Thomas Biolsi. Organizing
the Lakota: The Political Economy of the New Deal on the Pine Ridge and Rosebud
Reservations.
Lakota, and the New Deal
This book examines the impact of the Indian Reorganization Act on two Lakota reservations in South Dakota – the so-called “Indian New Deal,” which was the brainchild of Indian Commissioner John Collier – and it reveals that, in keeping with previous policies, the United States government offered only non-Indian solutions to native “problems,” even when attempting a “decolonization” project.
In 1934, America enacted the IRA, and Collier promoted the idea that Indian tribes should be allowed to govern themselves. Collier had a respect for Indian cultures that seemed genuine, and his intentions seemed benevolent. But we all know about the road to Hell, and what it’s paved with. Collier pushed the IRA as a way to organize tribes under “liberal and humane” constitutions. He promised the “political, economic and cultural decolonization of Indian peoples in the United States.” But Collier and other government bureaucrats failed to realize that Indians might have their own ideas of what self-government should look like. And Indians – specifically members of the Oglala Sioux and Rosebud Sioux tribes – had their own inter-tribal power structures that white “organizers” misunderstood.
Biolsi focuses his study on the political-economic impact of the Indian New Deal on the Pine Ridge and Rosebud reservations. When the new law was voted on in reservation referendums, it passed in both place by small majorities. Those who voted for the IRA promises of increased Indian autonomy sought material gain within the tribal context, Biolsi argues, but they soon found themselves embroiled in a political power struggle. “Fullbloods” tended to support the traditional chiefs and the Treaty Councils which had been established in 1863. Meanwhile “mixedbloods” favored the new IRA Tribal Councils as mandated by constitutions ratified in general reservation-wide elections. Government officials, through the Office of Indian Affairs, continued to wield power over the tribal councils, frustrating their attempts to govern themselves.
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Additional Reading From Biolsi
Biolsi has indeed written numerous books. Here is a list of just a few of the many. All of these books provide insightful perspectives into the culture, struggle, and lives of Native Americans.
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