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Tribal Recognition |
| After years of oblivion Indian Nations are again finding
recognition. Cora Tula Watters, chief of Shawnee Nation explains her
people's effort. "Basically, we are looking for dignity." There are presently 562 recognized Tribes with 1.6 million membership. 220 other Tribes are seeking recognition. For the first time the Tribes are becoming independent and fiscally sound. "Tribes involved in the acknowledgement process are essentially demanding the opportunity to revise the distribution of political authority and power; their challenge inevitably requires a reconsideration and revision of tribalism and indigeneity in the contemporary era. This challenge is rendered more severe by legal concepts entrenched in federal Indian law which treats tribes as "wards" of the federal government and by enduring social perspectives which view Indians as a powerless, vanquished people......" From: "The Houma of Louisiana". (European Review of Native American Studies.) |