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Master of Arts / Department of History / Charles W. Sanders / On June 3, 1825, William Clark, Superintendent of Indian Affairs, and eleven representatives of the “Kanzas” nation signed a treaty ceding their lands to the United States. The first to sign was “Nom-pa-wa-rah,” the overall Kansa leader, better known as White Plume. His participation illustrated the racial chasm that had opened between Native- and Anglo- American worlds. The treaty was designed to ease pressures of proximity in Missouri and relocate multiple nations West of the Mississippi, where they believed they would finally be beyond the American lust for land. White Plume knew different. Through experience with U.S. Indian policy, he understood that land cessions only restarted a cycle of events culminating in more land cessions. His identity as a mixed-blood, by virtue of the Indian-white ancestry of many of his family, opened opportunities for that experience. Thus, he attempted in 1825 to use U.S. laws and relationships with officials such as William Clark to protect the future of the Kansa. The treaty was a cession of land to satisfy conflicts, but also a guarantee of reserved land, and significantly, of a “halfbreed” tract for mixed-blood members of the Kansa Nation. Mixed-blood go-betweens stood for a final few moments astride a widening chasm between Anglo-American and native worlds. It was a space that less than a century before offered numerous opportunities for mixed-blood people to thrive as intermediaries, brokers, traders, and diplomats. They appeared, albeit subtly, in interactions wherever white and Native worlds overlapped. As American Indians lost their economic viability and eventually their land, that overlap disappeared. White Plume’s negotiation of a reserve for his descendants is telling of a group left without a place. In bridging the two worlds, mixed-bloods became a group that by the mid-nineteenth century was defined as “other” by Anglo-American and Indians alike. This study is the first to track these evolving racial constructs and roles over both time and place. Previous studies have examined mixed-blood roles, but their identity is portrayed as static. This study contends that their roles changed with the proximity and viability of full-blood communities with which white officials had to negotiate.

In an attempt to narrow a perceived gap between two literary fields, this thesis provides a comparative analysis of Luis Alberto Urrea’s The Humminbird’s Daughter, and Leslie Marmon Silko’s Almanac of the Dead. I explore and critique the ways in which Luis Alberto Urrea mobilizes mestizaje and Chicana/o nationalist rhetoric. I argue that mestizaje stems from colonial representations that inscribe indigenous people into a narrative of erasure. Furthermore, I address Leslie Marmon Silko’s critique of mestizaje within Almanac of the Dead. / text

This dissertation examines the potential congruencies and complementarities of Waldorf education, Culturally Relevant Pedagogy (CRP), Culturally Responsive Schooling (CRS), Critical Pedagogy and Native American and Indigenous education. Waldorf education, a German education reform developed in the early 1920s, is a little researched schooling system, and previous research on this reform has examined its impacts within its traditional contexts, namely, private schools. At the same time, significant literature exists which addresses the importance and efficacy of reforms for students of color such as those in CRP, CRS and Critical Pedagogy. There is also a body of work which points to key pedagogical components which support Native American/Indigenous students in school. This dissertation examines the interplay between all three of these complex systems by examining attempts to integrate them in the classroom. By examining Waldorf education initiatives in three distinct contexts, I demonstrate that these reforms can work in concert without diminishing the efficacy of any of them. I explore three distinct contexts of Waldorf education. The first examined the impacts of Waldorf education on students who participated in the reform in a private Waldorf school, who transitioned to more traditional, mainstream classes. I conducted participant-observation of a local Waldorf school and in-depth interviews with 14 alumni to explore the impact of this reform. In the second context, I examined how students responded to the use of Waldorf-inspired methods in a community college course I taught, and I investigated their experiences of the reform. Seven students who participated were interviewed in order to investigate the impact of these reforms on their experience as college students. These interviews were complemented by teacher-research I conducted while teaching this Waldorf-inspired course. Finally, I explored the potential of Waldorf education as a reform for Native American students, examining my own incorporation of this reform with other pedagogical tools, such as CRP, CRS, and other forms of critical pedagogy. Included in this section of research are my reflections on a course I instructed with Waldorf-inspired reforms. I also explored various accounts of Waldorf-education reforms by tribal communities, like the Lakota Waldorf School in South Dakota. Several findings from the research conducted here are encouraging. Students from Waldorf school environments demonstrate critical skills and critique schooling environments, invoking stances familiar to critical pedagogues. Students from a Waldorf-inspired community college course were also critical of the typical schooling experiences they had encountered, and spoke of the enriching feeling in their Waldorf-inspired course. Investigation into the philosophical tenets of Waldorf education and Native American/Indigenous epistemologies shows several examples of overlap and similarity, the most striking being elements of spiritual belief and practice as foundational to Native American/Indigenous well-being, and the ability of Waldorf education to address this. While these fields may appear unrelated, this study explores the praxis of these seemingly disparate bodies of work, by examining their similarities and differences. Ultimately, I argue that these reforms can work in concert to support the academic success of culturally and linguistically diverse students and Native American/Indigenous students in particular. The research in these three contexts demonstrates need for further investigation into Waldorf education and its potential to support students of all backgrounds.

