abstract: This dissertation explores how American Indian literature and the legacy of the Red Power movement are linked in the literary representations of what I call "Indigenous Cosmopolitics." This occurs by way of oral tradition's role in the movement's Pan-Indigenous consciousness and rhetoric. By appealing to communal values and ideals such as solidarity and resistance, homeland, and land-based sovereignty, Red Power activist-writers of 1960s and 1970s mobilized oral tradition to challenge the US-Indigenous colonial relationship, speak for Native communities, and decolonize Native consciousness. The introductory chapter points to Pan-Indigenous practices that constructed a positive identity for the alienated and disempowered experience of Native Americans since Relocation. Chapter one examines the Red Power newspapers and newsletters ABC: Americans Before Columbus, The Warpath, and Alcatraz Newsletter among others. These periodicals served as venues for many Natives to publish their poems in collaborating with the politics of the Red Power movement. Among the poems considered is Miguel Hernandez's "ALCATRAZ," which supports the Native resistance and journey towards sovereignty during the Island's occupation. Chapters two and three explore the use of oral tradition in the journalism of Simon Ortiz (Acoma Pueblo), who was then working within the collaborative contexts of the National Indian Youth Council (NIYC) and ABC: Americans Before Columbus, which represents the Indigenous cosmos and appeal to Indigenous peoples' cosmopolitical alliance and resistance throughout the hemisphere and across the world. The final chapter turns to the work of two poets, Joy Harjo (Muskogee Creek), Wendy Rose (Hopi/Miwok), and a singer-songwriter Buffy Sainte-Marie (Cree), showing their appropriation of storytelling modes and topics from within the inclusive functions of oral tradition - storyweaving, employing persona, and performing folk music. Harjo, Rose and Sainte-Marie push on the boundaries of the movement's rhetoric as they promote solidarity between colonized women in and beyond the US. The Red Power movement's cosmopolitics remains persistent and influential in Native nationalism, which stands as the master expression of the decolonizing process. The flexibility of oral tradition operates as a common ground for reciprocal, transformational, and inclusive interactions between tribal/national identity and Pan-Indigenous identity, developing Native nationhood's interactions with the world. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. English 2014

abstract: This research explores the various and often conflicting interpretations of the Battle of Horseshoe Bend, an event seemingly lost in the public mind of twenty-first century America. The conflict, which pitted United States forces under the command of Major General Andrew Jackson against a militant offshoot of the Creek Confederacy, known as the Redsticks, ranks as the single most staggering loss of life in annals of American Indian warfare. Today, exactly 200 years after the conflict, the legacy of Horseshoe Bend stands as an obscure and often unheard of event. Drawing upon over two centuries of unpublished archival data, newspapers, and political propaganda this research argues that the dominate narrative of Northern history, the shadowy details of the War of 1812, and the erasure of shameful events from the legacy of westward expansion have all contributed to transform what once was a battle of epic proportions, described by Jackson himself as an "extermination," into a seemingly forgotten affair. Ultimately, the Battle of Horseshoe Bend's elusiveness has allowed for the production of various historical myths and political messages, critiques and hyperboles, facts and theories. Hailed as a triumph during the War of 1812, and a high-water mark by the proponents of Manifest Destiny, Jackson's victory has also experienced its fair share of American derision and disregard. Whereas some have criticized the battle as a "cold blooded massacre," others have glorified it as a touchstone of American masculinity, and excused it as a natural event in the unfolding of human evolution. Despite the battle's controversial nature, on 3 August 1956, President Dwight D. Eisenhower, a strong supporter of the National Park Service, approved act HR 11766 establishing Horseshoe Bend National Military Park, the very first national park in the state of Alabama. Hailed and forgotten, silenced and celebrated, exploited and yet largely unknown. This research explores what happened after the smoke cleared at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend. It is a story about the production of history, the power of the past, and the malleability of the American mind. / Dissertation/Thesis / M.A. History 2014

