This dissertation investigates the role of the seasonal wetlands in the political economy and subsistence strategies of the ancient Maya of Chunchucmil, Yucatan, Mexico. A combination of pedestrian surveys and remote-sensing tasks were performed in order to better understand the settlement patterns and potential communication routes in and through the wetlands between Chunchucmil and the Gulf of Mexico. These western wetlands had been proposed as the principal avenue for interregional trade between coastal merchants and inland consumers, yet were thought to be uninhabited and uncultivable. Following the survey tasks outlined in this dissertation, these wetlands were found to contain an abundance of archaeological settlements and features indicating habitation, utilization, and trade throughout this diverse ecological zone The remote-sensing platforms utilized in this study include both multispectral (Landsat) and synthetic aperture radar (AirSAR), combined with additional remotely sensed resources. One of the goals of this survey was to test the capabilities of these two sensors for the direct detection of archaeological features from air and space. The results indicate that Landsat can be highly successful at detecting site location and measuring site size under certain environmental conditions. The Airborne Synthetic Aperture Radar proved to be adept at detecting large mounded architecture within the Yucatecan karstic plain, but its further utility is hampered by limitations of resolution, scale, and land cover One of the salient features of the landscape west of Chunchucmil is a network of stone pathways called andadores. These avenues through the wetlands outline a dendritic network of communication, trade, and extraction routes. The following dissertation places this network and its associated settlements (from suburban centers to diminutive camps) within their regional context, examining the roles they may have played in supporting a large mercantile economy centered at the site of Chunchucmil / acase@tulane.edu

Intercollegiate athletics is a very important part in American higher education both financially and symbolically. One of the most distinct features of college sports is athletic mascots and nicknames of colleges and universities represent not only the athletic programs but also the whole institutions and communities. As they were deeply ingrained in American culture, some colleges and universities maintained Native-American themed mascots. Scholars and activists criticized the use of these mascots due to offensiveness and racial stereotyping. After the criticisms and the sanctions by the National Collegiate Athletics Association in 2005, many abandoned or modified the mascots in a more politically correct way. In case of Florida State University (FSU), however, the university could avoid the possible nickname change mainly because of the endorsement by the Seminole tribe in Florida. The purpose of this dissertation is to explore the roles of the Native American nickname and the mascot (the Seminoles and Chief Osceola) at the Florida State University as organization builders for the university. The following research questions framed this study: (a) What organizational roles have the Seminoles nickname and Chief Osceola mascot played at Florida State University and what can these roles tell us about the organizational trajectories of the university? (b) Do the nickname and mascot and their use correspond to the conceptual framework of “invented tradition?” If so, what is the utility of this framework in understanding the role these traditions play at the university? Qualitative data sources for this case study were collected from informal observations, documents, and semi-structured in-depth interviews. I reviewed how FSU’s football and its Native-American mascot and nickname played a huge role in the process of institutional growth and development from a small regional women’s college to a research-oriented, flagship state university, utilizing Eric Hobsbawm and Tony Collins’s framework of “invented traditions".

Intimacy and family have been pillars of the North American fur trade since its conception. This is especially true for fur trading companies centered in Canada, specifically the Hudson’s Bay Company and the Northwest Company. Kinship ties formed through intimate relations between European fur traders and indigenous women allowed the fur trade to flourish and created an environment for stable, mixed heritage family units to emerge. As mixed heritage children grew into adulthood, they learned to identify with both sides of their parental cultures. However, the connections they formed with each other proved the most valuable and a separate, distinct culture emerged. In Canada this group of people are known as the Métis, a French word meaning mixed. The fur trade continued its move west and eventually reached the Pacific Ocean. This region known as the Pacific Northwest was the farthest removed from fur trade headquarters in Montreal and was home to many different Indigenous Nations. These nations, in combination with fur traders many of whom where Métis, also created families and a new culture once again came into being. It shared aspects of Métis, European, and indigenous cultures, but was something distinctly new. Through the examination of education, kinship ties, language and borders, this groups understanding of self and community came into focus.

