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C Ch ha ap pt te er r 2 24 4 Cultural and Economic Change in Indian Country EDMUND J. ZOLNIK INTRODUCTION Signs of American Indian culture have never been more evident than in the first half of the first decade of the 21st century. The grand opening of the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI) on September 21st, 2004 in Washington, D.C. reflects the greater national visibility of American Indian culture (Figure 24.1). As the first exclusively Native-American museum in the world, the NMAI showcases the history and culture of more than a thousand tribal and indigenous groups from North, Middle and South America (National Museum of the American Indian, 2005a). Approximately 25,000 Native Americans from more than 500 tribes from Alaska to Chile — one of the largest Native American celebrations in modern history — were participants in the Native Nations Procession to kick off the First Americans Festival. In the first week of operation, patronage at the NMAI was more than 100,000 and the two museum stores set a Smithsonian record of more than $1 million in sales. The NMAI rests on the last open space on the National Mall between the Smithsonian Institution National Air and Space Museum and the United States Capitol (National Museum of the American Indian, 2005b). Native American symbols were integral to the design of the NMAI especially the eastward orientation of the entrance to capture rays of the sun at dawn as well as via a prism window and an atrium. The NMAI features three permanent exhibitions and one temporary art gallery as well as demonstrations , films, music and dance. The three permanent exhibitions known as “Our Universes,” “Our Peoples,” and “Our Lives” reflect three main exhibit themes — philosophy, history and identity — to facilitate the rotation of exhibitions from other tribes and indigenous groups into the NMAI. The permanent exhibition of “Our Lives,” also known as “Our Lives: Contemporary Life and Identities ,” examines the question of Native-American identity in the 21st century. One common theme in the academic literature on American-Indian identity is that of land. As per Deloria, “certain lands are given to certain peoples. It is these peoples only who can flourish, thrive, and survive on the land” (1988, p. 177). Deloria continues to assert the culture of a people is a function of their homeland. But to sustain a culture, a people must retain or reclaim the land so as to create a viable “economic reality” (p. 179). The Meriam Report, a publication from the Brookings Institute on the condition of Indian Country in 1928, articulates the synergy between the cultural and the economic reality for American Indians: “The economic basis of the primitive culture of the Indians has been largely destroyed by the encroachment of white civilization. The Indians can no longer make a living as they did in the past.... This advancing tide of white civilization has as a rule largely destroyed the economic foundation upon which the Indian culture rested” (Meriam, 1928, pp. 6, 87). In sum, cultural sustainability is a function of economic viability, the basis of which is the land. To understand the changes in Indian Country since the last decade of the 20th century, one must examine the past cultural and economic reality of American Indians who continue to struggle to retain and reclaim their ancestral lands. The thesis of this chapter is the role of the land in the cultural identity of American Indians. Present efforts by tribes across the United States to retain and reclaim ancestral lands are a sign of the significance of the land to group identity. Furthermore, development on tribal lands is a symbol of the advancement of the eco- 320 Edmund J. Zolnik nomic reality of American Indians. Three themes are most relevant to the examination of the synergy between the cultural and the economic reality of American Indians. First, retention and reclamation of ancestral lands is the foundation of American-Indian sovereignty. The movement towards greater independence of tribal governments across the United States is the catalyst for the economic development in Indian Country. Second, economic development is the crux of the cultural sustainability of tribes. And third, Indian gaming (gambling operations) is not the only economic development strategy in Indian Country; just as Indian culture is not homogeneous , neither is the economy. Figure 24.1 National Museum of the American Indian Opening on the Mall. Smithsonian Institution Photo No. 2004-53063. [3.144.252.153] Project...

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