence among Indigenous students (Jackson, Smith & Hill, 2003; Schiller, 1987). This study explored biculturalism among Indigenous college students and how it impacts their higher education experience. Indigenous college students (n=26) from the southwestern United States and central Canada participated in qualitative interviews for the study. The interviews were transcribed and interpreted using a synthesis of qualitative methods. Several themes related to the participants' experience of biculturalism emerged from the qualitative analysis: institutional support for transition to college, racism, types of relationships to native culture, career issues, and family issues. The findings suggested that more needs to be done in terms of providing Indigenous students centers at universities, implementing mentor programs for incoming students, and educating future Indigenous college students, families, and communities about biculturalism and the culture of higher education. *Author's note: The term Indigenous will be used to describe Native American/American Indian, First Nation and Métis student participants. Interviews were collected both in the United States and Canada. The terminology used to describe these populations differs across cultures; therefore, Indigenous will be used as a more general term, to describe the participants. The terminology used by cited authors was retained.

The culture of most colleges and universities is very different for Native American students with close ties to their traditional communities. "Traditional," in a Native American sense, means multiple interconnections of emotional, physical, intellectual, and spiritual identity that combine to define expectations for the Native American way. This traditional cultural perspective is often in conflict with college cultures where typically only the academic or social aspects of identity are addressed. Research on college students of several ethnicities has found that the experience of post-secondary education can change individuals' attitudes, values, and behaviors. However, none of these studies focused on the experience of Native American students. This study attempted to determine how students' with a traditional Native American upbringing feel that their attitudes, values, and behaviors have been changed by exposure to the Western culture of a college environment, and further, whether this potential change was a factor in their academic persistence. In order to begin to explore Native American students' experiences of recognizing and negotiating differences of culture, attitudes, and values, this study analyzed unstructured qualitative interviews of 15 Native American college students. Themes resulting from the analysis of texts that describe the students' experiences included class differences,feeling academically unprepared, lifestyle differences, desire to disprove negative stereotypes,importance of finding supportive others, experiences of greater diversity, experiences of cultural tension, changes in viewpoint, increased independence, and an increased desire to give back to their native communities.

Schooling provided to Native American children in the United States has been portrayed by many native and nonnative scholars as a major factor in undermining traditional languages and cultures, and as playing a role in the perpetuation of generational poverty and marginalization in indigenous communities. Historical accounts also suggest that schools have been settings for the emergence of an intertribal identity and shared political agenda that has been instrumental in generating Red Power activism and maintaining the sovereignty of North America's first nations into the 21 st century. This heuristic study draws upon the ethics of alterity in the philosophy of Emmanuel Levinas to refract testimony from interviews with elders who attended boarding schools in the 1930s and 40s, student activists who staged an occupation of a native college in 2005, and educators working in tribal, public and federal schools, to shed light on native perceptions of how the continuing evolution of Indian identity in teaching and learning is contributing to a revitalization of heritage lifeways.

Qualitative interviews with 12 Native American high school junior and senior students who grew up on reservations identified the following themes related to their persistence in college: (a) faculty support, (b) structured social support, (c) family support or the lack thereof, (d) motivation to be better, and (e) encountering racism. The results indicated a need for clear academic expectations between the school district and the tribal liaisons, multicultural training to foster positive relationships from the primary to secondary level, and structured college preparatory instruction designed for Native American students. Results also indicated a need for further research into the educational experiences of multiethnic students.