<p> Nuwuvi (Southern Paiute) have inhabited the southern Great Basin for thousands of years, and consider <i>Nuvagantu</i> (where snow sits) in the Spring Mountains landscape to be the locus of their creation as a people. Their ancestral territory spans parts of Nevada, Utah, Arizona, and California. My research identifies and describes the heterogeneous character of Nuwuvi ecological knowledge (NEK) of pi&ntilde;on-juniper woodland ecosystems within two federal protected areas (PAs) in southeastern Nevada, the Spring Mountains National Recreation Area (SMNRA) and the Desert National Wildlife Refuge (DNWR), as remembered and practiced to varying degrees by 22 select Nuwuvi knowledge holders. I focus my investigation on four primary aspects of NEK. First, drawing from data obtained through ethnoecological research, I discuss how Nuwuvi ecological knowledge evolved through protracted observation and learning from past resource depletions, and adapted to various environmental and socio-economic drivers of change induced since Euro-American incursion. Second, I argue that Nuwuvi management practices operate largely within a framework of non-equilibrium ecology, marked by low to intermediate disturbances and guided by Nuwuvi conceptions of environmental health and balance. These practices favor landscape heterogeneity and patchiness, and engender ecosystem renewal, expanded ecotones, and increased biodiversity. I then consider the third and fourth aspects of NEK as two case studies that consider NEK at the individual, species, population, habitat, and landscape scales. These case studies operationalize NEK as a relevant body of knowledge and techniques conducive to collaborative resource stewardship initiatives with federal land management agency partners. In the first case study I suggest that the Great Basin pi&ntilde;on pines are Nuwuvi cultural keystone species (CKS), evaluating their central importance to Nuwuvi according to several criteria including number of uses, role in ritual and story, and uniqueness relative to other species. In the second case study I contend that local social institutions regulated Nuwuvi resource use in the past and in some cases continued to do so at the time of study. These local social institutions included a system of resource extraction and habitat entrance taboos that may have mitigated impacts and supported sustainable resource use and conservation. The implications of this research are that Nuwuvi ecological knowledge, disturbance-based adaptive management practices, and resource and habitat taboos are relevant to contemporary land management concerns in pi&ntilde;on-juniper woodlands, offering complementary approaches to adaptive management as practiced in the SMNRA and the DNWR despite divergent epistemological foundations. My research contributed to the Nuwuvi Knowledge-to-Action Project, an applied government-to-government consultation, collaborative resource stewardship, and cultural revitalization project facilitated by The Mountain Institute among seven Nuwuvi Nations, the U.S. Forest Service, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.</p>

This thesis examines the creation of the Witchekan Lake Reserve in Saskatchewan, the resulting treaty land entitlement (TLE) for Witchekan Lake First Nation, and the 1992 Framework Agreement for Saskatchewan Treaty Land Entitlement (TLEFA). The history of the Witchekan Lake Reserve between 1913 and 1919 is reconstructed and reveals a unique situation within TLE. The creation of a Reserve some thirty seven years prior to adherence to Treaty Six presents a challenge to the interpretation of TLE. It also points to the importance of the historical context of Reserve creation within TLE A study of land use and occupancy of Witchekan Lake First Nation and the area occupied by Settlers was facilitated by the use of Department of Indian Affairs files, map biographies, oral interviews, transcripts of earlier interviews with deceased elders, records and correspondence from Saskatchewan Environment and Resource Mangement (SERM) and the Department of the Interior Homestead Files. The analysis employs a non-traditional definition of the ethnicity of Settlers. That definition is based on their birthplace, their land use and their life experiences before arriving at Witchekan Lake. Employing theoretical concepts of colonization and underlying ideologies of racial inferiority, the work proposes that the existence of two opposing types of land use and occupancy and their respective value systems led to a TLE for Witchekan Lake First Nation. It is argued here that these ideologies were present in the homestead period and have persisted into the present due to the late timing of settlement and the pluralistic composition of Settlers. A review of the events around the acquisition of the Bapaume Community Pasture by Witchekan Lake First Nation demonstrates the continuance of conflict with Settlers. This conflict first arose in the homestead era. A critique of the TLEFA, specific to the case of Witchekan Lake First Nation, proposes that lack of attention to their unique circumstances has left the community with unresolved claims. The community hoped that these unresolved claims would be settled in the TLEFA.

