Where to learn more about Native Americans negotiating user rights?

Questions
1

I know that some Native American tribes negotiated with each other to determine who had the rights to use parts of the land during the year. However, I’d like to dive a little deeper on this topic and gain a better understanding of how all this worked. Does anyone have recommendations for where I could learn more about this?

2 Likes
2

There is a literature about Native American tribes and federations negotiating “user rights” over different parts of the “natural commons.” I’ve read some of it, but I can’t give you references off the top of my head. One question I have about this literature is this: It often describes these negotiations as being very peaceful. I wonder if they were always so peaceful. But even if they were not… as I suspect may be the unfortunate truth… that does not mean that the essential point, that it was not ownership of land 24/7 but user rights over when one group of Native American had access to use some part of the natural commons that was what was “fought over” even if it was fought over. When did one tribe have the right to hunt Buffalo who ranged over the great prairies? When one tribe have the right to fish for Samon in the Columbia River? When did one tribe have the right to fish for eels in the Willamette River at the falls where Oregon City now is?

2 Likes
3

If you happen to remember it, let me know! I agree that it’s hard to imagine this happening without any conflicts.

I suppose another avenue for learning about this could be through Elinor Ostrom’s books. I don’t think she studied Native American tribes, but I think she studied small cultures that had procedures for determining who could use fisheries for certain times of the year, and how many fish they could extract etc.

2 Likes
4

Michael, I came across a reference you might find useful:

M. Kat Anderson, Taming the Wild: Native American Knowledge and the Management of California’s Natural Resources, University of California Press, 2002.

Check it out and decide yourself. I haven’t read it.

Out of interest, I encountered the reference while reading Free, Fair, and Alive: The Insurgent Power of the Commons (2019) by David Bollier and Silke Helfrich, which I generally recommend to others.

3 Likes
5

Thanks Ferdia, I haven’t heard of those books. I’ll have to check them out!

1 Like