The General Allotment Act of 1887 was a two-pronged policy aimed at assimilating American Indians into the dominant Euro-American society by allotting individual plots of land to Indians, thereby creating surplus lands which would then be opened up for non-Indian settlement. The process of allotment officially ended in 1934 with the passage of the Indian Reorganization Act, however, it was used again in the late-1900s to gain an individual trust allotment. Ann-Marie Sayers, a Mutsun Band Costanoan Indian, used the General Allotment Act of 1887 to gain her allotment in 1988. Ms. Sayers appropriated this assimilationist act to promote cultural survival. That is, the General Allotment Act was used to obtain an individual trust allotment, but assimilation was not the outcome. Rather in this case, the outcome was the maintenance and promotion of cultural survival.

When contemporary Native American education in the United States with its historical legacy of ideological management and vocational training, is grafted upon the broader context of modern public education, an ominous threat appears for indigenous communities. What happens to the nature of public education when two principal homogenizing forces--the corporation and the public school--become partners, involving business and industry directly in the education of native youth? This thesis examines the history and philosophy behind the corporate presence in United States public education, the nature and extent of contemporary corporate sponsorship in mainstream education, and the implications of such sponsorship for Navajo students in one public school district in northern New Mexico. The research presented finds that the various forms and objectives of corporate-sponsored education, invariably carrying latent marketing agendas, homogenizing forces, and consumerist values, constitute another potential instrument of assimilation of indigenous students.

The United States Government has allegedly mismanaged Individual Indian Money and Tribal Trust Fund accounts since their creation over 150 years ago. Despite what appears to be a well-documented and incontrovertible body of evidence: extensive governmental and private sector audits, as well as congressional and executive level reports and hearings confirming chronic mismanagement, the BIA continues to lose, misplace, and often fails to collect millions in royalty payments belonging to Indian people without an equitable solution. Consequently, this thesis examines the most recent reform effort, the 1994 American Indian Trust Fund Mismanagement Reform Act offered by the 103rd Congress, the Strategic Plan created by the Office of Special Trustee, and finally, federal and tribal responses to the proposed Strategic Plan. The impact of these varied responses has elucidated several hindrances to effective reform, thus generating key questions which necessitate closer examination in order to advance effective reform.

<p> In the United States, the history of racism and racial oppression is often unexamined within environmental and preservationist movements. Wilderness preservation and access to nature has been used as a method of reinforcing racial hierarchy and promoting and advancing White agendas. Environmental heroes like John Muir promoted racist viewpoints toward others through a vision of wilderness that was exclusive and inaccessible. National Parks and other wilderness areas displaced the original inhabitants of the land now are representative of nature as a place of exclusion. In order to have success with their environmental goals, White environmentalists need to recognize and account for the racism, imperialism, and nationalism, both intentional and unintentional, that has harmed their movement.</p>

The fundamental questions this study raised are whether variations in access to service delivery systems persist among Medicaid beneficiaries, and whether they contribute to inequitable medical care utilization. Theoretically, from a structural perspective, examining factors relevant to access to health care, this research attempts to demonstrate that equity in access to care can only be built on equity in access to service delivery systems and, moreover, to socioeconomic resources at the community level. / The study population is Persons With AIDS (PWAs) under the coverage of Florida Medicaid. Variations in their access to the home and community-based services (HCBS) program by gender and race, and its subsequent impact on medical care utilization are examined. / This study found that differentials in access to the HCBS program among the Medicaid recipients by gender, race, and socioeconomic conditions of PWAs' county of residence exist in Florida Medicaid; and gender, race, and the PAC program participation are significant factors influencing utilization of inpatient hospital and intensity of physician care for certain HIV/AIDS-related infections. It is the conclusion of this study that inequity in medical care stems from inequity in access to service delivery systems. A defacto separate health care system for women, blacks, or poor communities is very likely to result in unequal health care for these groups. / Theoretically this study highlights the complex relationship among gender, race, and health care in a society where economic means and health care facilities are unequally distributed. Universal coverage of health care services for all must be accompanied by changes in the organization of the health care delivery system and in the socioeconomic conditions of the low-income communities. Otherwise, the coverage will not only add more to the already spiraling health care cost, but also prove ineffective in providing health care to large segments of the most needy population. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 55-08, Section: A, page: 2584. / Major Professor: Isaac W. Eberstein. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1994.

This dissertation examines the association between race and infant mortality in the United States in the most comprehensive manner to date. Beginning with a sociological conceptualization of race, a framework is developed which delineates six sets of individual-level factors thought to be instrumental in the continuing association between race and infant mortality. The specific objectives of the project are to test the ability of the framework to explain differential mortality across racial groups and to understand the effects of each set of factors on infant mortality by group. / The 1988 National Maternal and Infant Health Survey (NMIHS) is used for the analysis. The NMIHS is the most comprehensive data set ever collected to study poor pregnancy outcome in the United States. Multinomial logit regression procedures are used to most appropriately model the effects of race and other independent variables on cause-specific infant mortality. / Descriptive findings illustrate that the racial gap in infant mortality is nearly identical for endogenous and exogenous causes of death, with the overall rate of infant mortality among African-Americans about 2.2 times higher than non-Hispanic Whites. The regression analysis confirms that the racial distribution of socioeconomic, demographic, health care, maternal health, and infant health factors are all instrumental in understanding the excess mortality experienced by African-Americans. The behavioral factors examined here do not account for any of the excess mortality among African-Americans. Separate analysis by group suggests that several of the variables work in unique ways to affect infant mortality by group. Theoretical and empirical contributions of the study are highlighted. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 54-02, Section: A, page: 0691. / Major Professor: Isaac W. Eberstein. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1993.

