Kenneth Madsen, Department of Geography, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287-0104. E-Mail: kmadsen@asu.edu.

Many Nations, Divided: Native American Tribes Along U.S. Borders

This paper investigates legal aspects of efforts to expand the formal rights of North American Indian tribal members to cross modern geo-political boundaries. These borders, determined and imposed by European colonial powers and maintained by their successor states, have divided the territories of many indigenous communities. While the unity of the dominant nations of Canada, the United States, and Mexico has been well defined by such borders, the tribal nations discussed in this study (the Blackfeet of Alberta/Montana, the Kickapoo of Coahuila/Texas, the Mohawk of New York/Ontario/Quebec, and the Tohono O'odham of Arizona/Sonora) remain divided among political entities whose nation-building interests and priorities they do not fully share. These four tribes all have as a priority increasing the ease of border crossings as a means for renewing social unity, but each has taken a different approach to finding a resolution. This research reports on the current status of these approaches and their implications.