Scholarly Work - Indigenous Research Initiative
Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://scholarworks.montana.edu/handle/1/15852
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Item Traditional knowledge systems and tribal water governance on Fort Peck Indian Reservation, MT(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2017) Zoanni, Dionne Kae; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Jamie McEvoy; Jamie McEvoy, Julia Haggerty and Elizabeth Rink were co-authors of the article, 'All the answers are in our culture': integrating traditional knowledge systems into tribal water governance on Fort Peck Indian Reservation, Montana' submitted to the journal 'Geoforum' which is contained within this thesis.The Fort Peck Indian Reservation is located in northeast Montana and is home to the Assiniboine (Nakona) and Sioux (Dakota) Tribes. Conventional oil and gas development and the disposal of produced water has led to the contamination of 15-37 billion gallons of groundwater within the aquifer that had historically been the only source of drinking water for reservation community members. Although the tribes are aware of the contamination plume, exploiting newly accessible shale resources has become a viable option as the tribes continue to try to alleviate the high unemployment and poverty rates of tribal members. Even so, tribal members and authorities also understand the importance of ecological health in fostering a healthy community. A strong movement of cultural resurgence has been in motion, with tribal members looking to traditional stories and lessons in order to guide the future of the community and create community cohesion. Traditional knowledge systems (TKS) have been heralded throughout contemporary Indigenous governance literature as an important dynamic resource for indigenous communities that deal with difficult decisions involving resource management. Using a TKS framework and interviews with tribal members, this research seeks to answer the following questions: 1) What are the TKS that surrounds water and its use for the Nakona and Dakota tribes? 2) What are some of the opportunities and barriers that exist for the successful incorporation of TKS into tribal water governance structures at Fort Peck? Challenges to validity, process, and relevance due to political histories and power imbalances, as well as diverse intertribal knowledge systems, may impede the successful integration of Indigenous knowledge in collaborative water governance initiatives with outside interests. The internal knowledge sharing process has the potential to enhance cultural revitalization efforts on the reservation -- which represent an organic solution that takes place from within the community itself. In addition, TKS-based tribal policies may uphold the expression of tribal self-determination, i.e. the 'governance-value' of traditional knowledge systems.Item Landscape and place-identity in a Great Plains Reservation community : a historical geography of Poplar, Montana(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2008) Warren, Scott Daniel; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: William WyckoffThis study constructs a historical-geographical narrative of Poplar, Montana and explores residents' place-identity in the context of economic restructuring. Located on the Fort Peck Indian Reservation in northeastern Montana, Poplar offers an ideal setting to better understand how economic restructuring affects the lives of residents in northern Plains reservation communities. Loss of businesses, consolidation of services, and general economic restructuring continue to challenge communities on the Great Plains. For Great Plains Indian reservations, however, these problems are compounded by additional variables such as persistently high poverty rates, a dynamic relationship with the federal government, and increasing populations. Archival research, landscape analysis, and interview data are all used to better understand the influence of economic restructuring in shaping Poplar. This study demonstrates the value of historical and cultural geographic approaches in understanding the past evolution as well as the contemporary challenges of reservation communities in the American West.