Background. Pain is the most commonly reported symptom in primary care and is estimated to affect over 110 million people in the United States. Increased pain severity and occurrence and inadequate treatment of pain is linked to being a minority, healthcare access, socioeconomic status, age and gender. Outcomes of pain include costs, healthcare utilization, functional changes, and quality of life. Gaps in knowledge exist regarding the American Indian (AI) chronic non-malignant pain experience, management and outcomes. Objective. The purpose of this research is to describe Northern New Mexico (NNM) AIs chronic pain experience, intervention strategies, and outcomes. Methods. This study utilized a qualitative descriptive (QD) design, with in-depth, one-on-one interviews with semi-structured interview questions. A sample of 14 Native Americans were interviewed for this study. A questionnaire was used to collect demographic data. Domain, taxonomic and content analyses were utilized to gain a highly nuanced description of the research topic. Results. The participants provided rich qualitative data regarding chronic pain experience, management strategies and outcomes. Frequent pain experiences included the body as a confining entity, body awareness, unpredictability of pain, and psychological outcomes. AIs in the study utilize a variety of biomedical, professional and self-care interventions. Outcomes discussed were functional status, costs, healthcare utilization, and quality of life. Outcomes. The goal of this research is increased understanding of the chronic pain experience through the perspective of those experiencing it. Findings will be submitted to the University of Arizona dissertation library, disseminated across relevant peer-reviewed journals focused on pain and pain management, and presented to appropriate groups and organizations.

Abstract not available.

This thesis is the study of the Indigenous peoples of Ghana, Canada and the United States. What links these three groups together is the colonial moment. These peoples are linked together because they have all been affected by the process and legacy of colonization. The "colonial moment" presents an opportunity to analyze the ways in which the Indigenous peoples of these three geopolitical units have experienced the colonization process and its impact as well as to analyze its implications for post-colonial sovereignty. If one goes back to the early days of colonization, Europeans were only a minuscule minority in the territories that would one day become Ghana, Canada and the United States. The evolution from that point forward is totally different. The scene at Ghana's independence celebration eloquently expresses this contrast: At the Black Star Square, as the midnight bell tolled, on March 6, 1957, the Union Jack slipped beneath the floodlights. Rising in its place was the tri-colour flag of red, gold and green, with a black star at its centre, the standard of the new, independent nation of Ghana. On the platform, President Kwarne Nkrumah, his faced streaked with tears, electrified the crowd when he declared: "At long last, the battle has ended. Your beloved country is free forever." What American or Canadian Indigenous leader can boast of his or her country being free on Independence Day? Free from whom and what? That argument begs the question -- why? Why did Ghana, which is much closer and more accessible to Europe, not become the target for mass migration? If the Indigenous peoples of Ghana, who were considered too primitive to engage in treaty as exemplified by the Berlin Conference of 1884, could achieve a form of sovereignty approximately equivalent to that of the other nations of the world, then why should the Indigenous peoples of the Americas, whose international treaty powers were affirmed by the Royal Proclamation of 1763, not employ Ghana's sovereignty as a yardstick? This thesis uses the "Ghanaian lens" to examine the above questions and many more, and anchors them in the evolving nature of sovereignty in the colonial and post-colonial context. The aim is to link the analysis of the "shifting" European definition of statehood with the unconscious forces that shaped the colonial prismatic view of Indigenous sovereignty. What might be useful and unique about the thesis is its invitation to uncouple the train of thought from North America and examine the colonial moment and its implications for American and Canadian jurisprudence from an African perspective. It is hoped that this will provide a useful basis for helping to correct some of the injustices perpetrated against the Indigenous peoples of North America. The "Ghanaian lens" is then directed at the contact period to reveal that, despite the introduction of European goods and the concomitant fruits of so-called "civilization," the Indigenous peoples of the world generally suffered throughout this period and did not benefit from the presence of the Europeans who exploited their friendliness. The struggle for independence is the next phenomenon viewed through the "Ghanaian lens." Part VI then illustrates the manner in which the importation of American jurisprudence into the Canadian context has distorted the traditional British legal notion of Indigenous sovereignty to the detriment of the Indigenous peoples of Canada. Part VIIA explains why the Western world and the "settled" nations should refrain from perpetuating doctrines of international law that define sovereignty as the exclusive preserve of Europe, which subordinated and excluded "uncivilized" indigenes, resulting in the current neo-colonial state of the Indigenous peoples of North America. Finally, Part VIIB develops a set of doctrines that could coherently account for Indigenous personality, in order to more adequately formulate the potential of the concept of sovereignty to remedy the enduring inequities and imbalances resulting from the colonial confrontation. The thesis then takes the reader on the solution path. On September 13, 2007, the United Nations adopted the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. The Indigenous peoples of the world share much in common: faith in divine providence, hope in an eternal universe and the aspiration to be free and happy. Indigenous peoples in settled countries are many distinct natives in many countries, but with common concerns and a common voice. One of their prime concerns is to be heard. Indigenous peoples in settled countries cannot effectively express themselves politically. They are politically mute. To claim that they are represented at the United Nations by the countries in which they reside is, therefore, an insult. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

