The First Constitutional Government of the Minnesota Anishinaabeg

Anna Krausová

doi:10.1515/texmat-2018-0015

Authors

Anna Krausová Charles University, Prague

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1515/texmat-2018-0015

Keywords:

White Earth Nation, General Council of the Chippewa, Indian Office, Indian policy, governing practices

Abstract

In this paper I trace the development of Native American constitutionalism in the early twentieth century. Specifically, I focus on the first constitutional government of the White Earth Nation, located in northwestern Minnesota, which in the period from 1913 to 1927 was part of a larger confederative arrangement, called the General Council of the Chippewa. The purpose of this paper is to show the importance of this inter-reservation government for the preservation of White Earth Anishinaabe cultural continuity from which revitalization efforts of the late twentieth and early twenty-first century grew. Using archival resources, I pay attention to Anishinaabe governing practices and their ethical dimension that can be understood in the light of Anishinaabe philosophy which was an integral part of everyday life. My findings suggest that the course of institutional development set by the creation of the General Council in 1913 influenced the path of White Earth governance for the rest of the century.

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Author Biography

Anna Krausová, Charles University, Prague

Anna Krausová received her master’s degree in English Language and Literature from the Faculty of Arts, Masaryk University in Brno (2008) and a PhD degree from the Institute of International Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences, Charles University in Prague (2018). In 2015 she received a grant from the Grant Agency of Charles University to conduct archival research at the National Archives and Records Administration in Kansas City, USA. Her research and writing focus on federal Indian policy, Native American self-determination, tribal self-government, and tribal nation-building efforts.

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