This thesis examines the concept of self-determination, as defined by competent international agencies. Analyzing the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement and the Estatuto de Ia Autonomia de las Regiones de Ia Costa Atlantica de Nicaragua (Autonomy Statute for the Regions of the Atlantic Coast of Nicaragua), this work proposes that these two laws of legislation do provide a starting point for the Inuit and the Miskitu-nani to definitely begin to work towards achieving a degree of self-determination within the nation-states in which these peoples live. After analyzing the historic development of the concept of self-determination and placing the Inuit and the Miskitu-nani in a theoretical framework of internal colonization, this work looks at the history and background of both peoples as well as at the final documents: the Law of Autonomy, the Nunavut Final Agreement and the Nunavut Law. Following a comparison and an analysis of these agreements, it is proposed that they represent an initial political step that, by providing some self- administration, potentially opens a road to self-determination for these Aboriginal nations —self-determination as defined by international agencies and accepted by most member states of the United Nations.

This case study examines a labour relations issue which initially involves teacher employees of the Sagkeeng Education Authority of the Fort Alexander Band on one hand and the Sagkeeng Education Authority and the Fort Alexander Chief and Council on the other. The events of the issue transpire between 1981 and 1986.Teacher employees, concerned with working conditions and job security, organized as a local of the Manitoba Teachers' Society which was certified under the Canada Labour Code. The Chief and Council of the Fort Alexander Band rejected the formation of the local and the applicability of the Canada Labour Code to labour relations on the reserve. Teachers were fired for union activities. Hearings were held by the Canada Labour Relations Board. Orders were issued by the Labour Board and a collective agreement was imposed by the Labour Board. The Chief and Council refused to follow the Labour Board's orders, and contempt of court hearings were held by the Federal Court. Fort Alexander officials, including the Chief and Council, were initially fined and subsequently jailed. The Minister of Indian Affairs, David Crombie, promised to initiate Department studies to examine the possibilities and implications of changing the labour relations regime to reflect Indian self-government. The dispute was eventually settled out of court but the issue of Indian government jurisdiction over labour relations remains unresolved.Conceived and sanctioned by the Manitoba Teachers' Society, the Canada Labour Relations Board and the Federal Court as a labour dispute, the researcher argues that the issue is more readily understood within the context of Indian self-determination and self-government. Concepts concerning philosophical, socio-economic, cultural, legal, political and historical aspects of the relationship between Indian peoples and the Canadian state are brought to bear on the issue. Concepts of group rights versus those of individual rights are examined.It is argued that the current labour relations legal regime is inconsistent with Indian self-determination and self-government. The researcher suggests jurisdiction over labour relations should be determined by First Nations' governments as consistent with the goals of self-determination and self-government. Conceptions of Indian labour relations jurisdiction are suggested.

<p> Comprehensive planning can help communities engage in purposeful and sustainable land use development. Previous research has indicated that Indian reservations in the United States often face unique roadblocks to these planning efforts: checkerboard patterns of tribal and nontribal ownership, and the presence of both tribal and local governments exercising land use authority within the same shared space. These roadblocks can lead to uncooperative, uncoordinated, or unsustainable development. Despite these noted problems, there remains an important gap in the current literature regarding solutions to overcome these roadblocks. The purpose of this study was to address that gap. Guided by Forester's critical planning theory to critically examine the social and historical roots of planning within a particular community, this qualitative case study examined government records and conducted 18 interviews of tribal and local government officials. Data analysis consisted of coding data to reveal emergent themes relating to cooperative land use planning in the future. These themes included: (a) approaching planning with a regional philosophy in mind, (b) strengthening interpersonal relationships, (c) finding ways to fairly compensate each other for government services, (d) continuing to acknowledge each government's ability to govern within this shared space, and (e) refraining from asserting authority over a neighboring government. This research is an important contribution to the existing literature and enhances social change initiatives by providing guidance for tribal and local government officials to increase cooperative land use planning.</p>

Over the last century, much of the United State prairie pothole region has been converted to cultivated cropland. Concerns have been raised on government subsidized crop insurance effect on grassland to cropland conversion in the United States. Most grassland in the United State prairie pothole region are privately owned making a vivid understanding of landowners’ response to crop insurance subsidies important to facilitate effective design of prairie pothole conservation programs. The purpose of this study was to determine the extent of land use conversion with the removal of crop insurance subsidies in the United States prairie pothole region. Government subsidies on crop insurance was determined to have a measurable impact on Conservation Reserve Program land acreage within the United States. It was estimated that a 15% reduction in the net returns to cropland resulted in about 274,000 increase in the land acreage of the Conservation Reserve Program. In Conclusion, the removal of crop insurance subsidies was predicted to slow down but not stop the conversion of grassland to cropland in the United States prairie pothole region.

