This case study examines the land tenure histories of the Grand Portage and Leech Lake Bands of Ojibwe to determine how historical events inform their contemporary land acquisition strategies. The standardized federal Indian policy time periods frames this effort to track the amount of reservation land held in Ojibwe trust ownership over time while analyzing the local impact of those policies upon land tenure and acquisition. The Grand Portage and Leech Lake Bands are members of the confederated Minnesota Chippewa Tribe, and this Band-level unit of analysis illuminates variations in land tenure patterns and acquisition strategies experienced within a common tribal identity. The Grand Portage Band has been remarkably successful and over 80% of that territory is under Ojibwe trust ownership, while only 5% of the Leech Lake Reservation is in Ojibwe trust ownership. The Grand Portage Band has utilized conventional and creative strategies for land acquisition. For example, the Band secured an expansion of their reservation boundary in 1982, and later acquired the Grand Portage State Park. The Leech Lake Band has experienced a harsher land tenure history as their reservation lands have been, and remain, a much more contested territory. The Chippewa National Forest was superimposed upon that reservation territory, which has effectively created a federal monopoly on land ownership and which serves as a major obstacle to effective land acquisition by the Leech Lake Band today. Other obstacles include bureaucratic inertia and state and local opposition.The emergent tribal land acquisition strategies are land purchases, as well as the purchase of fractionated trust ownership interests, negotiations with local and state governments for land exchanges, the transfer of federal "surplus lands," and pursuit of special legislation or executive orders. Furthermore, Indian land tenure and acquisition remains an important aspect of the contemporary federal trust responsibility, although weakened in practice. The federal trust responsibility must be revitalized in order to become an effective method for tribal land acquisition. The Indian land tenure reality today is that most tribes endure insufficient and inadequate tribal territories as a result of federal Indian policies, which has prompted many to prioritize land acquisition.

Native American communities are continually impacted by Federal Indian policy. Over one-half of all Native American nations function politically under the provisions of the 1934 Indian Reorganization Act (IRA). There are claims that many of these Native American communities experience intra-tribal conflict due to the lack of congruence between the tribal governments formed under the IRA and cultural traditions of governance. This claim was investigated via a comparative trend analysis of the Santa Clara Pueblo, operating politically under the IRA provisions, and the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa, operating under a constitutional form of governance outside of IRA provisions. After an historical analysis, an evaluation of tribal constitutions, and an examination of news media coverage for the period of 1991 – 2000, the project concluded that the legacies of the IRA are not the primary causal agent of intra-tribal conflict. / Master of Arts

This study identifies the historical factors that impacted Pima agriculture, water use and water rights in south-central Arizona between 1848 and 1921. Federal land and resource policies, especially federal Indian policies, impacted the dynamics of Pima agriculture and water use during these crucial years when the federal government utilized economic liberalism to open the West to homesteading and facilitate the development of the region's vast resources.As an agricultural people, the Pima did not passively accept these policies and events. Rather, they proved adaptive, demonstrating their resourcefulness in important ways. In response to water deprivation and infringement of their water rights, the Pima reduced the amount of land they cultivated. While before 1880 they had increased their cultivated acreage and expanded their trade networks, in the years after they creatively found ways to keep land in production despite water shortages. As the water crisis deepened, the Pima abandoned their least productive lands. In the midst of great deprivation, they relocated (or abandoned) a number of villages and scores of fields in an attempt against great odds to maintain their agricultural economy. To make the most of their diminishing water resources, the Pima adapted by growing small grains such as wheat and barley, even when these crops no longer proved to be economically viable in Arizona. While not new to their crop rotation, the Pima relied almost exclusively upon these crops by the 1910s since they required considerably less water than others.Because the Pima had prior and paramount rights to the water and were wrongfully deprived of their rights to the use of water, their water rights struggle raised a metaphorical Damoclean sword above the heads of those non-Indian farmers who used the water. This study, therefore, focuses on the history of water use and agricultural production among the Pima Indians between 1848 and 1921 and argues that without infringement of their rights to water, the Pima would have equaled and perhaps surpassed the local agricultural economy.

This thesis is an attempt to portray the part the forts of the Southwest had in developing the Federal Indian Policy in that region from 1865 to 1885.

abstract: This dissertation is comprised three main sections including a journal article, book chapter and a policy reflection piece. My guiding research question is the following—How do Jemez Pueblo people and their descendants who migrated to California as a result of the Relocation Act of 1956 define their cultural identities? The journal article seeks to address the question: How can we explore the experiences of Urban Native Americans from a strengths-based approach, restructuring dominant narratives, and breaking barriers between urban and reservation spaces? Additionally, the journal article will provide a literature overview on urban American Indian experiences, including the stories of three generations of my family impacted by the Relocation period, in addition to the major findings of my research study. The book chapter is informed by the following question: How might Pueblo perspectives of identity benefit from examining multiple theories of Indigeneity? I seek to explore the complexity of Indigenous identities and examine multiple theories of Indigeneity that can assist Pueblo peoples in thinking about community and membership, and in particular, with regards to those tribal peoples who have relocated away from their Pueblos. I will include salient points from my dissertation research that help us to answer this question. The policy reflections piece conveys the urgency to address the continued use of blood quantum in our Pueblo communities as a measurement for tribal citizenship. Like many other Indigenous parents, my interest in this issue is of personal importance to me as my own child is not eligible for enrollment in any of my tribal nations; thus, I have had to consider what a post “American Indian” identity is going to look like for her. I want to urge Pueblo communities and tribal governance to begin to rethink notions of citizenry and belongingness rooted in our original instructions, what Pueblo people refer to as our core values. The three sections of this dissertation are interrelated in that they seek to grow a more inclusive Pueblo community in effort to retain our cultural practices and belief systems for generations to come. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Justice Studies 2018

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