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 examines the societal structures of the various Native American tribes as seen in the book, "Myths That Hide The American Indian" by Oliver La Farge. It describes the tremendous contributions of numerous Native American tribes in art, poetry, governmental structure and customs. The paper explores the European settlers' impact on the Native American people.

From the Paper
"An aspect of the essay that I found very interesting was the societal structures of the various Tribes. The tribes of the Southeast Mississippi Valley region were among the most advanced tribes in North America; in particular the Natchez tribe which had an elaborate social system. The social system of this tribe was divided into two groups; the aristocracy referred to as Suns and the common people called Stinkers. Within this system the common people could wed whomever they wanted but the aristocracy could only marry outside of their social group and the offspring would become a part of the aristocracy. This social system, as elaborate as it was, did create a problem because it decreased greatly the number of Stinkers within the tribe. To combat this the Natchez tribe would capture, torture, and enslave foreigners and if they survived they would become Stinkers in doing this they were able to perpetuate this social system."

Tags:natchez, pueblos, social, system, north, america, aristocracy, tribe

From the Paper
"This study will compare and contrast British-Indian relations with Spanish-Indian relations from pre-contact to 1830. The study will focus on North American Indians, and will concentrate specifically on the question of how Indians resisted or accepted the authority which the British and/or the Spanish attempted to impose upon them. The thesis of the study will be the argument that the differences between the way the English and Spanish treated the Indians were not nearly as numerous as the similarities, and that the basis of these similarities was the exploitation of the Indians by both European nationalities. The Indians did not respond in significantly different ways to either group, and in the great majority of the encounters between the Indians and the Europeans the Indians were ultimately forced to submit to the stronger force of the Europeans."

Abstract
This paper examines how studies have shown how Native American and Alaska Native children have twice the rate of death caused by injuries or violence as do other children in the United States. It looks at how more Native American and Alaska Native children are hospitalized for bronchial infection than any other group, how the diabetes rate among these adults and children is double that of the rest of the country, and how cancer rates among those in some regions are also significantly higher. It discusses the importance for Native Americans to be informed and educated on these issues so that they may better understand how these disease processes may alter or impact their lives and how it is also important that policy makers and elected officials understand the unique concerns of the Native American populations of the U.S. and address those problems with adequate financial, material, and human resources.

From the Paper
"There are persistent racial and ethnic disparities in infant mortality rates in the United States. Despite much speculation, no evidence suggests that social, economic, or racial/ethnic disparities in the risk of death in infancy are caused by genetic differences. Any discussion of racial and ethnic differences in birth outcomes needs to acknowledge the limited extent to which social and economic variables - including racial discrimination - can be distinguished from crude proxies for biologically determined pathologic pathways (Krieger et al 1993, Herman 1996). The racial and ethnic categorizations used in most research on infant mortality in the United States should be seen as "proxies for specific historical experiences and a powerful marker for current social and economic conditions"."

Tags:cancer, diabetes, children, genetics

From the Paper
" From the Micmac in the Northeast to the Hopi in the Southwest, from the Chinook in the Northwest to the Seminole in the Southeast, the North American continent was filled with Indian tribes when white men first set foot on the shores that would become the United States. For the most part the new white settlers found the Indians to be friendly and willing to trade with them and allow them to share their lands. This friendship would not continue, however, as the white populations grew and exploited the Indian. Much of North America was rich in natural resources which the white men wanted. They also wanted the lands that would provide homes and farms for the constant flow of immigrants that were to arrive.
For the most part the United States government and wealthy easterners were responsible for the Indians losing their land."

Tags:AMERICAN INDIAN STUDIES, HISTORY: U.S. (After 1865)

Abstract
This paper addresses the changes in American Indian warfare during the period of western settlement in the 19th century. It gives a summary of Plains Indian culture and reasons for conflict, and details conflicts between settlers and American Indian tribes. The paper's thesis, borne out in historical research, is that the introduction of horses and firearms made conflicts between US relocation forces and unwilling Indian tribesmen bloodier than necessary on both sides. The author does not take sides on the Native American sovereignty issue.

Tags:NATIVE-AMERICAN STUDIES, plains indians warfare

From the Paper
"On November 6th 2000, President Clinton signed into effect an Executive Order meant "to establish regular and meaningful consultation and collaboration with tribal officials in the development of Federal policies that have tribal implications."

"Once again," said Interior Assistant Secretary " Indian Affairs Kevin Gover, " President Clinton has demonstrated his administration's commitment to the government-to-government relationship between the Federal government and the Tribes. With this order, the Tribes' right to self-government and self-determination ..."