<p> This thesis aims to provide a normative evaluation of the Western U.S. water law of prior appropriation through a contextual analysis of water value pluralism. The first chapter begins with a preliminary account of the major justificatory arguments made in defense of prior appropriation, followed by two critiques that undermine some proposed advantages of the water policy. The purpose of this analysis is to elucidate the normative claims that underlie many of the arguments within this debate but which fail to be made explicit. It becomes clear that these normative claims assume a utilitarian criterion for resource distribution, according to which water is primarily viewed as an economic good with a monetary value. The second chapter challenges the legitimacy of this assumption by introducing non-monetary water values, with attention to the particular social and cultural contexts in which they emerge. Through a review of four economic proxies, these non-monetary water values are shown to be incommensurable with monetary valuations. Finally, the third chapter offers a theoretical framework for the incorporation of non-monetary water values into resource distribution decisions. From this normative analysis, it is concluded that a necessary condition for achieving just resource distribution decisions is for prior appropriation to incorporate value pluralism by recognizing the legitimacy of non-monetary water values.</p>

<p> This dissertation challenges the traditional histories of rhetoric in early America by examining how Scottish Enlightenment rhetoric affected those outside of the white, male-dominated social hierarchy of the early eighteenth century through an examination of works by white women, Native Americans, and African Americans that confluence around national calls for Native American removal and African colonization. Scholars have shown the influence of Scottish Enlightenment rhetoric on the early Republic, specifically the rhetoric of George Campbell and Hugh Blair, and historians have shown the relationships between abolitionists, Native Americans, and African Americans during the nineteenth century. However, these scholars have not shown how writers deployed Scottish Enlightenment rhetoric in these debates. By examining writings by Lydia Maria Child and Catharine Maria Sedgwick, I show how both women incorporated the ideas of sympathy in their works about Native Americans and African Americans. I also explore how activists such as William Apess, David Walker, and Hosea Easton all implemented Campbell's rhetorical ideas into their arguments and discuss how their rhetorical practices can be seen in relationship to one another. Drawing on Blair's thoughts on taste, I explore how newspaper editors John Russwurm and Elias Boudinot viewed taste and how they presented their views to their African American and Cherokee readers respectively. Looking forward, I conclude with a brief examination of the poet Albery Allson Whitman who wrote epic poems centered on the confluence of Native American and African American experiences. Overall, this dissertation works to show how those outside of the social hierarchy wielded rhetorical principles taught in the hallowed halls of the university, and it also explores the understudied links between activists who fought for Native American and African American rights during the early nineteenth century.</p>

The percentage of language and cultural minority students is increasing (Okagaki, 2006; U.S. Department of Education, 2010). This reality emphasizes the need for elementary school general education teachers to become knowledgeable about students’ backgrounds so that they can mold instruction to meet all students’ needs (Bennett, 2007; Spring, 2007; Whitcomb, 2003). There is, however, little research about elementary school general education teachers’ views and accommodations about heritage language maintenance (a.k.a. multicultural and multilingual inclusion) (Goldstein, 2003). The purpose of this study was to examine how teachers view heritage language learning and how teachers accommodate to students who have a heritage language background. A mixed methods study (n = 30) consisting of thirty surveys and ninety observations from general education teachers who taught in the 2010-2011 school year was used to examine elementary school general education teachers’ beliefs and accommodations about heritage language maintenance (HLM). Overall, the majority of teachers reported positive beliefs about HLM while exercising few accommodations in the classroom. Only teachers’ subject area of specialization, school corporation, teachers’ indication of HL strategies, and six accommodations were associated significantly with the positive beliefs and negative beliefs about HLM. The results from this study provide support for teachers’ input about accommodations and institutional support. The significant associations between area of specialization, six accommodations, and beliefs about HLM suggest mixed evidence and require further exploration for other intervening variables. Further investigation of findings indicates teachers’ actual practices and multicultural experiences cannot be predicted based on teachers’ expressed beliefs. Design issues like the instruments used, the sample size obtained, and the observation schedule implemented may affect the results. Longitudinal research is needed to explore other contextual factors that could impact the multi-conceptual relationship between beliefs and actual practice for further research. / Department of Educational Psychology

The purpose of this study is to describe the geographic distribution of Aboriginal people who live in remote, isolated Aboriginal communities in Canada in terms of how geographic settings and features, particularly those that are characteristic of island dwellers, are related to and can impact aspects of culture and identity. Through this process, data was collected using a research synthesis, which allowed for a great deal of data from various sources to be analyzed, extracted, and coded. Based on this qualitative study, numerous geographic characteristics similar to those of islanders and islands emerged. Physically, islands and Aboriginal communities represent bounded, finite spaces that are located on the periphery and are impacted by isolation. These unique isolated areas allow for islanders and Aboriginal people to experience ethnic homogeneity and strong attachments to place, both of which allow for the preservation of culture and identity. That being said, islanders and Aboriginal people both experience migration as a way of life, and leaving their places of origin to experience life in larger, more diversely and densely populated areas is necessary for many. As a result of these findings, this study compares isolated Aboriginal communities in Canada and Aboriginal people to various small islands around the world as well as islanders, through various spatial metaphors.