Sovereigns and citizens? The contested status of American Indian tribal nations and their members

Who and What Is a “Population”? Historical Debates, Current Controversies, and Implications for Understanding “Population Health” and Rectifying Health Inequities

“… Notes: a Before Emancipation, neither U.S. slaves nor their children were granted citizenship rights, and they became citizens only after passage of the 1866 Bill of Rights and, in 1868, the Fourteenth Amendment (Steinman 2011). …”

“… b It was not until 1924 that the U.S. government extended citizenship to all American Indians born within the territorial limits of the United States; reflecting this change, in the 1930 census the terminology shifted from Indians “in” the USA to Indians “of” the USA. Before 1924, the status of “citizen” was applied only to those American Indians granted citizenship by specific treaties, naturalization proceedings, and military service in World War I (Steinman 2011). …”

Decolonization Not Inclusion

“…In this article, I attempt to identify and interpret patterns of indigenous action beyond the state field . The article continues an evolving line of inquiry I have pursued for almost two decades through a mutually informing cycle of empirical research, theoretical application and development, and community engagement (Holland 2005) with indigenous communities (Steinman 2004, 2005, 2011a, 2011b, 2012). The ongoing investigation and this particular analysis are based in two complementary elements: the “puzzle” of extensive indigenous actions I observed that did not align with or were not readily interpreted through available sociological conceptualizations, and the MIP perspective that enables the identification of settler colonial aspects of the social context as salient to interpretation of these actions.…”

“…Finally, indigenous leaders, tribal members, scholars, and activists resolutely and repetitively challenge transfer by “ethnification” or “racialization” by insisting that they are not merely an ethnic or racial group. Although only a small number of American Indians reject the American citizenship unilaterally extended to tribal Indians in 1924 (Bruyneel 2004; Steinman 2011b), citizenship in respective tribal nations is vigorously affirmed, even as Indians are simultaneously counted as a racial minority or cast as merely a cultural group. Although clarifying Indian nationhood status and rejecting minoritizing conceptions has been a recurring element of the polity-focused indigenous sovereignty movement (Steinman 2012), additional decolonizing interventions have engaged progressive, liberal, multicultural, and multiracial movements in the past decade, such as calls for “decolonizing antiracism” (Lawrence and Dua 2005) and critiques of the occupy movement (Barker 2012).…”

American Indian Land Rights, Rich Indian Racism, and Newspaper Coverage in New York State, 1988-2008

“…The idea of American Indians as a race is historically, politically, and biologically inaccurate, but it is also a powerful and pervasive reality. 19 This persistent categorization of American Indians as a race throughout American history has contributed to racism that has been used to justify targeted policies toward and support beliefs about American Indians for much of their experience within the United States.…”