𝓯𝓮𝓭𝓮𝓻𝓪𝓵𝓵𝔂 𝓻𝓮𝓬𝓸𝓰𝓷𝓲𝔃𝓮𝓭 𝓽𝓻𝓲𝓫𝓮𝓼
Across the world, there are many indigenous peoples existing within established countries who maintain their national identity, unique cultures, and individual methods of government. In the United States, those that the government officially recognizes are referred to as “federally recognized tribes”. This means that they are being recognized as sovereign nations that exist within the physical boundaries of the United States. Although legal recognition can come in a variety of forms and be standing on an international level, the US government has enumerated 3 ways of establishing formal federal recognition; an act of Congress, a decision made by a US court, or a petition by the tribe in question to the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Notice that these enumerated forms of recognition put a lot of the responsibility for decision-making on the US federal government, rather than on the government or people of the tribe in question. According to these terms, an act of US Congress or decision by a US court can grant a tribe federal recognition without the tribe recognizing that distinction themselves. Historically, this has led to the erasure of many traditional tribal lines. If the US government says that all Indians living in a specific area and speaking a specific language are part of a particular tribe, that decision stands in the eyes of the US Government, even if the people themselves consider themselves to be different tribal nations. One can only imagine the level of intertribal conflict this policy has created over just the last two hundred years.
In order for a tribe to petition for their own recognition, they must file officially through the Bureau of Indian Affairs. The BIA is very strict on its definition of “tribe”, requiring any tribe in question to reach all seven qualification standards.
First, a tribe must have been considered an American Indian entity continuously since 1900, meaning that the tribe would have already had to have been established at that point.
Next, the majority of the tribe must consist of a distinct community that is recognizable from the others around it, also continuously.
Third, the tribe must have maintained political authority over its members, uninterrupted, from “historical times” to present.
Next, the nation must be able to provide a governing document (like a constitution) including and specifying citizenship criteria and political procedure, or else otherwise be able to provide a detailed explanation of that criteria. Basically, you must have a way of defining who your tribe is and how you do things.
The citizens of the tribal nation must themselves be descendants of historical nation(s) acting as a single political entity. I believe this might be the basis of blood quantum laws, because too much intermarrying could possibly threaten that claim.
The majority of a tribal nation must not be enrolled in any other federally recognized tribe.
Lastly, there have been acts of Congress expressly ending or forbidding the federal recognition of certain tribes. Those tribes are completely ineligible for federal recognition, even if they manage to meet all of the other requirements of the BIA.
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