Over the decade of 2000, the Mexican government defined maternal health as a political priority and put pressure on key stakeholders to institutionalize pregnancy and childbirth in rural communities with indigenous population, through coercive use of poverty relief programs and surveillance policies involving health staff, community leaders, neighbours and families in close maternal control from pregnancy to newborn care. Safe motherhood campaigns addressed pregnant women and recent mothers, making them responsible for their own health and for the health of their unborns and newborns. As a result, most pregnant women went for prenatal chats and check-ups and a growing proportion turned away from homebirth assisted by traditional birth attendants. However, most also kept combining traditional and biomedical care and many felt safer delivering in their homes. This study was nested within a community-led research effort to narrow the distance between biomedically-oriented government policies and indigenous views and practices of maternal and newborn care, aiming to reduce maternal mortality and morbidity among aboriginal populations, without marginalizing indigenous cultures. I explore the connections and interactions between health risk discourse --the dominant paradigm in contemporary public health communication-, safe motherhood discourse, and indigenous discourses about maternal care in Xochistlahuaca, a rural community in Guerrero State, Mexico. I show how institutions and individuals draw from existing discourses, adopt them, reject them, and reshape them to make meaning according to their own needs, circumstances, and aspirations. I discuss how these interactions explain and affect maternal and perinatal care among the majority Amuzgo population. I also analyze the ideological implications of government and indigenous discourses in a context of unequal power relations. In particular, the study reveals how different sources construe the roles of key stakeholders, such as indigenous women and men, and how indigenous women handle and reshape multiple discursive pressures from government and community sources concerning maternal health and their role in society. I analyze data from government health promotion materials and interviews with health officials, government health staff, and men and women in the communities, using a theoretical and methodological framework based on critical discourse analysis, social semiotics, systemic functional linguistics, and multimodal approaches. The findings reveal "discursive synergies" and contradictions between government safe motherhood discourse and traditional orders of discourse. They also shed light on how people make coherent --and rational- construals of risk blending their own experiences and multiple, often conflicting discourses in an unequal multiethnic environment with competing authority claims. These findings should be of interest to a range of stakeholders working to prevent maternal and perinatal death in intercultural contexts.

Native American lands have significant renewable energy resource potential that could serve to ensure energy security and a low carbon energy future for the benefit of tribes as well as the United States. Economic and energy development needs in Native American communities match the energy potential. A disproportionate amount of Native American households have no access to electricity, which is correlated with high poverty and unemployment rates. Despite the vast resources and need for energy, the potential for renewable energy development has not fully materialized. This research explores this subject through three separate articles: 1) a case study of the Navajo Nation that suggests economic viability is not the only significant factor for low adoption of renewable energy on Navajo lands; 2) an expert elicitation of tribal renewable energy experts of what they view as barriers to renewable energy development on tribal lands; and 3) a reevaluation of Native Nation Building Theory to include external forces and the role that inter-tribal collaboration plays with renewable energy development by Native nations. Major findings from this research suggests that 1) many Native nations lack the technical and legal capacity to develop renewable energy; 2) inter-tribal collaboration can provide opportunities for sharing resources and building technical, legal, and political capacity; and 3) financing and funding remains a considerable barrier to renewable energy development on tribal lands.

No description available.

No description available.

abstract: Indigenous Pueblo conceptualization of living well today has shifted mainly due to Federal policies that forced Pueblo people to conform to western way of living moving away from a lifestyle that embraced holistic practices. Native people cannot escape how Western society has shaped the concept of health however, the voices of the Pueblo people and others working in health, acknowledged that Indigenous philosophies, beliefs and practices need to be part of Native health conversations today. My discussion problematizes Native health characterized today as typically represented through the biomedical perspective with the primary focus being the body. Such a limiting perspective dismisses the importance of Indigenous philosophies that embraces broader concepts of well-being to include holistic elements of physical, mental, emotional and spiritual well-being. This study examines the shift in perceptions seeking input from patient and medical providers regarding their interactions, particularly communications in a healthcare setting. Pueblo patients defined what was important in their communications with their health provider. Likewise, health providers referred to their experiences providing healthcare to Native patients to describe what is important to know when treating a Pueblo patient. Patients identified family (without specific medical family histories disclosed), knowledge/beliefs that were or were not associated to the patient’s culture, as well as community and family dynamics (that did not delve into traditional medicine or sacred ceremonial activities) as important for their provider to know. The results from the research study highlights the need to examine Native American cultural diversity education in healthcare including advancing improvements in the training of medical providers. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Social Justice and Human Rights 2020