Indigenous Governance Database
Cultural Affairs
Reviving Yurok: Saving one of California's 90 languages
California is home to the greatest diversity of Native American tribes in the US, and even today, 90 identifiable languages are still spoken there. Many are dying out as the last fluent speakers pass away and English dominates. But one tribe is having success reviving the Yurok language, which was…
The Best Practices in Rural Alberta Project
The Best Practices in Rural Alberta Project culminated in September 2012, after two and a half years of community engagement; research into the examination of leadership strengths and practices; incredible youth development; and video capture in preparation for a documentary film. This documentary…
Gregory Cajete: Rebuilding Sustainable Indigenous Communities: Applying Native Science
Dr. Gregory Cajete spoke as part of the "Alternative Forms of Knowledge Construction in Mathematics and Science" lecture series in Portland, Oregon which is co-sponsored by Portland State University and Portland Community College. The series features guest speakers who examine forms of mathematical…
UA Institute Helps Native Nations Rebuild, Maintain Government
An institute at the University of Arizona is focused on rebuilding government structures in Native nations by research and outreach offered through online courses and more. The UA Native Nations Institute has been working toward its goal of helping the Native governments for nearly 30 years,…
Researchers Explore Roots of American Indian Resilience
Each week, inside the cafeteria of the New Directions enter, a Tucson behavioral health and substance abuse treatment facility, Tommy Begay channels heritage and history. He calls on the Navajo prayers and practices he learned from his great-grandmother to help others heal. “She taught me about…
Small Towns: Red Lake Nation
More power to the people, that's the driving force behind a government overhaul at Red Lake Nation. Tribe officials received a $1.5 million grant to reform their constitution over a span of about three years. We explore just what these changes will mean for the Chippewa Tribe...
Project Falvmmichi 60
This one-minute video provides an overview of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma's Project Falvmmichi, which won an Honoring Nations award from the Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development in 2008.
Wilma Mankiller: Challenges Facing 21st Century Indigenous People
Recorded on October 2, 2008 at the Heard Museum in Phoenix, Wilma Mankiller, former principal chief of the Cherokee Nation and internationally known Native rights activist talks about “Challenges Facing 21st Century Indigenous People.†Mankiller talks of the diversity and uniqueness of the over…
These Are My People...
This documentary short is the first film made by an all-Aboriginal film crew, training under the NFB's Challenge for Change Program. It was shot at Akwesasne (St. Regis Reserve). Two spokesmen explain historical and other aspects of Longhouse religion, culture, and government and reflect on the…
Ktunaxa Nation: Building from their Vision
This video, produced by the National Centre for First Nations Governance, offers a history behind the vision or mission statement of the Ktunaxa Nation in British Columbia.
Tradition and Governance: Georjann Moresseau
Councilor Georjann Morreseau of Fort William First Nation talks about the challenges of teaching Fort William youth about traditions and governance.
NCAI - Footprints into the Future - 68th Annual Convention and Marketplace in Portland, Oregon
The National Congress of American Indians, founded in 1944, is the oldest, largest and most representative American Indian and Alaska Native organization serving the broad interests of tribal governments and communities. NCAI has grown over the years from its modest beginnings of 100 people to…
Native Report: Season 5: Episode 5
This week the Native Report crew visits the Waadookodaading the Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwe language immersion school. Also come with us to the Honor the Earth Powwow, one of the largest and oldest powwows in the region. And we talk with noted writer David Treuer and hear his thoughts on Native…
Native Report: Season 6: Episode 7
On this edition of Native Report we learn about what the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center is and why it’s important to native people. We travel to the Bois Forte Band of Chippewa to learn about why a State of the Band Address matters to the people of the community and their neighbors; and…
Development of a Kaupapa Maori Governance Model from a Literature Review and Key Informant Interviews
Kaupapa MÄori sets the theoretical framework within which ideas and research about governance were explored. This review incorporated both indigenous and non-indigenous governance literature. This set the scene for interviews with six key informants with MÄori who are knowledgeable about…
Wrapping Our Ways Around Them: Aboriginal Communities and the CFCSA Guidebook
This Guidebook is based on the belief that Aboriginal peoples need to know, and work with, the systems that impact children and families today such as the Child, Family and Community Service Act (CFCSA), Provincial Court (Child, Family and Community Service Act) Rules (Rules), Child, Family and…
Supplemental Recommendations of Tribal Leaders on the President's State, Local, and Tribal Leaders Task Force on Climate Preparedness and Resilience
Tribes and Alaska Native Villages feel the effects of a changing climate in ways that are unique to their ways of life, geography, and relationships with the Federal Government. According to the National Climate Assessment, “the consequences of observed and projected climate change impacts have and…
Food Sovereignty Assessment Tool
There are many assets related to Native food systems. Increased consumption of healthy and traditional foods may lead to better health among community members, preserving one of the most important assets in any community, its people. Of course, healthy, productive people are a cornerstone of any…
Pulya-ranyi: Winds of Change
Milpirri is a Warlpiri way to get country to express itself. Country is expressing itself all the time. All around Australia, Indigenous people, culture and art express (in various forms) what animals, plants and the elements, including weather and the seasons themselves—look like and speak like…
Indigenous Women and Governance in Guatemala
The concept of governance goes beyond institutional relations to encompass the integration and cohesion capacity of a particular political system. Hence, the effective functioning of the institutions of representative democracy is an important condition of governance, but it does not satisfy its…