Thesis (M.A.) - Carleton University, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 103-107). Also available in electronic format on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Georgetown University, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Adelaide University, 2002. / Submitted to the Department of Anthropology, Adelaide University, in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Bibliography: p. 296-352.

"Dissertation ... accepted by the faculty of the Graduate school of Yale in candidacy for the degree of doctor of philosophy (1937)" -p. xiii. / Bibliography: p. 394-406.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--McMaster University, 2002 / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 314-332). Also available via World Wide Web.

Thesis (M.A. in anthropology)--Washington State University, May 2007. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 85-90).

BACKGROUND: Indigenous populations in the United States (US) experience worse health outcomes and higher disease prevalence compared to the US all race population. The World Health Organization (WHO), Canadian research on Indigenous-specific determinants, the Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development, and the Native Nation's Institute have all identified governance as a determinant that impacts community health and development. This dissertation explored the active and potential role of Indigenous nations' governance, since the Native nation building era commenced in the 1970s, in protecting and promoting family and community health. OBJECTIVES: The dissertation aims were to: (1) describe the state of population data for US Indigenous nations and benefits of engaging with data, data sovereignty, and data governance for US Indigenous nations, (2) outline the history and current state of tribal public health relative to other US public health systems, and (3) elucidate the assumptions and applicability of the social determinants of health framework to Indigenous health contexts. METHODS: This mixed-methods study integrated retrospective quantitative and primary quantitative and qualitative data from case studies with six reservation-based American Indian tribes with qualitative data collected in a focus group and two consensus panels of public health practitioners and scholars. RESULTS: The results by aim were: (1) self-determination with regard to health and other population data offers Indigenous nations opportunities to create and access relevant and reliable data to inform policy and resource allocations, (2) the federal government and others have not invested in tribal public health authority infrastructures in ways similar to investments made in federal, state, and local public health authorities, resulting in tribal public health systems falling below other public health authorities in function and capacity, and (3) underlying Euro-Centric assumptions imbedded in the social determinants of health framework reduce its applicability in Indigenous health contexts. CONCLUSIONS: This study contributes to understanding the roles of Indigenous nation self-determination and sovereignty in defining health to align with Indigenous philosophies of wellness. Guided by Indigenous-specific determinants of health, tribes can set community-based, culture-informed methods and metrics for establishing, monitoring, and assessing public health policies and programs to support healthy communities and families. RECOMMENDATIONS: Indigenous nations, in partnership with researchers and other governments as appropriate, should develop framework(s) for tribal health that include broad, shared, and nation-specific definitions of health, healthy families and communities, and health determinants. Federal, state, and local governments should partner with Indigenous nations to improve tribal public health infrastructures and to support tribal data sovereignty and data governance through building tribal data capacity, aligning data with tribal self-conceptions, and forming data sharing agreements.

In the face of a shifting political climate in Latin America, movements for indigenous rights and autonomy are leveraging community media in new ways transcending the state-market binary. Through ethnographic research with Zapotec media producers in Oaxaca and the supportive organizations forming points of connection between radios and activists, I argue that the strength of the indigenous community media movement in Oaxaca, and its potential to build a movement to resist destructive state and market forces, is best explained by Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari’s concept of the rhizome, which portrays Oaxacan indigenous media as a map of heterogeneous interconnections defying structural hierarchies and binaries. With this picture of a rhizomatic media movement, I demonstrate how radios have paved the way for innovations, revealing creative ways that indigenous groups are connecting with each other and the outside world, while asserting agency in their interactions with the market and the state.

This is a cross-cultural study of Indigenous legal traditions in Nishnawbe Aski Nation (NAN), a political territorial organization in northern Ontario. By analyzing NAN’s resolutions (passed by NAN Chiefs-in-Assembly to direct NAN’s mandate), I identify legal principles. As law arises from worldviews, law’s function is to protect the values of that worldview. This study discusses two values (creation and interdependence) as analytic tools, used to recognise legal principles. Context grounds the conclusions, as they relate to specific people and land. Four legal principles are identified: earthbound need, sacred/natural supremacy, gifted responsibility and relational jurisdiction. These principles together reveal that law in NAN is focused on the protection of life. Overarching the results is a broader purpose, to take up the educative work previously shouldered by NAN alone. The duty to learn is more than political obligation, but as I argue, is a matter of life itself. / Graduate / 2019-05-11

Xwulmuxw Slhunlheni (Indigenous Women) have, since time immemorial, played critical leadership roles in Indigenous communities. However, with the imposition of racist/sexist colonial policies, indigenous women’s roles were systematically displaced. As a result of these policies, which formalized colonial governance systems, the vital informal leadership roles the Xwulmuxw Slhunlheni play rarely get recognized. This dissertation strives to honour (or stand up) the women in our communities who continue to embrace their important roles as givers of life and carriers of culture. Through storytelling as a methodology, new ways of Indigenous women’s leadership are revealed. I interviewed thirteen women from various Hul’qumi’num communities on Vancouver Island and the Mainland, asking them to share their thoughts on leadership. What emerged from the interviews was the importance of living our cultural and traditional teachings. This central theme emphasized the importance of keeping the past, present and future connected. Every one of the women discussed the importance of our teachings and the necessity to bring those forward for the future generations. What emerged was a model that I have coined Sacred Cycle, a model that focuses on living our values. More importantly, the Sacred Cycle can be used as a valuable tool to resolve governance problems and as a tool of decolonization. / Graduate