The literature indicates that, in comparison to children of other ethnic minority groups, Native American children may be at greater risk for a variety of emotional and behavioral Ill disorders and negative psychosocial conditions. Many may also struggle to resolve issues related to cultural identity. Understanding how Native American children and families relate to the cultures within which they live is a critical aspect of preventing and treating childhood mental disorders. Although Native children and families face persistent social pressure to adapt to a multicultural world, no systematic research exists examining the relationship between families' experience of acculturation and their children's social, emotional, and behavioral functioning. This study described features of acculturation among Native American children and families, and explored the relationship between these cultural features and children's functioning. The study relied primarily upon the perceptions of 186 children and parents from an American Indian tribe of the southwestern United States, each reporting on their own traditionalism, and their perceptions of the child's social-emotional competencies and problems. Child and parent perceptions were augmented by parent report of other family characteristics. Consistent with the literature, factor analytic and psychometric findings indicated that traditionalism is a multidimensional construct that can be measured reliably among children and adults. These findings are especially significant because few psychometrically adequate instruments exist to assess traditionalism or acculturation among Native American children. Few relationships were found between child emotional and behavioral problems and acculturation. A consistent pattern of relationships indicated an association of parent- and child-reported traditionalism with lower perceived levels of child social and behavioral competencies. Exceptions to this pattern included the tendency of children to see themselves as more socially competent if they were involved with traditional ceremonies. Parent reports indicated an association between biculturalism and positive perceptions of child competencies. These findings must be cautiously interpreted in conjunction with the specific cultural and historical context of these families. Characteristics of the data placed some limits on multivariate analyses, and most study findings should be viewed as exploratory. Recommendations are included for further research required to adequately understand relationships between family acculturation and child functioning.

The objective of this study was to investigate a population of identified inhalant users at Intermountain Intertribal School, comparing and contrasting two user groups to a control group of nonusers on a number of selected research variables. The subjects included 42 identified inhalant users. Subjects were further classified into two user groups: one-time users and repeat users, and 20 nonusers. The nonuser group comprised the control group. Each subject was individually interviewed and administered the research and data collection instruments. In addition, other essential information was taken from permanent school records. A one-way analysis of variance was computed to ascertain the relationship between group membership and 11 selected research variables. A discriminant function analysis was computed to determine differences in the 11 research variables as well as to classify and predict group membership. A descriptive analysis of a questionnaire was also reported. Statistically significant differences were found among the three research groups on six of the 11 variables. The discriminant function correctly classified 72% of the subjects, and analysis of the group centroids indicated that the greatest distinctions among the groups were between the nonuser group and the repeat user group. The data present a pattern of inhalant use similar to other populations. The importance of early identification and treatment as well as preventative programs is discussed. Implications of the study and recommendations for further research were made.

Science Fiction/Fantasy and the Representation of Ethnic Futurity examines the influence of science fiction/fantasy (SFF) as applied to twentieth century and contemporary African American, Native American and Latina/o texts. Bringing together theories of racial identity, hybridity, and postcolonialism, this project demonstrates how twentieth century and contemporary ethnic American SFF authors are currently utilizing tropes of SFF to blur racial distinctions and challenge white/other or colonizer/colonized binaries. Ethnic American SFF authors are able to employ SFF landscapes that address narratives of victimization or colonization while still imagining worlds where alternate representations of racial and ethnic identity are possible. My multicultural approach pairs authors of different ethnicities in order to examine common themes that occur in ethnic American SFF texts. The first chapter examines SFF post-apocalyptic depictions of racial and ethnic identity in Samuel Delany's Dhalgren and Gerald Vizenor's Bearheart: The Heirship Chronicles. Chapter two explores depictions of ethnic undead figures in Octavia Butler's Fledgling and Daniel José Older's "Phantom Overload." Chapter three addresses themes of indigenous and migrant colonization in Celu Amberstone's "Refugees" and Rosura Sánchez and Beatrice Pita's Lunar Braceros: 2125-2148.

The Getting Ready to Learn (GRTL) program is an early intervention program designed to improve the developmental skills and learning capacity of Native American children in the Northwest Arctic region of Alaska. Early intervention programs have been found to decrease high school dropout rates and increase employment rates, which contribute to better health outcomes in young adulthood. The Northwest Arctic is a remote area that lacks many resources. As such, the people of this region experience various health disparities. The GRTL program was implemented in 7 of the 11 villages in the Northwest Arctic Borough of Alaska (NWABA). The purpose of this thesis was to evaluate the impact the GRTL program may have had on the development skills (communication, gross motor, fine motor, problem solving, social-personal skills) of participating children and reading behaviors of participating caregivers. Two survey instruments were used to evaluate the GRTL program. Specifically, the Ages and Stages Questionnaire (ASQ) measured developmental skills of participating infants and children, and the Parent Questionnaire (PQ) measured caregiver's satisfaction with the program and reading behaviors of caregivers with their child. Interviews with program employees were also conducted to further interpret the results from the surveys. Program employees reported there was significant community support for the GRTL program, and parents were pleased with the program. Parents especially liked having a place that allowed them to focus on their child and believed the atmosphere provided positive socialization opportunities. Key informants also reported barriers to participation, which included harsh weather conditions that limited program participation. The ASQ indicated an increase in the means of development skills on the post-test; although most were not significantly different. The PQ showed a significant increase in reading behaviors from participating caregivers. Overall, the qualitative results suggest the GRTL program had a positive impact on its participating children and caregivers.

