Abstract
This paper explores and details North American Indian life and culture as portrayed in Donald Hughes' book "North American Indian Ecology." This paper discusses the land issues facing the North American Indian tribes including overgrazing, erosion and assessments of appropriate land usage. The writer of this paper finds Hughes' book to be straightforward and concise in clarifying the characteristics of Indian life such as hunting, food growing and rituals.

From the Paper
"Tribes are having to mediate the disparate demands of their members and the industrial mindset of the BIA to balance forest use for economic need and preservation for cultural need. Tribes face many of the same problems as non-Native communities held hostage by the timber industry. Replanting has not always kept pace with harvesting on public or trust lands. The push to harvest old-growth timber is constrained by federal mandates to protect endangered species habitats, putting people out of work. Few local communities gain the "value-added" benefits of processing their own timber especially jobs and new businesses and when they do the environmental impact of mill sites has to be factored into any cost-benefit analysis."

Tags:ecology, land, environment, law, native, american, indian, oil, culture

Abstract
This paper studies the statistically high rate of suicide among American Indian youth, focusing on the impact of acculturation. The paper begins with a brief discussion of the suicide statistics and their distribution among particular tribes. Then the paper takes a critical look at the historical phenomenon of acculturation. Among the effects of acculturation examined are geographic isolation and confinement to the reservation, which led to the disorganization of traditional family structures. The paper then explores how these impacted the negative self-image of youth, and in particular male youth, which is a major contributor to suicide.

From the Paper
"In a white man's society the American Indian held little status. While there was slavery, black man may have been deprived of his body and labor and kept from being a part of white society; the American Indian was robbed of his land and forced to acculturate. The American Indians were not free to practice their religion in a land that proclaimed religious freedom. When the census was taken, a black man was counted as half a person; an American Indian was not even considered a human being. This only changed when the white man wanted to buy land; legally an American Indian had to be a human being to sell it (Allen 1973)."

Tags:Native, American, tribe, reservation, acculturation, white, man, self-image

Abstract
This paper explains that today the American Indian tribes are believed to have sovereign powers, which can be characterized as independent from both the federal and state governments. Therefore, they are considered to be a nation within a nation under the current American legal system. The writer points out that there are, however, limitations to the tribes' jurisdiction. The paper concludes that, as evidenced by the stand off at Wounded Knee and numerous other historical events, it is clear that Native-American Indians desire real authority over their own relations amongst themselves and perceive themselves as degraded by the lack of full sovereignty.

Table of Contents:
Introduction
The Challenges of Native American Sovereignty
Wounded Knee
Conclusion: The Future of Native American Sovereignty

From the Paper
"In the end, the events at Wounded Knee were exceedingly far more traumatic for Native American Indians in this country than it was for the white American population. The Wounded Knee incident was a direct result of the near-century long inability for Native Americans to come to an agreement with the majority population on the issue of sovereignty within their lands. The form of tribal government that had been granted to the Natives was thus not efficient in solving problems on reservations."

Tags:self-determination intervention jurisdiction globalization, red power

Abstract
This paper provides three essays that answers questions related to American-Indian culture as illustrated in three works: Sherman Alexie's "The Business of Fancydancing;" Jaime de Angulo's "Indian Tales;" and Tony Hillerman's "People of Darkness."

From the Paper
""Indian Tales", "People of Darkness" and the poems and stories in "The Business of Fancydancing" provide us with fiction focusing on American Indians and their way of life. In doing so, they open the world of the American Indian to us in a much more engaging way than scholarly and factual articles on Indian culture. Though such articles often provide factual information on American Indian culture in fiction like these three books, we are able to become more enmeshed in the American Indian way of thinking..."

Tags:Navajo, Coeur D'Alene, reservations, alcoholism, culture, magical realism, mysticism, nature, religion

Abstract
The paper explores how many programs and government agencies have attempted to address this dilemma of juvenile delinquency. The paper relates that on United States Indian reservations, the current approach to juvenile delinquency includes prevention, intervention and graduated sanctions. The paper offers reasons for the prevalence of this juvenile delinquency and reveals that although the crimes involving delinquent acts by juveniles on American Indian reservations are increasing, the causes are similar to the causes of delinquency of the general population.