The present study examined African-American male college student's cultural/racial identity and commitment relating to their perceptions of a therapist's credibility and utility. / The research design consisted of three independent variables: (1) Level of cultural/racial identity; (2) Therapist Race (Black and White); and (3) Treatment Approach. / The dependent measure was the Counselor Effective Rating Scale, a 10 item, likert type instrument measuring perceived therapist's credibility and utility. After view a videotape of a "mock" therapy session, it was predicted that participants displaying a high level of cultural/racial identity and commitment would rate the Black and White non-traditional (culture-specific) therapists as more credible than the Black and White traditional (cognitive behavioral) therapists--a partially supported prediction. A non-supported prediction was that participants would be more willing to see a non-traditional versus a traditional therapist. / Regarding credibility, the Black non-traditional therapist was rated the most credible--rather than the White, as predicted. The White traditional therapist was rated as the second most credible, Black traditional therapist third, and the White non-traditional the least. / Regarding utility, the participants reported willingness to see the White traditional therapist, rather than Black, and the White non-traditional White therapist, rather than Black therapist--findings which were not in the predicted directions. Plausible explanations are: group differences in cultural/racial identity, background factors; and expectancy effects. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 53-12, Section: B, page: 6560. / Major Professor: Charles H. Madsen, Jr. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1992.

This study was an attempt to contribute to a better understanding of elderly Chinese immigrants' information needs, their implications for improved information services, and for the purpose of collecting baseline data about elderly Chinese immigrants' information seeking behavior. The study was exploratory and descriptive. / The subjects for this study consisted of 180 foreign-born Chinese immigrants, aged 60 or over, living in Los Angeles Chinatown, Monterey Park and some cities in the San Gabriel Valley. Data was collected by means of personal interviews in order to answer the research questions. Data were tabulated by frequency and percentage distribution and tested with Chi-square at the.05 level to identify the association that may exist between dependent and independent variables. Discriminant analyses were used to compare the ability of the combined variables to distinguish between users and non-users of specific types of information sources. / The findings reveal that the information needs of elderly Chinese immigrants were diverse. News and information about health issues, hobbies or interests, cultural or religious activities were the most often identified information needs. The most frequently used information sources were newspapers, television, and family/friends. Newspapers, family/friends, and social workers were the most helpful sources of information identified by elderly Chinese immigrants. / The information needs and information seeking behavior of the sample population as related to age, gender, educational level, language abilities, living arrangements, residential area, length of residence in L.A. and frequency of library use are also analyzed. Implications for information services and recommendations for future study are discussed. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 54-10, Section: A, page: 3624. / Major Professor: Charles Conaway. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1993.

The first purpose of the present study was to investigate differences between Asian-American and Caucasian mothers' psychological adaptation to having a child with developmental disabilities. A number of variables (initial stress, social support, coping strategies, value orientation, time since diagnosis of the child's disability, and socioeconomic status) thought to contribute to the adaptation were taken into account. The second purpose was to assess the relative contribution of each of the variables to maternal adaptation in each ethnic group. Finally, the unique effect of value orientation as a predictor of maternal adaptation was examined. / The subjects consisted of 37 Asian-American and 51 Caucasian mothers of children with developmental disabilities. They completed several self-report measures that were used to assess the variables of interests. / The results indicated that the Asian-American mothers of children with developmental disabilities were less well-adapted; experienced higher initial stress; received less support from persons outside the family; were more likely to accept the problem of having a child with developmental disabilities as a fact of life; and were less likely to express their emotions as a way of coping with the problem. The results further indicated that different variables were predictive of adaptation in the two ethnic groups. For the Asian-American mothers, value orientation, initial stress, and acceptance coping were the three predictors of maternal adaptation; for the Caucasian mothers, social support, value orientation, socioeconomic status, and distraction coping were the four predictors of adaptation. Finally, value orientation, a neglected element in the prevailing adaptation paradigm, turned out to contribute substantially to maternal adaptation even after several other variables that had previously been found to be more important in determining adaptation were statistically controlled. Implications of the findings for future research and social work interventions are discussed. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 54-11, Section: A, page: 4261. / Major Professor: Stanley Witkin. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1993.

Determining how prospective and enrolled students perceive an institution can be of significant importance for institutions of higher education, especially if enrollments are low or if efforts are being made to recruit specific groups of students. In recent years, Florida State University (FSU) has had a relatively higher percentage than other Florida public universities of first-time-in-college (FTIC) Hispanic students who were admitted but failed to enroll. The number of Hispanic transfer nonmatriculants also increased between 1985-87. / This study investigated the perceived factors that influenced enrollment decisions of Hispanic students at FSU. A comparison was made between enrollment factors identified by Hispanic student nonenrollees with enrollment factors identified by enrollees. Both FTIC and transfer students from Florida's public community colleges were included in the sample which covered academic years 1987-88 and 1988-89. Data were collected through a self-administered questionnaire and telephone interviews. The response rate was 45 percent for nonenrollees and 68 percent for enrollees. / Results of the survey showed that the most important factors influencing Hispanic students not to enroll at FSU were that FSU was not their first choice, that financial assistance was not received,and that students could not afford to attend. For enrollees, the most important factors were that they had received prompt information about FSU's programs, that FSU fulfilled the students' preference for a large institution, and that they had been accepted to the program of their choice. Data from open-ended questions in the survey and interviews provided additional information about students' perceptions of the university, in areas of recruitment practices, role models, campus environment, and others. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 51-03, Section: A, page: 0758. / Major Professor: Louis W. Bender. / Thesis (Ed.D.)--The Florida State University, 1990.