Informational Resources

Native Nations Rebuilders

Founded by the Bush Foundation in 2008 the Native Nation Rebuilders Program sought to inspire, equip and connect citizens from 23 Native nations who wanted to strengthen tribal governance. Each year, a Rebuilders cohort came together to learn about innovative tribal governance practices, strengthen their leadership skills and connect with others who are passionate about building a brighter future for their nation.

The approach to working with our Tribal Nations is grounded in Native nation rebuilding, the idea that Native nations have a dramatically better chance of achieving their goals if they have governments that:

are culturally legitimate,
exercise sovereignty effectively,
set long-term visions,
have public spirited leaders and
build institutions to implement these ideals.

The approach is intended to be consistent with self-determination, where we will collaborate with the tribal leaders on individual tribal agendas for strengthening their governing systems. Our key partner in this work is the Native Nations Institute, an organization based in the University of Arizona’s Udall Center for Studies in Public Policy.

See what they're learning or Find Rebuilders near you.

Native Nations Institute

Native Nations Institute for Leadership, Management, and Policy (NNI) is a self-determination, self-governance, and development resource for Native Nations. Creating a free account on their website will give you access to a couple videos we've selected on Tribal Governance:

The Unique Challenges Facing Native nation Leaders, Herminia Frias
Native Leaders: What Effective Bureaucracies Need
The Governance Challenge, Stephen Cornell
Self-Determination and Governance are Related, Stephen Cornell

Native Governance Center

Understanding each community faces unique issues and challenges, the Native Governance Center works directly with Tribal Nations to build programming around their specific needs. This includes:

Nation Building Principals
Executive Education
Newly Elected Official Orientations
Constitutions, Laws and Ordinances

We also plan regional convenings on nation building, providing presentations on current affairs and networking opportunities. NGC also serves as a connector between Tribal Nations needing technical support, connecting tribes to resource experts.

More Resources

Executive Session on American Indian Constitutional Reform, 2002, A Report on Best Practices in Developing Effective Processes of American Indian Constitutional Reform.

Angel, Michael. Preserving the Sacred: Historical Perspectives on the Ojibwa Midewiwin. Winnipeg: University of Manitoba Press, 2002.

Beaulieu, David. “Curly Hair and Big Feet: Physical Anthropology and Implementation of Land Allotment on the White Earth Chippewa Reservation.” American Indian Quarterly (Fall 1984), 181-314.

Brady, Tim. “Primitive Thinking.” Minnesota: The Magazine of the University of Minnesota Alumni Association, March–April 2008, 26–31.

Benton-Banai, Edward. The Mishomis Book. Hayward, WI: Indian Country Communications, 1998.

Bresette, Walt, Rick Whaley. Walley Warriors, The Chippewa Treaty Rights Story. Tongues of Green Fire Press, Writers Publishing Cooperative, 1994.

Broker, Ignatia. Night Flying Woman: An Ojibway Narrative.St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society Press, 1983.

Copway, George (Kahgegagahbowh). Traditional History and Characteristic Sketches. Edited by Donald B. Smith and A. Lavonne Brown Ruoff. Norman: University of Nebraska Press, 1997.

Danzinger, Edmond Jefferson, Jr. The Chippewas of Lake Superior. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1979.

Densmore, Frances. How Indians Use Wild Rice Plants for Food, Medicine and Crafts.New York: Dover, 1974 (originally published as Uses of Plants by the Chippewa Indians,1928).

Doerfler, Jill. Those Who Belong: Identity, Family, Blood, and Citizenship Among the White Earth Anishinaabeg. East Lansing: Michigan State University Press and Winnipeg: University of Manitoba Press, 2015.

Doerfler, Jill and Niigaanwewidam James Sinclair and Heidi Kiiwetinepinesiik Stark. Centering Anishinaabeg Studies: Understanding the World Through Stories East Lansing: Michigan State University Press and Winnipeg: University of Manitoba Press, 2013.