Orientador: Giséle Manganelli Fernandes / Banca: Thomas Bonnici / Banca: Paulo Sérgio Nolasco dos Santos / Banca: Norma Wimmer / Banca: Alvaro Luiz Hattnher / Resumo: Zitkala-Sá, autora de ascendência indígena norte-americana, atingiu certo sucesso durante o período em que viveu. Naquela época, foi criticada, mesmo por outros indígenas, por suas atitudes consideradas assimiladas. O principal objetivo desta tese é analisar os aspectos que representam resistência e assimilação na obra de Zitkala-Ša, com foco na resistência. Defende-se, neste trabalho, a tese de que as ações, que aparentemente são assimiladas, como o discurso elogioso e o uso da língua inglesa, podem ser lidas como uma agenda de resistência e de sobrevivência do indígena. Zitkala-Ša executou sua resistência por meio da mistura de gêneros e estilos literários, do discurso político e, principalmente, por meio do uso de técnicas indígenas tradicionais, como a manipulação do simbolismo e da metáfora, a arte de contar histórias e seu ajuste à língua inglesa e aos acontecimentos contemporâneos. A recuperação de heróis e seres mitológicos, o registro de cerimônias, a forma de educação e transmissão do conhecimento Dakota e a figura do trickster marcam a instância e a sobrevivência da cultura indígena. Por um longo período ela foi considerada uma indígena assimilada, mas a escrita autobiográfica e as lendas indígenas que Zitkala-Ša recuperou de sua infância são denúncias contra as políticas do governo, como a lei de distribuição de terras e as instituições como os internatos indígenas (boarding schools) e serviram como modelos a escritores indígenas modernos / Abstract: Zitkala-Ša, an author of Native American ascendance, achieved some success during the time when she was alive. At that period, she was criticized even by her peers for her actions and writing sometimes considered assimilated. The main objective of this dissertation is to analyze the aspects that represent resistance and assimilation in Zitkala-Ša's work, focusing on resistance. This dissertation addresses the fact that the actions such as laudatory discourse and the use of the English language, which are seemingly considered assimilated, can be read as a resistant agenda of survival. Zitkala-Ša accomplished this by mixing literary genres, such as fiction, essays, political discourse and the use of Native American traditional techniques, as storytelling, manipulation and adjustment of the English language, the figure of the trickster, the recalling of oral legends and characters, and the insistance on issues related to the Native American culture. For a long period, she was regarded as an assimilated Indian, but her work can also be approached as a sign of resistance to the governmental policies against the Native people, to the assimilationist projects of the boarding schools in particular, and to the Euro-American culture in general. The study of her work is relevant today because she is a role model for current Native writers and for other people who were silenced / Doutor

Sediment samples were collected from 3 rock shelter sites and one natural pond on the Upper Cumberland Plateau. Samples were processed to quantitatively and qualitatively evaluate pollen and charcoal abundance as well as other palaeobotanicals. The analysis was to determine when prehistoric Native Americans began controlled burns to enhance resources acquisition. Samples were also analyzed for the presence of pollen to determine vegetation changes that may accompany the use of controlled burns and to determine the onset of horticulture. The Upper Cumberland Plateau is often considered a marginal area used only seasonally by Native Americans; however, management practices may have been highly refined to maximize resources acquisition. Results show evidence of overt land management and usage of the area by Native Americans over several thousand years. Remains indicate reliance upon nut producing trees. This reliance led to land management practices designed to maximize availability of said resources.

