Indigenous Governance Database
Cultural Affairs
Supplemental Recommendations of Tribal Leaders on the President's State, Local, and Tribal Leaders Task Force on Climate Preparedness and Resilience
Tribes and Alaska Native Villages feel the effects of a changing climate in ways that are unique to their ways of life, geography, and relationships with the Federal Government. According to the National Climate Assessment, “the consequences of observed and projected climate change impacts have and…
Food Sovereignty Assessment Tool
There are many assets related to Native food systems. Increased consumption of healthy and traditional foods may lead to better health among community members, preserving one of the most important assets in any community, its people. Of course, healthy, productive people are a cornerstone of any…
Pulya-ranyi: Winds of Change
Milpirri is a Warlpiri way to get country to express itself. Country is expressing itself all the time. All around Australia, Indigenous people, culture and art express (in various forms) what animals, plants and the elements, including weather and the seasons themselves—look like and speak like…
Guatemala’s Indigenous Women in Resistance: On the Frontline of the Community’s Struggle to Defend Mother Earth and her Natural Assets
The objective of this study is to examine the social process at work in the defense of natural resources from the perspective of the indigenous women involved in it. Given the country’s broad cultural diversity and the time limits for completing this report, we assumed right from the start that it…
Culture and Law: Preliminary Findings in a Review of 100+ Tribal Welfare Codes
Over the last 35 years numerous tribes have created their own child welfare standards. By crafting child welfare codes that balance traditional culture and contemporary needs, tribes both protect member children (and their families) in culturally appropriate ways and reaffirm their sovereign…
Sustaining Indigenous Culture: The Structure, Activities, and Needs of Tribal Archives, Libraries, and Museums
Sovereignty, self-determination, and self-governance are primary goals of Indigenous nations worldwide and they take important steps toward those goals by renewing control over their stories, documents, and artifacts. To better support it, a core team of Native professionals formed the…
The Standing Rock Next Generation Plan
The Standing Rock Government is engaging in strategic planning. The Standing Rock strategic/government planning model differs from traditional planning models in that it defines 25 years as long term goals, 10 and 5 years as mid-term goals and takes into account the unique dynamics of the…
Traditional Governance and Adapted Forms of Government
In the early 19th century, British and Canadian governments began interfering directly with the autonomy and sovereignty of Indigenous nations. They forcefully disposed of traditional governments and replaced them with a system of indirect rule effected through newly created offices of Chief and…
The Gitanyow Ayookxw: The Constitution of the Gitanyow Nation
WE are the Gitanyow peoples. We have a long-standing and rich oral tradition which speaks to all aspects of our lives. This written Constitution must be interpreted and understood in the context of our oral history and oral traditions... THEREFORE, by virtue of our inherent right to…
Traditional Foods in Native America
Commissioned by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Native Diabetes Wellness Program (NDWP), this report highlights traditional foods programs in six culturally and geographically diverse American Indian and Alaska Native communities. For decades, American Indian and Alaska…
Diné Food Sovereignty: A Report on the Navajo Nation Food System and the Case to Rebuild a Self Sufficient Food System for the Diné People
In the most basic analysis, food is an essential component of human life. Food nourishes and sustains us; without adequate access to food, human beings cannot survive. As a basic necessity for life, food is interconnected with every sector of life and wellbeing including health (physical, mental,…
Valuing Tradition: Governance, Cultural Match, and the BC Treaty Process
Self-governance negotiations are an integral part of British Columbia's modern day treaty process. At some treaty tables, impasses have resulted from differences on how to include traditional First Nations governance within treaty. Although some First Nations are determined to pursue traditional…
Peacemaking Program of the Judicial Branch of the Navajo Nation
The concept of peacemaking or hózh̨óji naat’aah goes back to the beginning of time and is embedded in the journey narrative. In fact, according to the journey narrative, the Holy People journeyed through four worlds. In the course of their journey, they came upon many problems, which were either…
The Dynamics of Navajo Peacemaking
This article explains the traditional Navajo justice process using social psychology and Navajo discourse. It identifies the nayee or monster (things that get in the way of a successful life) in disputes in light of cognitive dissonance or the state of tension when a person holds two inconsistent…
Courts & Peacemaking in the Navajo Nation: A Public Guide
The history of our judiciary begins in our ancient history. According to the Journey Narrative, the People journeyed through four worlds and, in the course of their journey, came upon many problems both natural and caused by the People, which had to be resolved before the journey…
Muscogee Constitutional Jurisprudence: Vhakv Em Pvtakv (The Carpet Under The Law)
In 1974, a group of Mvskoke citizens from Oklahoma sued the federal government in federal court. Hanging in the balance was the future of Mvskoke self-determination. The plaintiffs insisted that their 1867 Constitution remained in full effect, and that they still governed themselves pursuant to it…
Indigenous Traditional Ecological Knowledge in Agroforestry
Communities around the world have practiced diverse and evolving forms of agroforestry for centuries. While both Indigenous and non-Indigenous practitioners have developed agroforestry practices of great value, in this publication, we focus on the role of Indigenous, traditional ecological…
Tribal Nations and the United States: An Introduction
Tens of millions of Indigenous peoples inhabited North America, and governed their complex societies, long before European governments sent explorers to seize lands and resources from the continent and its inhabitants. These foreign European governments interacted with tribes in diplomacy, commerce…
Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe: Climate Change and Adaptation Planning for Haudenosaunee Tribes
Tribes are beginning to identify potential climate change impacts on their cultural and environmental resources and to develop climate change adaptation plans. The Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe, located in New York and Canada, is in the early stages of adaptation planning. The Tribe is bringing together…
Climate Change Vulnerability Assessment and Adaptation Plan
Jamestown S'Klallam Tribal Citizens and their descendants reside in a landscape that has sustained them for thousands of years, the Olympic Peninusula of Washington State. Particularly over the last two centuries, the Jamestown S'Klallam people have successfully navigated a variety of soceital…