Sovereignty’s Cycle

Vine Deloria, Jr. was a towering intellectual who helped shape the field of Native American studies during the 20th century. He was a prolific writer, a sharp scholar, and a powerful advocate for Indigenous people, including the Lumbee. A few years ago, I was invited by David Wilkins and Shelly Hulse Wilkins to contribute a chapter to an edited book exploring Deloria’s lasting impact on Indigenous peoples and on the world we live in. I accepted the invitation and wrote about Deloria’s decades-long advocacy for Lumbee people and about the broader connections between inherent sovereignty and environmental stewardship in an era of radical change. The book, Of Living Stone, was just published by Fulcrum Press, Deloria’s long-time publisher. You can find an excerpt from my chapter below, and you can find the book for sale online or in bookstores.

If the ability of tribes to exercise sovereignty is part of a self-reinforcing cycle that strengthens community and cultural structures … then the inability of unrecognized tribes to exercise sovereignty in the realm of environmental governance creates a cruel and circular tragedy: without federal recognition, tribes lack access to regulatory and procedural tools – inadequate as they are – to participate in decision-making about the environment.

Available from: Fulcrum Press, Bookshop.org

Cover, Of Living Stone, Fulcrum Press (2024)