abstract: Advancements in marine and aerospace technology drive legal reform in admiralty and air law. The increased accessibility and affordability of these technologies demand and motivate lawmakers and federal agencies to anticipate potential threats to peoples’ rights and resources in the seas and skies. Given the recent applications of unmanned aircraft in the public and private sectors, developments in aircraft and air law are rapidly becoming more relevant to American Indian and Alaska Native tribes. In anticipation of legal reform, tribal nations are taking steps to assert, expand, and secure their air rights before agencies or the courts attempt to divest their sovereign authority. An analysis of two case studies through a lens of water and federal Indian law locates spaces in American jurisprudence that have the legal foundation and structural capacity to support a greater presence of Indigeneity in airspace. Research findings from these studies answer the following inquiries about tribal airspace sovereignty: where does Indigeneity reside in the US national airspace system and domestic air law, how are tribal air rights strengthened or weakened by American jurisprudence, what strategies do tribes employ to exercise their sovereignty in airspace, and how are tribes planning for future developments in aircraft and air law? Answers lead to proof of how meaningful consultation through collaborative rulemaking produces far greater mutual benefits than burdens for federal agencies and tribes, and much more. Most importantly, these discoveries celebrate a diverse and accumulative strategic legacy of strengthening and expanding tribal sovereignty in the face of imminent threats and possibilities in tribal airspace. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis American Indian Studies 2019

Beginning with the first European colonists in the New World, captivity has been means of cultural exchange between whites and Native Americans. The narratives recounting the captives’ experiences became popular literature which inspired visual artists who reinterpreted the tales to coincide with their cultural needs. In the early twentieth century, progressive reformer, William Pryor Letchworth, hired artist Henry Kirke Bush-Brown to create a sculpture of captive Mary Jemison who, instead of returning to her natal culture, chose to stay among the Seneca becoming fully assimilated. Aligning with their progressive values, their perception of her character is reflected in the Mary Jemison Monument. The monument creates an image of the ideal woman, immigrant, and Native American who holds and practices white middle-class values of strength, independence, and determination. Exemplifying these American values, the sculpture accesses an American identity emphasizing the acceptance and practice of these supposedly American traits. Immigrants and Native Americans could become fully Americanized by adopting these characteristics and leaving their traditional ways behind. Contingent on their assimilation of white middle-class values, the perceived problems facing a diversified society could be eliminated. In so doing, a more harmonious America aligning with Letchworth’s beliefs could be created.

This study investigated the effect of geographic location on Severe Early Childhood Caries (S-ECC) in Native American Children three years of age from a Norther Plains Tribal Community. Geographic location of study participants was ascertained by postal district and categorized into geographic regions as well as dental clinic accessibility, defined as dental services present or absent in that district. The association of location category and dental caries (dmfs) was evaluated cross-sectionally at 36 months of age. Descriptive statistics demonstrated differences in dental caries distribution by geographic region and accessibility category. Bivariate analysis of disease by location showed a significant difference in dmfs between 4 geographic regions (p=0.0159) but not between accessibility categories (p=0.0687). Multivariable regression modeling for geographic region demonstrated the unique effect of geographic region on dental caries experience as well as five other key risk factors. Incident Rate Ratios (IRR) were computed for each of the risk factors, including number of erupted teeth (IRR=1.89, p=0.0147), fluoride exposure from tap water (IRR=1.70, p=0.0173), annual family income (IRR=1.58, p=0.0392), maternal DMFS (IRR=1.02, p=0.0040), and Mean Adequacy Ratio (IRR=1.05, p=0.1042). This study demonstrated statistically significant variation in cumulative dental caries experience of Native American children aged 36 months among geographic regions and identified the specific unites of association through multivariate modeling. These findings can be used for local dental caries prevention programs and contribute to a broader understanding of S-ECC among very young Native American children.

Arikara people had been adapting their tribal structures to European influences since Europeans first arrived on the northern Plains in the early seventeenth century. Their sedentary lifestyle, focused on agriculture and hunting, increasingly included trade with French, British, and American trappers by the seventeenth century. The goods procured from European traders, such as firearms and other metallurgical works, began to upset the balance of geopolitical power on the Plains, setting the stage for the violence and political realignments at the center of this thesis. As my research reveals, by the time of the Lewis and Clark expedition, tensions between the frontiersmen and the Indigenous people across the northern Plains reached new heights. As Arikara oral histories, United States diplomatic records, ethnological sources – such as travel writings – and correspondence from frontier settlers and soldiers reveal, the Arikara tribe struggled to innovate and reshape their societies in the face of colonial expansionism and hostilities with other Indigenous polities.