Indian Tribal Groups Research Articles

Women and Men, Not-Men and Not-Women, Lesbians and Gays

American Indian tribal groups have a variety of customs unfamiliar to us. One particular occurrence is alternative gender styles for females and males. Gender has always been viewed as a spiritual calling and not determined by a person's anatomy. Some American Indians are spiritually directed to live as Not-Men and Not-Women. These individuals lead lives unlike other women and men. Androgyny is an inadequate way to describe this occurrence. Explored in this article are the following issues: Who are these Not-Men and Not-Women? How were they viewed by the colonists? How are these alternative gender styles related to today's lesbian or gay American Indians?

Political Revitalization in Canadian Native Indian Societies

AbstractAt present, the federal government is engaged in community-based self-government negotiations with a number of Indian bands and tribal groups across Canada with the objective of bringing about legislative arrangements for a limited form of self-government outside the Indian Act. An important part of these negotiations involves the federal government's promise to allow the incorporation of “customary or traditional structures,” where desired, into redesigned Indian governments. This article explores the difficulties confronting Indian leaders in their attempts to revitalize traditional governing practices within their respective communities. Through a comparison of traditional and contemporary governing practices in two plains Indian societies, the Blood and Peigan Nations, this article addresses the question of whether present Indian government, which represents an externally imposed form based on the Indian Act, has been institutionalized within these communities. If institutionalization has occurred, then a return to traditional governing practices, the author argues, is effectively precluded. After analyzing traditional and contemporary governing practices the author concludes that strong traditionalist orientations remain within these Indian communities, thus providing the opportunity for political revitalization.

Demography of the Juang tribal population of Orissa.

Demographic analysis of genealogical data collected in 1954 for 23 Juang villages was undertaken employing indirect estimation techniques and computer projection methodology. Results indicated that this group did not feature the historically high fertility levels associated with Indian tribal groups, although fertility was higher than previously reported for the Juang. The population did feature a mortality differential, with worse mortality conditions than the Indian national population at this time. Reversed sexual mortality differentials, common in South Asian populations, were also present for the Juang. Computer projection investigation revealed a steadily growing population, in contrast to some Indian tribal groups faced with extinction.

Suicide among Native Americans: A Compilation of Findings

Suicide among Native Americans has received much attention in the recent literature. These reports have primarily focused upon single, specific tribal groups. While the suicide rate for Indians as a whole is equal to or greater than that for the nation, undue emphasis upon those tribes having especially high suicide rates has created the general impression that all Indian groups have high rates. The wide variations that exist among the tribes are sometimes noted but often they are overlooked or ignored. The results of the available studies of suicide among the various Indian tribal groups are presented here along with some implications for further research.