Taken Lands: Territory and Sovereignty on the Fort Berthold IndianReservation, 1934-1960.

[摘要] This dissertation covers the years 1934 to 1960 on the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation in northwestern North Dakota, home to the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara. During this time, the federal government built a massive earth-filled dam at the edge of the reservation, effectively flooding the heart of the community land base. Part of the Pick-Sloan Plan, that built dams at the edge of six reservations along the upper Missouri River, the Garrison Dam flooded over one hundred fifty thousand acres of prime grazing and agricultural land as well as every major community on the reservation. More than ninety percent of Fort Berthold residents were forced to relocate to escape the rising waters, and the inundation of their centuries-old tribal homelands devastated the communities.The interrelation of territory and sovereignty guides this project. Neither concept can be fully theorized without investigating how space, place, and land constitute and create the notion of ;;territory” for a community. Further, tribal and federal sovereignties must also contend with the evolution of indigenous citizenship. One way to untangle this complicated interaction is to study a tribal community during a time period containing a radical shift in their territorial base. Fort Berthold experienced just such a radical shift during the years preceding and following the Garrison Dam.Chapter One explores how Fort Berthold was constructed as a place, space, and territory before 1934, when the Indian Reorganization Act (IRA) went into effect. Chapter Two (1934-1941), examines how the newly-formed tribal IRA government and community members used tribal politics to defend the tribal land base while developing theoretical and practical components of indigenous citizenship. Chapter Three, 1940-1945, interrogates the performance of U.S. and tribal citizenship and patriotism during WWII. Chapter Four, 1945-1952 analyzes the narratives of protest lodged against the construction of the Garrison Dam. Chapter Five, 1950-1952, tracks how community members experienced the inundation of their river valley homes by the expanding reservoir. Finally, the Conclusion considers possible unforeseen consequences of the Garrison Dam, including the investment in community and national activism.

[发布机构] University of Michigan

[效力级别] Garrison Dam

[关键词] Three Affiliated Tribes;Garrison Dam;Pick-Sloan Plan;Mandan Indians;Hidatsa Indians;Tribal Sovereignty;American and Canadian Studies;History (General);Humanities;History