Suchergebnisse

In this paper I examine the Bureau of Indian Affairs' campaign to suppress liquor-use in Tohono O'odham, a federally recognized tribe whose homelands include southern Arizona, in the early 20th century. Finding purchase in scholarship on Indian-citizenship and governmental power, I adumbrate the BIA's liquor suppression program as it invoked the language of protection while actively seeking to police, punish, and incarcerate Native people. I argue that "protection" and criminalization were not only interrelated and coordinated, but also part and parcel of the BIA's project to incorporate Native people as would-be citizens and political agents. Based on archival research and organized chronologically, this paper touches upon Arizona state prohibition (1915) and national prohibition (1920). It reveals the racialized and paternalistic logics of the BIA that led to the late creation of the Papago reservation (1916), and it examines the ways that the BIA's prohibition program clashed with the Tohono O'odham Nawait I'i ceremony. Alcohol was after all not a colonial import for Tohono O'odham people but an indigenous and ceremonial substance.

Many rural communities lack economies of scale for sanitation infrastructure management and do not receive support from state and federal governments. These problems are particularly severe for Native American Nations, certain rural areas, as well as many developing countries. Geographical information systems (GIS) can improve the management of water and wastewater infrastructure in such areas by using technology to offset the issues of low density, scattered settlements, and large acreages. However, integrating GIS technology into such communities presents technical and organizational challenges. The Tucson office of the Indian Health Services faced such challenges when developing a sanitation GIS for the Tohono O'odham Nation in Southwestern Arizona. The GIS developers found that with adequate management support and communication with potential users, the technical challenges can be met. However, the organizational challenges associated with data sharing and confidentiality slowed the integration of the GIS and may limit the sustainability of the system.

Tohono O'odham Nation v. City of Glendale is a reminder of the tension between state governments and the federal government. It also reflects continued unease with tribal gaming policies. The Ninth Circuit reiterated the longstanding federal preemption doctrine to override the State of Arizona and City of Glendale's attempted circumvention of the Gila River Bend Indian Reservation Land Replacement Act. In doing so, the court prevented state legislation from undermining the Tohono O'odham Nation's ability to obtain replacement lands for its reservation.