It is well-known that there is a complicated relationship between Native American tribes and the US government. Relations between tribes and the government are dominated by the principle known as the "Federal-Indian Trust Relationship." The key aspect of this principle is that the government is supposed to engage in meaningful consultations with the tribes about issues that affect them. In Cooperation without Submission, Justin B. Richland, an associate justice of the Hopi Appellate Court and ethnographer, closely examines the language employed by both tribes and government agencies in over eighty hours of meetings between the two. Richland shows how tribes conduct these meetings using language that demonstrates their commitment to nation-to-nation interdependency, while federal agents appear to approach these consultations with the assumption that federal law is supreme and ultimately authoritative. Meaning, Native American tribes see themselves as nations with some degree of independence, entitled to recognition of their sovereignty over tribal lands, while the federal government acts to limit that authority. In this vital book, Richland sheds light on the ways the tribes use their language to engage in "cooperation without submission."

About the Author
Justin B. Richland is an associate justice of the Hopi Appellate Court as well as an associate professor of anthropology at the University of California, Irvine, and a faculty fellow of the American Bar Foundation. Richland is the author of several works on the contemporary legal systems and practices of Native American Nations, including Introduction to Tribal Legal Studies and Arguing with Tradition: The Language of Law in Hopi Tribal Court, the latter also published by the University of Chicago Press.

Reviews
"Justin B. Richland's new book, Cooperation without Submission, provides a valuable decoder ring for non-Native government officials, scholars, and researchers who seek to consult meaningfully with Native leaders, Native nation governments, and their advocates. Rather than characterize and base recommendations on generalized Indigenous values or philosophies, the author draws conclusions from scrutinizing the details of specific Native-US engagements, and observing and analyzing the language used in meeting transcripts and legal texts. Richland does so with a thorough consideration of the current sociolegal scholarship on Indigenous law ways, settler colonialism, and US federal Indian law." * American Indian Culture and Research Journal *
"The true marvel of this book is its assertion of Indigenous sovereignty in the legal landscape, which Richland suggests is a key component in taking steps toward decolonization and as a way forward in Native Nation-US engagements predicated upon amore equitable relationship of reciprocity, respect, and understanding." * Great Plains Quarterly *



Book Information
ISBN 9780226608761
Author Justin B Richland
Format Paperback
Page Count 232
Imprint University of Chicago Press
Publisher The University of Chicago Press