Outline:
Brief Background of Juvenile Delinquency
Reasons for the Prevalence of Juvenile Delinquency on Reservations
Conclusion

From the Paper
"In the past few decades, juvenile delinquency has emerged as a significant criminal and sociological issue, raising concern among parents, educators, policy-makers and government officials alike. Juvenile delinquency has become a major crime issue on United States American Indian reservations; the public has been overwhelmed with stories from the media, providing graphic evidence of a crime wave generated by American Indian youth living on reservations. According to the Bureau of Prisons, the number of Indian youth in custody has increased by nearly 300% since 1994 (Johnson, 2004). Additionally, statistical data indicates that the arrest rate for Native American youth is about twice that of the overall youth population statewide in North Dakota (Martin, 2002)."

Tags:crime, gangs, demographics, adolescent, Navajo, tribe

Abstract
This paper will discuss how Louis Owens, in his essay "The American Indian Wilderness", evokes the usage of the essay format to describe the ways of the Native Americans in their habitats and the natural environment that they survived in. By revealing a thesis of Native Americans being here first, he states a thesis that can be readily agreed with. We can see how Owens argues for their ownership of the land before the great Manifest Destiny that eventually wiped them out.

Abstract
This paper explains that the "Friends of the American Indians" believed that education was the only answer to the "Indian problem" to assimilate Native Americans into Euro-American society. The author points out that, whereas, the mission schools were traditionally located on the reservations, the "retraining" process meant that the government-influenced boarding schools were located off of the reservations, usually many miles away from families, so that many children were not able to see their families for years at a time. The paper relates that, although the tribal traditionalists strongly were opposed to families sending their children to distant schools to learn the "white man's" ways, grinding poverty and the overwhelming hopelessness of reservation life caused many Indian parents to consider the possibility of sending their children to find a more prosperous life.

From the Paper
"Many times the child was not told ahead of time that they would be leaving home to attend the boarding school. This resulted in a child resisting or fleeing home and hiding in the woods or with sympathetic relatives. The child might also runaway upon reaching the boarding school. One student's account is recorded at the Clark Historical Library (1999). He remembered that on the day that he left, his mother pack his lunch, simply handed it to him, and sent him off to a day school he was attending. When he arrived at the school, he was then told that he was to leave immediately. He and several other children were told to get into a truck prepared with a wire cage. The cage was to keep them from fleeing, and they were then driven to the nearest railroad station."

Tags:punishment, retraining, assimilate, families, hopelessness

Abstract
This paper discusses the original uniqueness of Native American Indian identities in terms of their nations, tribes, and culture as expressed through gender, language, and literature and the scientific image of the Indian.

From the Paper
"The cultural, tribal and national identities of Native American Indians are marked by uniqueness that is defined in part by language, literature and gender. The scientific image discussed by Berkhofer was developed by Euro-Americans in their representations of Indians but also figured into tribal and national identities impacting Indians at a conceptual level. While Native American Indian nations and tribes originally had distinctly different cultures that shared neither a universal language nor a known historical experience and consisted of hundreds of aboriginal..."

Tags:uniqueness, Native American, Indian, tribe, nation, gender, language, literature, culture, scientific image

Abstract
This paper is a review of peer-reviewed literature to determine current incidence and subsequent risk factors for health-related problems among Native-Americans today. The author concludes that, because Native-Americans remain at a higher risk of HIV, alcoholism and suicide than their white counterparts with incidences even higher than for many other American minority groups, there is a growing consensus among healthcare experts and lawmakers at all levels that something must be done to correct this situation.

Table of Contents:
Review and Discussion
Background and Overview
Cultural Issues Affecting Native-American Healthcare
Conclusion

From the Paper
"Even those Native-Americans fortunate enough to have healthcare providers from their own tribes who are familiar with these cultural perspectives are faced with some issues that are unique to their heritage and culture. For example, in some cases, healthcare providers have been fired from their positions with the state for participating in religious rituals involving the use of peyote and have even been denied unemployment benefits as well. According to Kellhofer (2001), in one case that went to the Supreme Court (Employment Division vs. Smith, 494 U.S. 872, 1990), dealt with the use of peyote."

Tags:rural inferior, medical services, lawmakers funding

Abstract
The paper discusses how understanding the meaning of water for Westerners compared to Native Americans is important in realizing the problems with the Central Arizona Project (CAP). The paper explains how the definition of water has affected both Westerners and Native Americans as each seek the right to own water from the California River.

From the Paper
""Water means power in the West, not life" (Story). The facts are that western people have different definitions for water than Native Americans. Understanding the meaning of water for Westerners compared to Native Americans is important in realizing the problems with the Central Arizona Project (CAP). The definition of water has affected both Westerners and Native Americans as each seek the right to own water from the California River. Most people know and understand how citizens of the United States have taken land while pushing the Native Americans farther into the western..."

Tags:water, arizona, native americans