Indigenous People and Regional Development

Abstract

Indigenous peoples around the world face tremendous challenges from globalization as they struggle to maintain the unique cultures, structures of governance, and identities within their specific tribal contexts of meaning. For the Indigenous peoples of the United States, sovereign tribal governments have been the mechanism for new directions for American Indian reservations. Access to their own revenues from tribal casinos has led to successful businesses, governments, and a resurgence through investment in Indigenous knowledge and language, wellness, and sustainable reservation economies. American Indian tribes remain, and now seek to escape dependence on the federal government to achieve seven‐generation (150‐year) plans and strategies for their own people for successful regional development. This entry focuses on regional development in terms of American Indian success in tribal governance, economic and regional development, and reinvestment in land, resources, cultural knowledge, and wellness.