American Indian Sovereignty

3 units

The concept of sovereignty is what distinguisher American Indians from all other socalled minority groups in the U.S. American indian definitions of sovereignty include a spiritual, political and ethinic basis. Through three contemporary case studies, we will study the ways in which American Indian activism stresses each of these three perspectives. The dominant non-Native definition is bsed on the ligal relationships established by non-Native governments. This perspective will be examined through an overview of policies enacted by non-Indians to legislate various aspects of Indian existence, from the Papal Bull of 1493 to the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act of 1990. We will also study the responses and reactions of American Indians to those policies. The course will conclude with a discussion of the role of American Indian sovereignty today.