Social Change and Cultural Continuity among Native Nations

Duane Champagne is professor of sociology, director of the Native Nations Law and Policy Center at UCLA, and a citizen of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa from North Dakota. He has authored and edited over 75 publications.

• Chapter 1 Renewing American Indian Nations: Cosmic Communities and Spiritual AutonomyPart 1 Culture, Institutional Order and World ViewChapter 2 The Cultural and Institutional Foundations of Native American ConservatismPart 2 Economic, Political and Cultural Relations Among Colonizing NationsChapter 3 Tribal Capitalism and Native Capitalists: Multiple Pathways of Native EconomyPart 3 Change and ContinuityChapter 4 Renewing Tribal Governments: Uniting Political Theory and Sacred CommunitiesChapter 5 Self Government from Time ImmemorialChapter 6 A Multidimensional Theory of Colonialism: The Native North American ExperienceChapter 7 Native Directed Social Change in Canada and the United StatesChapter 8 Border TownsChapter 9 Ramona Redeemed? The Rise of Tribal Political Power in CaliforniaChapter 10 Toward a Multidimensional Historical-Comparative Methodology: Context, Process, and CausalityChapter 11 The Delaware Revitalization Movement onf the Early 1760s: A Suggested ReinterpretationChapter 12 Colonial and Contemporary Religious MovementsChapter 13 Culture, Differentiation, and Environment: Social Change in the Tlingit SocietyChapter 14 Economic Incorporation, Political Change, and Cultural Preservation among the Northern CheyenneChapter 15 Indigenous Strategies for Engaging GlobalismChapter 16 Native Issues in the 21st Century

Duane Champagne provides a sophisticated analysis on how Native Americans seek/sought to maintain or restore political and cultural autonomy in the face of overwhelming outside pressures pushing them toward individual and collective assimilation. Through a variety of impressive case studies ranging from Alaska to the Mid-Atlantic region, he carefully shows that indigenous communities' resistance is/was rooted in their own beliefs and cultural traditions, and that their quest for self-determination cannot be simply understood or explained using contemporary social science theory or terminology. His excellent work is a call for scholars to study more thoroughly how indigenous communities conceptualize resistance, by exploring in greater depth Native American beliefs, cultures and languages rather than rely altogether on western models.