Part 5 Summary and Analysis

"Government Agencies" At the beginning of this chapter, the author describes the origins of the Bureau of Indian Affairs (see "Objects/Places"), how it breaks down its responsibilities into area offices, and details where those offices are, the tribes they cover, and how they fail to do so effectively (the office in Alaska being the exception). He says there are benefits to this structure - "...tribes," he writes, "are recognized as legal entities of equivalent rank by the office regardless of what level the office is on. Thus a tribe is able to exercise its fundamental sovereignty at all levels of government." He points out, however, that there is nevertheless a strong feeling of ambivalence among Indians in general about their relationship with the Bureau (see "Quotes," p. 125), citing several examples of political maneuvering that worked to the benefits of the...