BLETCHER HOUR
JUNE 10 | 6 - 7 PM MST
Understanding Tribal Sovereignty: Definitions, Conceptualizations, and Interpretations by Amanda J. Cobb
LINK TO ATTEND

In recognition of National Indigenous History Month, we will be reading Understanding Tribal Sovereignty: Definitions, Conceptualizations, and Interpretations by Amanda J. Cobb. Cobb is an associate professor of Native American Studies at the University of New Mexico, the editor of American Indian Quarterly, and is a member of the Chickasaw Nation of Oklahoma.

“At base, sovereignty is a nation’s power to self-govern, to determine its own way of life, and live that life - to whatever extent possible - free from interference,” says Cobb. “This is no different for tribal sovereignty, which by and large shares the attributes and characteristics of sovereignty as contextualized above. Native nations are culturally distinct peoples with recognizable governments and, in most cases, recognizable and defined territories. The sovereignty of Native nations is inherent and ancient… as David Wilkins (Lumbree) and K. Tsianina Lomawaima (Creek/Cherokee) have argued, ‘Tribes existed before the United States of America [and Canada], so theirs is a more mature sovereignty, predating the Constitution; in that sense, tribal sovereignty exists ‘outside’ the Constitution.’”