Tags:government, agencies

Abstract
In this paper, the writer discusses that according to Calvin Martin's text 'The American Indian and the Problem of History', Native-American thought has always conceptualized human life in an integrated, biological and environmental fashion. This is a sentiment also echoed by Native author Donald Lee Fixico. The writer discusses that for Martin and Fixico this means that rather than creating a fissure or fundamental intellectual divide between the individual and the environment, like much of Western philosophy, or the non-human and the human, Native-Americans see the two as fundamentally coexisting. The writer shows that in Theda Purdue's text on Mixed Blood Indians, the tendency of the West to seek to define some entity as 'other' is not seen merely in terms of the human animal's relationship to the environment, but in terms of the categorization of the races that existed in the South.

From the Paper
"According to Purdue, in the South, whites were seen as the more evolved `species' of human. Blacks were deemed inferior and more animalistic, as `others,' as were Native Americans. The mixed blood Native Americans of Purdue's thus had a strange, liminal status - neither as low as blacks, or even so-called mulatto blacks, but not fully integrated by any means into white society. Mixed breeds were often conceptualized as `closer' to whites than `full-blooded' natives, particularly if they were the children of men who had `gone native,' men who had children with native women because of kinship ceremonies they had established with the tribe. On the perceived Western continuum of humanness, thus natives or `natural men' were seen as closer to whites than some other groups, but European acculturization and blood ties were seen to make half-breeds more civilized. In contrast, native tribes did not view race primarily in terms of blood, even though they had occasionally, haphazardly internalized some racial norms of white society."

Tags:kinship, blacks, tribes, race

Abstract
This paper discusses the highly evolved and advanced sense of community and geomancy of Indian religious beliefs. According to this paper, it was vastly superior to the immoral and racially purist Christian doctrine of the Europeans. The sense of sharing the Earth in Native American custom provided a far more metaphysical way of cooperating with Nature, rather than seeking to dominate it. The Europeans mistakenly saw their technological advancement, and even philosophical advancement, as a way to impose a reckless destruction of Indians in North America.

From the Paper
"The aim of this historical and cultural study will be to examine the cultural and religious development of Native North American tribes that existed before the coming of European colonials. The cultural evolution of North American tribes was not primitive or `barbaric' by any means, but the technological advancements of the Europeans had allowed for greater dominance of Indian culture after Europeans landed on the east coast of what is know North America. However, the cultural superiority of the Indians was highly evolved through religious practice and the naturalistic values they possessed in community cooperation and respect for nature. In essence, the livelihood, religion, and customs were far more tolerant and spiritual in regards to community and spiritual life than the Europeans."

Tags:american, indians, england

Abstract
This paper delves into Native American history through the work of John Westly Powell, the Head of the Smithsonian's Bureau of Ethnology, to better understand how the current classification of Native American Tribes into cultural families evolved. Ethnology is defined in the paper as one of the four subdivisions of anthropology, which embraces the study of cultures in their traditional forms, as well as their adaptations to changing conditions in the contemporary world. The paper discusses Powell's belief that "race" evolved as a worldview, a collage of prejudgments that distort a person's perceptions about human differences, and group behavior. The researcher asserts that the work of John Wesley Powell, who, contrary to some citizens of the West, saw the Native Americans not as savages, but as people, should be heeded and taken to heart today. This paper contains illustrative photos and figures.

Outline:
Introduction
Native American Considerations
Ethnology Defined
John Wesley Powell
Life Synopsis
Native American Race
The Bureau of American Ethnology
Major Powell and Lewis Henry Morgan
Influence of Morgan's Book
Mutual Nurtured Interests
The Interior Department's Instructions
Conviction to Capture Changes
The Theory of Cultural Evolution
Stevenson's Quest towards a Holistic Positivism
Controversy over Builders of Mounds
Cyrus Thomas and Powell's Perceptions
Monk's Mound at Cahokia, Illinois
Poverty Point, Louisiana
The Moundville Site
Works Cited

From the Paper
" Whitney asserted that rather than stigmatizing the Indians, those who considered themselves civilized should learn everything they could from the Indians. Whitney's words "foreshadowed the theoretical perspective that Powell would pursue later by means of the method of testing mutual intelligibility statements with lexical data". To better understand how the current classification of Native American Tribes into cultural families evolved, this paper explores John Wesley Powell's work as the Head of the Smithsonian's Bureau of Ethnology.
"Prior to the establishment of the Bureau of American Ethnology (BAE), Secretary Joseph Henry, from the start of his tenure, encouraged/supported systematic efforts by the Smithsonian Institution to develop a linguistic classification. For Henry, language merited a vital status in constructing human history. Along with Henry R. Schoolcraft, who in 1855 wrote "A letter on the affinities of dialects in New Mexico" (In Vol. 5 of Information respecting the history, condition, and prospects of the Indian tribes of the United States), Henry perceived comparative philology to be the key to unravel the origins of native groups. Languages, according to Henry's understanding, evolved from instinctive, mental, physical, and environmental factors, and consequently were able to proffer clues to universal, as well as these groups' particular characteristics."

Tags:Moundville, Indian, tribal