Grover, Linda LaGarde. The Sky Watched: Poems of Ojibwe Lives, Red Mountain Press (Santa Fe, NM), 2016.

Grover, Linda LaGarde. The Road Back to Sweetgrass, University of Minnesota Press (Minneapolis), 2014.

Grover. Linda LaGarde. The Dance Boots, University of Georgia Press, 2010.

Hickerson, Harold. The Chippewa and Their Neighbors: A Study in Ethnohistory. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Inc., 1970.

Hickerson, Harold. “The Chippewa of the Upper Great Lakes: A Study in Sociopolitical Change.” In North American Indians in Historical Perspective, ed. Eleanor Burke Leacock and Nancy Oestreich Lurie. New York: Random House, 1971.

Hilger, M. Inez. Chippewa Child Life and Its Cultural Background.St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society Press, 1992 (originally published, 1951).

Kohl, Johann George. Kitchi-Gami: Life Among the Lake Superior Ojibway. Reprint. St. Paul, MN: Minnesota Historical Society Press, 1985.

The Jesuit Relations and Allied Documents: Travels and Explorations of the Jesuit Missionaries in New France, 1610-1791,edited by Rubin G. Thwaites. Cleveland: Burrows Brothers Co., 1896-1901.

Johnston, Basil. Walking in Balance: Meeyau-ossaewin (Kegedonce Press, 2013).

Johnston, Basil. Living in Harmony: Mino-nawae-indawaewin (Kegedonce Press, 2012).

Johnston, Basil. Think Indian: Languages are Beyond Price (Kegedonce Press, 2011).

Johnston, Basil. Gift of the Stars: Anungook gauh meenikooying (Kegedonce Press, 2010).

Johnston, Basil. Honour Earth Mother: Mino-audjaudauh Mizzu-Kummik-Quae (Kegedonce Press, 2003).

Johnston, Basic. The Manitous: The Spiritual World of the Ojibway. St. Paul, Minnesota: Minnesota Historical Society Press, 2001.

Johnston, Basil.Ojibway Ceremonies (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1990).

Johnston, Basil. The Ojibway Heritage (New York: Columbia University Press, 1976).

Jones, Dennis. “The Etymology of Anishinaabe.” Oshkaabewis Native Journal 2, no. 1 (Fall 1995), 43-48.

Kegg, Maude, and John Nichols. Portage Lake: Memories of an Ojibwe Childhood. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1993.

Kugel, Rebecca. To Be the Main Leaders of Our People: A History of Minnesota Ojibwe Politics, 1825–1898. East Lansing: Michigan State University Press, 1998.

LaDuke, Winona. All Our Relations, Native Struggles for Land and Life. Cambridge, Massachusetts: South End Press, 1999.

Landes, Ruth. Ojibwa Religion and the Midewiwin. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1968.

Landes, Ruth. Ojibwa Sociology. Columbia University Contributions to Anthropology, vol. 29. New York: Columbia University Press, 1940.

Lyons, Scott. X-Marks: Native Signatures of Assent. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2010.

Michelson, Truman, ed., and William Jones, comp. Ojibwa Texts. Vol. 7, pt. 1, Publications of the American Ethnological Society, ed. Franz Boas, ix–xxi. New York: E. J. Brill, Ltd., 1917.

Meyer, Melissa L. The White Earth Tragedy: Ethnicity and Dispossession at a Minnesota Anishinaabe Reservation, 1889–1920. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1994.

Parker, Robert Dale, ed. The Sound the Stars Make Rushing through the Sky: The Writings of Jane Johnston Schoolcraft. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2007.

Peacock, Thomas, and Marlene Wisuri. The Good Path: Ojibwe Learning and Activity Book for Kids. Afton, MN: Afton Historical Society Press, 2002.

Peacock, Thomas. Ojibwe Waasa Inaabidaa: We Look in All Directions (Minnesota Historical Society Press, 2009).

