Community, poverty, power: The politics of tribal self-determination, 1960--1968.

Abstract

"Community, Poverty, Power" underscores the need for scholars to transcend conventional definitions of Indian history, combine micro and macro scales of analysis, and blend social and political perspectives. In addition to expanding the interpretive ground upon which the War on Poverty is assessed and suggesting a different way of thinking about the emergence of tribal self-determination, it provides a context for understanding the heightened militancy of the Red Power movement. It also re-envisions the meaning of activism so that it includes people who worked within the system in order to affect change. To the extent that the idea of tribal self-determination entered national discourse between 1960 and 1968, it did so because of these continuing encounters between natives and newcomers.

"Community, Poverty, Power" explores how tribal self-determination moved from the periphery to the center of the public sphere during the 1960s. Focusing on the Association on American Indian Affairs, National Congress of American Indians, American Indian Chicago Conference, Workshop on American Indian Affairs, and National Indian Youth Council, Part One demonstrates that the struggle against termination and assimilation cannot be understood apart from the global politics of decolonization and domestic contests over race and mass society. Having situated the study in this milieu, Part Two examines the central role the War on Poverty, and particularly the Community Action Program, played in the politics of self-determination after its inauguration in 1964.

Based on original manuscript research and interviews with Vine Deloria Jr., Forrest Gerard, Dr. Jim Wilson, and other central actors, these chapters detail the complex series of negotiations regarding the nature of poverty, the meaning of community, and the fate of tribal identities that followed. Two additional chapters focused on Oklahoma, and informed by interviews with LaDonna Harris, Senator Fred R. Harris, Iola Hayden, and others demonstrate the interconnectedness of local people's experiences and the decisions made by national policymakers. The dissertation concludes with a Coda that carries the study forward to the spring of 1968 and the Poor People's Campaign---a pivotal moment that evidenced the limitations of social reform and the impending fragmentation of the Indian rights movement.