No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

Master of Arts / Department of History / Charles W. Sanders / On June 3, 1825, William Clark, Superintendent of Indian Affairs, and eleven representatives of the “Kanzas” nation signed a treaty ceding their lands to the United States. The first to sign was “Nom-pa-wa-rah,” the overall Kansa leader, better known as White Plume. His participation illustrated the racial chasm that had opened between Native- and Anglo- American worlds. The treaty was designed to ease pressures of proximity in Missouri and relocate multiple nations West of the Mississippi, where they believed they would finally be beyond the American lust for land. White Plume knew different. Through experience with U.S. Indian policy, he understood that land cessions only restarted a cycle of events culminating in more land cessions. His identity as a mixed-blood, by virtue of the Indian-white ancestry of many of his family, opened opportunities for that experience. Thus, he attempted in 1825 to use U.S. laws and relationships with officials such as William Clark to protect the future of the Kansa. The treaty was a cession of land to satisfy conflicts, but also a guarantee of reserved land, and significantly, of a “halfbreed” tract for mixed-blood members of the Kansa Nation. Mixed-blood go-betweens stood for a final few moments astride a widening chasm between Anglo-American and native worlds. It was a space that less than a century before offered numerous opportunities for mixed-blood people to thrive as intermediaries, brokers, traders, and diplomats. They appeared, albeit subtly, in interactions wherever white and Native worlds overlapped. As American Indians lost their economic viability and eventually their land, that overlap disappeared. White Plume’s negotiation of a reserve for his descendants is telling of a group left without a place. In bridging the two worlds, mixed-bloods became a group that by the mid-nineteenth century was defined as “other” by Anglo-American and Indians alike. This study is the first to track these evolving racial constructs and roles over both time and place. Previous studies have examined mixed-blood roles, but their identity is portrayed as static. This study contends that their roles changed with the proximity and viability of full-blood communities with which white officials had to negotiate.

The purpose of this research is to assess and address issues of contextualization and reconciliation as they pertain to Christianization and cultural preservation within the three Nanticoke-Lenape American Indian tribal communities remaining in the states of New Jersey and Delaware in the United States. The study seeks to provide insight into the challenges for ministry within the socio-cultural and political context of the tribal communities, particularly in regard to meaningful healing and reconciliation over the lingering effects of colonization, in a manner that promotes integral, holistic, contextualized Christian ministry. To achieve this, the study investigates the historical backdrop of the tribal communities, including European contact, colonization, missions, assimilation and cultural survival. Past and present tribal lifeways, beliefs, and practices are evaluated through documented historical sources and contemporary accounts. The research highlights the histories and current ministries of the principal historic tribal congregations, and their role in the spiritual, cultural, and political survival of the tribes. It also assesses possible approaches for effective, mission oriented, compassionate engagement as a matter of faithful contextualization and social justice. It should be noted that within this work the terms “American Indian,” “Native American,” “Indigenous American,” “Aboriginal American,” and “First Nations People” are all used to describe the indigenous people of America. These terms should not be confused with the term “Indian American,” which describes an American citizen whose ancestors can be traced to the nation of India on the continent of Asia. / PhD (Missiology), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

The purpose of this research is to assess and address issues of contextualization and reconciliation as they pertain to Christianization and cultural preservation within the three Nanticoke-Lenape American Indian tribal communities remaining in the states of New Jersey and Delaware in the United States. The study seeks to provide insight into the challenges for ministry within the socio-cultural and political context of the tribal communities, particularly in regard to meaningful healing and reconciliation over the lingering effects of colonization, in a manner that promotes integral, holistic, contextualized Christian ministry. To achieve this, the study investigates the historical backdrop of the tribal communities, including European contact, colonization, missions, assimilation and cultural survival. Past and present tribal lifeways, beliefs, and practices are evaluated through documented historical sources and contemporary accounts. The research highlights the histories and current ministries of the principal historic tribal congregations, and their role in the spiritual, cultural, and political survival of the tribes. It also assesses possible approaches for effective, mission oriented, compassionate engagement as a matter of faithful contextualization and social justice. It should be noted that within this work the terms “American Indian,” “Native American,” “Indigenous American,” “Aboriginal American,” and “First Nations People” are all used to describe the indigenous people of America. These terms should not be confused with the term “Indian American,” which describes an American citizen whose ancestors can be traced to the nation of India on the continent of Asia. / PhD (Missiology), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

This project examined the potential impacts that construction of the Western Transmission System of the Allen-Warner Valley Energy System would have on the ethnographic and historic resources of the Mojave Desert area. The Western Transmission System of the Allen-Warner Valley Energy System project consisted of two 500-kilovolt transmission lines extending from Southern California Edison Company’s Eldorado Substation in southern Nevada westward across the Mojave Desert to Lugo Substation in Victorville, California. The ethnographic component of this study included the identification of culturally affiliated Native American groups and extensive field investigations which focused on ethnohistory and ethnogeography of the study area. The ethnographic study also documented Native American recommendations for mitigation by Southern California Edison Company of potential adverse impacts that the project had on Native American values and resources.