Peterson, Edward Michael, Jr. “That So-Called Warranty Deed: Clouded Land Titles on the White Earth Indian Reservation in Minnesota.” North Dakota Law Review 59, no. 2 (1983), 159-181.

Satz, Ron. Chippewa Treaty Rights. Madison, Wisconsin: Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters, 1991.

Schenck, Theresa M. William W. Warren: The Life, Letters, and Times of an Ojibwe Leader. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2007.

Schoolcraft, Henry R. “Shingebiss.” The Hiawatha Legends. Reprint. AuTrain, MI: Avery Color Studios, 1984.

Schoolcraft, Henry R. The Indian in His Wigwam, or Characteristics of the Red Race of America from Original Notes and Manuscripts. New York: Dewitt & Davenport, 1848.

Schoolcraft, Henry R. The Myth of Hiawatha and Other Oral Legends, Mythologic and Allegoric, of the North American Indians. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott & Co., 1856.

Simpson, Leanne. Dancing on Our Turtle’s Back: Stories of Nishinaabeg Re-Creation, Resurgence and a New Emergence. Winnipeg, Manitoba: Arbeiter Ring Publishing, 2010.

Stark, Heidi Kiiwetinepinesiik. “Marked by Fire: Anishinaabe Articulations of Nationhood in Treaty Making with the United States and Canada.” American Indian Quarterly 36, no. 2 (Spring 2012), 119-149.

Tanner, Helen Hornbeck.The Ojibway. NewYork: Chelsea House, 1992.

Treuer, Anton. Living Our Language: Ojibwe Tales and Oral Histories. St. Paul, MN Minnesota Historical Society Press, 2001.

Treuer, Anton. Ojibwe in Minnesota. St. Paul, MN: Minnesota Historical Society Press, 2010.

Treuer, Anton. Assassination of Hole in the Day. St. Paul, MN: Minnesota Historical Society Press, 2010.

Treuer, David. Prudence: A Novel (Riverhead, 2015).

Treuer, David. Rez Life (Atlantic Monthly Press, 2012).

Treuer, David. The Translation of Dr. Apelles (Vintage, 2008).

Treuer, David. The Hiawatha: A Novel (Picador, 2000).

Treuer, David. Little: A Novel (Picador, 1996).

Vennum, Thomas, Jr. Wild Rice and the Ojibway People.St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Press, 1988.

Vizenor, Gerald R. Earthdivers: Tribal Narratives on Mixed Descent. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1981.

Vizenor, Gerald R. The Everlasting Sky: Voices of the Anishinabe People. Minneapolis: Minnesota Historical Society Press, 2000.

Vizenor, Gerald R. Fugitive Poses. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2000.

Vizenor, Gerald R. The Heirs of Columbus. Hanover, NH: University Press of New England, 1991.

Vizenor, Gerald R. Manifest Manners: Postindian Warriors of Survivance. Hanover, NH: Wesleyan University Press, 1994.

Vizenor, Gerald R. The People Named the Chippewa: Narrative Histories. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1984.

Vizenor, Gerald R. Wordarrows: Indians and Whites in the New Fur Trade. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1978.

Vizenor, Gerald, and A. Robert Lee. Postindian Conversations. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1999.

Warren, William Whipple. History of the Ojibway People.St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society Press, 1984 (originally published, 1885).

Weil, Richard H. “Destroying a Homeland: White Earth, Minnesota.” American Indian Culture and Research Journal 13, no. 2 (1989), 69-95.

White, Bruce. We Are at Home: Pictures of the Ojibwe People. St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society Press, 2007.

Youngbear-Tibbetts, Holly. “Without Due Process: The Alienation of Individual Trust Allotments of the White Earth Anishinaabeg.” American Indian Culture and Research Journal 15, no. 2 (1991), 93-138.

Additional websites to explore:

Ojibwa by Lorriane Roy

Research Ojibwe History by the Minnesota Historical Society

The Ojibwe People’s Dictionary