sovereignty

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Good Native Governance: Lunchtime Keynote Address

UCLA School of Law "Good Native Governance" conference lunchtime keynote speaker, Joseph P. Kalt discusses research in the areas of good Native governance.  This video resource is featured on the Indigenous Governance Database with the permission of the UCLA American Indian Studies Center.

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Good Native Governance Plenary 3: Innovative Research in Education: Educating Tomorrow's Tribal Leaders

UCLA School of Law "Good Native Governance" conference presenters, panelists and participants Tiffany S. Lee, Sheilah E. Nicholas, and Tarajean Yazzie-Mintz focus on the process of educating tribal leaders, youth, and entire communities through relationships and collaborations.  This video resource…

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Sharon Day, Shawn Frank and Deborah Locke: Disenrollment (Q&A)

Panelists Sharon Day, Shawn Frank, and Deborah Locke field questions from the audience and a few participants offer their closing thoughts on the question of tribal citizenship and identity.  This video resource is featured on the Indigenous Governance Database with the permission of the Bush…

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Good Native Governance Plenary 1: Innovations in Law

UCLA School of Law "Good Native Governance" conference presenters, panelists and participants Carole E. Goldberg, Matthew L.M. Fletcher, and Kristen A. Carpenter discuss law and the issues that Native nations deal with. Goldberg explains the recommendations of the Indian Law and Order Commission…

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David Wilkins: Indigenous Governance Systems: Diversity, Colonization, Adaptation, and Resurgence

In this in-depth interview with NNI's Ian Record, federal Indian law and policy scholar David Wilkins discusses the incredible diversity and sophistication of traditional Indigenous governance systems, the profound impacts colonial policies had on those systems, and how Native nations are working…

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Native Leaders: The Purpose and Challenge of Redefining Citizenship

Several Native leaders share their thoughts on why their nations are deliberating potential changes to their citizenship criteria, and they discuss some of the many challenges that Native nations face in this complex area of governance. 

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Jim Gray: The Role of Citizen Engagement in Nation Building: The Osage Story

Jim Gray, former Principal Chief of the Osage Nation, provides an overview of how the Osage Nation completely overhauled its constitution and system of governance, sharing the strategies that Osage used to educate and engage its citizens in order to ensure that their new government reflected the…

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John Borrows and Stephen Cornell: Citizenship: Culture, Language and Law (Q&A)

Professors John Borrows and Stephen Cornell field questions from conference participants about a number of topics surrounding Indigenous notions of citizenship and membership. In addition, some participants provide brief commentaries about how their particular Native nations are wrestling with this…

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Walter Echo-Hawk: In the Light of Justice: The Rise of Human Rights in Native America & the U.N. Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples

Walter Echo-Hawk, legendary civil rights attorney, discusses his latest book In the Light of Justice: The Rise of Human Rights in Native America & the UN Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, stressing the need for Native nations and peoples to band together to mount a campaign to…

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The Rebuilding Native Nations: Strategies for Governance and Development course series

This short video provides a comprehensive overview of NNI's "Rebuilding Native Nations: Strategies for Governance and Development distance-learning course series. The curriculum examines the critical governance and development challenges facing Native nations and surveys the breadth and diversity…

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NNI Indigenous Leadership Fellow: Michael Kanentakeron Mitchell (Part 1)

Grand Chief Michael Mitchell of the Mohawk Council of Akwesasne provides an overview of the nation-building work his nation has engaged in over the past four decades, from its decision to move away from the Indian Act to its systematic development of capable governing institutions designed to…

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NNI Indigenous Leadership Fellow: Rae Nell Vaughn (Part 1)

Rae Nell Vaughn, former Chief Justice of the Mississippi Choctaw Supreme Court, discusses the critical role that justice systems play in the rebuilding of Native nations and shares how the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians has worked to develop its justice system to reflect and promote its…

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NNI Indigenous Leadership Fellow: Frank Ettawageshik (Part 2)

Frank Ettawageshik, former chairman of the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians (LTBBO), discusses the critical role that intergovernmental relationship building plays in the practical exercise of sovereignty and the rebuilding of Native nations. He shares several compelling examples of how…

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David Wilkins: Putting the Noose on Tribal Citizenship: Modern Banishment and Disenrollment

The final speaker for the 2008 Vine Deloria, Jr. Distinguished Indigenous Scholars Series at the University of Arizona, scholar David Wilkins (Lumbee) shares his research into the recent and growing phenomenon of disenrollment that is occurring across Indian Country, and delves into the likely…

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Ned Norris, Jr.: Strengthening Governance at Tohono O'odham

Tohono O'odham Nation Chairman Ned Norris, Jr. discusses how his nation has systematically worked to strengthen its system of governance, from creating an independent, effective judiciary to developing an innovative, culturally appropriate approach to caring for the nation's elders.

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From the Rebuilding Native Nations Course Series: "Self-Determination and Governance Are Related"

Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development Co-Director Stephen Cornell stresses the importance of Native nations exercising sovereignty effectively over time as an important way to defend their sovereignty.

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From the Rebuilding Native Nations Course Series: "The Fearless Approach to Building Effective Governance"

Institute for Tribal Government Director Roy Sampsel describes the fearless mindset that so many Native nations are displaying as they work to build their governance capacity in order to exercise their sovereignty effectively, and the incredible innovation they exhibit in doing so.

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From the Rebuilding Native Nations Course Series: "Defending Sovereignty Through Its Effective Exercise"

Native leaders speak to the notion that Native nations' best defense of their sovereignty is the demonstration of their ability to exercise that sovereignty effectively.

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Chris Hall: Cultivating Constitutional Change at Crow Creek

Native Nations Institute's Ian Record conducted an informative interview with Chris Hall, a citizen of the Crow Creek Sioux Tribe and a member of Cohort 4 of the Bush Foundation's Native Nation Rebuilders program. Hall discusses Crow Creek's current effort to reform its constitution and the…

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Wilma Mankiller: What it Means to be an Indigenous Person in the 21st Century: A Cherokee Woman's Perspective

Former Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation Wilma Mankiller discusses the common misperceptions that people have about Indigenous people in the 21st century, and the efforts of Indigenous peoples to maintain their identity, cultures, values, and ways of life.