Domestic violence and sexual assault rates are higher on Indian reservations than anywhere else in the country. This text works toward an understanding of sexual violence as a legacy of colonialism. Rather than being rooted in inherent racial or cultural differences, current rates of sexual violence on Indian reservations are a continuation of a historical pattern in which colonizers used rape as a weapon to control, contain, and conquer the Indians. The unique history of racist and sexist oppression inflicted on Native Americans through the institutionalized denial of kinship, culture, sovereignty, and body autonomy has exacerbated the violence while frustrating the healing process. This paper describes how the boarding schools, Indian child removal, PL 280, the Oliphant decision, cultural appropriation, and the sexualized stereotyping of Indian women led to high rates of sexual violence on Indian reservations. It then explores how the Tulalip Tribes of Washington State have been proactive in fighting to end sexual assault and violence on their reservation, through retrocession, a holistic approach to batterer reform, and victim advocacy, while simultaneously lobbying in support of legislation such as the Violence Against Women Act, which would allow the Tribes to acquire criminal jurisdiction over non-Indians.

This study considers religion and mimetic violence in the work of four contemporary Canadian Native writers: Maria Campbell, Beatrice Culleton, Thomas King, and Basil Johnston. The mimetic violence examined is both social (the colonial attempt to remake the colonized into a reflection of the dominant culture) and personal (inter-Native conflict in which participants mirror one another in their struggle for a mutually covetted object). In order to investigate the former, I rely on the work of Homi K. Bhabha on colonial mimicry and hybridity; to examine the latter, I employ René Girard’s model of mimetic desire and violence. The principal academic contexts to this work are the study of Native literature and the academic study of religion, including the sub-field of Religion and Literature. After reviewing the relevant literature in these fields, and examining mimetic violence in key texts by the Native authors listed, I make several concluding points. First, I argue that a causal link between colonial violence and inter-Native mimetic violence is evident in the category of Native literature labelled by Thomas King as “polemical.” This includes Campbell’s Halfbreed, Culleton’s In Search of April Raintree, and King’s own Green Grass, Running Water. Second, I find that Johnston’s Moose Meat & Wild Rice and Indian School Days generally take care to separate colonial mimesis from Native mimetic conflict. This work fits King’s “associational” category of Native literature, and the disconnect evident in Johnston’s stories between the two forms of mimesis might stand as a defining feature of this category. Third, I assert that in none of the Native literature examined is religion viewed in a positive, idealist manner that assumes in its “true” manifestation it cannot be the cause of violence, which is the position taken by most religion scholars. I argue that the emphasis the Native texts place on the historic, material actions and effects of Christian individuals and institutions complements similar work being done by a minority of academics in the study of religion. Fourth, I propose possible avenues for the further investigation of mimesis in Native literature, which would use/focus on: metaphor-centred hermeneutical models; trickster figures and theories; and the conception of both Native and colonial identity. Finally, I argue that critics of Native literature have tended to idealize Native cultures, and that inter-Native mimetic violence offers a humanizing corrective to this perspective.

Globalization of Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) has posed an unprecedented threat to the existence of an Indigenous Knowledge system. There is an increasing amount of appropriation of indigenous knowledge, whereby corporations from rich countries are claiming proprietary rights over knowledge that has belonged to cultures and people of indigenous communities for hundreds of years. IPRs have been inappropriately utilized hindering development and perpetuating poverty within indigenous knowledge−holding communities. This thesis attempts to frame the current debate at the intersection of IPRs and indigenous knowledge, bringing in the case studies on the appropriation of traditional Yoga of Hindu and the Zia sun of Zia−Pueblo of New Mexico. By bringing two case studies on appropriation, this project employs legal−critical scholarship to analyze how the current IPR regime supports commodifying traditional knowledge and artifacts such as Yoga and the Zia sun, and recommends for customary law as a viable alternative to the IPRs.