Who counts as an American Indian? Which groups qualify as Indian tribes? These questions have become increasingly complex in the past several decades, and federal legislation and the rise of tribal-owned casinos have raised the stakes in the ongoing debate. In this revealing study, historian Mark Edwin Miller describes how and why dozens of previously unrecognized tribal groups in the southeastern states have sought, and sometimes won, recognition, often to the dismay of the Five Tribes—the Cherokees, Chickasaws, Choctaws, Creeks, and Seminoles. Miller explains how politics, economics, and such slippery issues as tribal and racial identity drive the conflicts between federally recognized tribal entities like the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, and other groups such as the Southeastern Cherokee Confederacy that also seek sovereignty. Battles over which groups can claim authentic Indian identity are fought both within the Bureau of Indian Affairs’ Federal Acknowledgment Process and in Atlanta, Montgomery, and other capitals where legislators grant state recognition to Indian-identifying enclaves without consulting federally recognized tribes with similar names. Miller’s analysis recognizes the arguments on all sides—both the scholars and activists who see tribal affiliation as an individual choice, and the tribal governments that view unrecognized tribes as fraudulent. Groups such as the Lumbees, the Lower Muscogee Creeks, and the Mowa Choctaws, inspired by the civil rights movement and the War on Poverty, have evolved in surprising ways, as have traditional tribal governments. Describing the significance of casino gambling, the leader of one unrecognized group said, “It’s no longer a matter of red; it’s a matter of green.” Either a positive or a negative development, depending on who is telling the story, the casinos’ economic impact has clouded what were previously issues purely of law, ethics, and justice. Drawing on both documents and personal interviews, Miller unravels the tangled politics of Indian identity and sovereignty. His lively, clearly argued book will be vital reading for tribal leaders, policy makers, and scholars.

Discusses the failure of America's political elites to recognize how group identities drive politics both at home and abroad, and outlines recommendations for reversing the country's foreign policy failures and overcoming destructive political tribalism at home.

This unusual study outlines the conceptual difficulties surrounding the way in which tribal identities and the texture of tribal-non-tribal interaction in India are expressed. Sharma examines the implications for the pre-colonial equations between social cohesion and political authority.

Swiss Diploma Thesis from the year 2008 in the subject Ethnology / Cultural Anthropology, grade: 6, University of Zurich (Ethnologisches Seminar), language: English, abstract: This master thesis evaluates and analyses the interrelationship of tribes and the Omani state formation, hence the role and importance of tribes in people's everyday life in comparison with the awareness of tribes on the official side. It brings into focus three main aspects: First, an accurate definition of tribe is given. Although it is widely discussed in literature what one has to understand by tribe, this thesis mainly pinpoint the ideas and opinions of how Omani citizens apprehend their tribal identity and how they define what a tribe is. In a second step, the importance of tribal identity in people's everyday life is evaluated. In a time where such tremendous social changes have occurred, as has been the case in Oman, where people experience prosperity and wealth and where globalising issues influence especially the younger generations, it is of considerable interest to find out what role tribal identity plays (or does not play). Third, a fuller understanding of the perception of tribes on the official side contributes to the actual debate in social science about tribes and state formation in the Middle East and examine the situation in Oman.

This book is a collection of 13 articles on little-known tribal movements in India, featuring case studies covering all the major issues concerning tribal populations, including political autonomy, the struggle for resources, minimal social opportunities and basic social responsibilities. The specific movements discussed include: - Dalitism in Jharkhand; - the Kamatpur separatist movement in North Bengal; - land struggles in Uttar Pradesh and Kerala; - overall discrimination in schooling, heath and poverty alleviation programmes.

Davis laments a modern world in which more people believe in ESP, ghosts, and angels than in evolution. Superstition and religion get particularly critical treatment, although Davis argues that religion, itself, is not the problem.