Native American Studies Resources

Also available in print.
Sondra Jones traces the metamorphosis of the Ute people from a society of small, interrelated bands of mobile hunter-gatherers to sovereign, dependent nations—modern tribes who run extensive business enterprises and government services. Weaving together the history of all Ute groups—in Colorado, Utah, and New Mexico—the narrative describes their traditional culture, including the many facets that have continued to define them as a people.

Also available in print.
The Native American inhabitants of North America's Great Basin have a long, eventful history and rich cultures. Great Basin Indians: An Encyclopedic History covers all aspects of their world...Author Michael Hittman employs a vast range of archival and secondary sources as well as interviews, and he addresses the fruits of such recent methodologies as DNA analysis and gender studies that offer new insights into the lives and history of these enduring inhabitants of one of North America's most challenging environments.

Also available in print.
The valleys, mountains, and deserts of Utah have been home to native peoples for thousands of years. Like peoples around the world, Utah's native inhabitants organized themselves in family units, groups, bands, clans, and tribes. Today, six Indian tribes in Utah are recognized as official entities. They include the Northwestern Shoshone, the Goshutes, the Paiutes, the Utes, the White Mesa or Southern Utes, and the Navajos (Dineh)...In this volume, the editor and authors endeavor to write the history of Utah's first residents from an Indian perspective.

Corbin Harney's long life encompassed remarkable changes in the lives of Native Americans and in the technological and political development of the world. He was born into an impoverished Western Shosone family on the Nevada-Idaho border. As an adult, Harney found his calling as a traditional healer and spiritual leader. Soon he became involved in the Shoshone struggle for civil rights, including their efforts to protect and heal their traditional lands.

In Navajo Land, Navajo Culture, Robert S. McPherson presents an intimate history of the Diné, or Navajo people, of southeastern Utah. Moving beyond standard history by incorporating Native voices, the author shows how the Diné's culture and economy have both persisted and changed during the twentieth century.

Also available in print.
One Voice Rising is a memoir by Ute healer, elder, and historian Clifford Duncan, as told to Anglo writer, Linda Sillitoe. Duncan (1933-2014) was an inspiring leader and a powerful medicine man, and he was, as Sillitoe wrote, "simultaneously one of the most bicultural and traditional American Indians in the West." Duncan here covers both personal and tribal history during a crucial period in the tribe's development.

A hundred forty years ago, the Western Shoshone occupied a vast area of present-day Nevada—from Idaho in the north to Death Valley in the south. Today, the Newe hold a fraction of their former territory, still practicing native lifeways while accepting many aspects of American culture. Their story deserves telling...Written by historian Steven Crum, an enrolled tribal member, this book presents the Shoshone as an active force in their own history, effectively adapting to harsh physical environment, defending their territory in the nineteenth century, and working to modify or reject assimilationists policy in the present.

Despite 100 years with the dominant American culture, Hopi culture today maintains continuity with its aboriginal roots while reflecting the impact of the 20th century. A compelling study of "fourth worlders" coping with a powerful nation-state, this book depicts Hopi social organization, economy, religion, and politics as well as key events in the history of Hopi-U.S. relations.

Also available in print.
Now little recognized by their neighbors, Southern Paiutes once had homelands that included much of the vast Colorado Plateau, Great Basin, and Mojave Desert. From the Four Corners' San Juan River to California's lower Colorado, from Death Valley to Canyonlands, from Capitol Reef to the Grand Canyon, Paiutes lived in many small, widespread communities. They still do, but the communities are fewer, smaller, and mostly deprived of the lands and resources that sustained traditional lives. To portray a people and the individuals who comprise it, William Logan Hebner and Michael L. Plyler relay Paiute voices and reveal Paiute faces, creating a space for them to tell their stories and stake claim to who they once were and now are.

A provocative multi-media project that establishes Native history as an essential part of American history. The centerpiece of this initiative is a television series that tells five heartbreaking, yet inspiring stories. Together they highlight Native ingenuity and resilience over the course of 300 years. The series upends two-dimensional stereotypes of American Indians as simply ferocious warriors or peaceable lovers of the land.