Montana Tribal Nations

Lands occupied and utilized by indigenous people for many centuries or millennia. The ancestral lands of American Indian tribes are frequently referred to in their oral histories and are still important to tribes and their cultures today. These lands may or may not be on reservations.

• Forefather lands
• Hereditary lands
• Native lands
• Ancestral lands

A group of people who live in the same area (such as a city, town, reservation, or neighborhood) and share common resources. They may be of a single culture or of diverse cultures.

• Society
• Union
• Community
• Gathering

The use or violation of an aspect of another’s culture, such as the misuse of specific American Indian symbols by non-Indian people or the claims of non-Indians to be leaders of tribal ceremonies

• Cultural assimilation
• Cultural appropriation
• Cultural misappropriation
• Cultural integration

The collective identity of a particular group of people as evident in their beliefs, values, customs, social behaviors, practices, language, way of life, political and economic systems, shared history, and material goods.

• Heritage
• Tradition
• Ethnicity
• Culture

Differences among people or groups of people living within a common boundary. Diversity can be indicated by cultural, economic, racial, ethnic, or religious differences between groups of people. While Montana tribes share some similarities, there is also great diversity between them.

• Diversity

• Identity

• Community

• Symbol

An area of land reserved by tribes for their use and occupation. These lands were reserved (held back) by the tribes for their own use through treaties, not “given” to tribes. Reservations, as the product of treaties, are an indication of tribal sovereignty.

• Tribal reservations
• Native American lands
• Indigenous reserves
• Tribal territories

Highly valued and important; deserving great respect; having great significance in a spiritual and cosmic sense.

• sacred
• profane
• divine
• holy

An identifying mark, emblem, or symbol of office. Tribal seals are emblems of tribal governments and in that sense are expressions of tribal sovereignty.

• Sovereignty mark
• Tribal seal
• Tribal emblem
• Government symbol

__________ is inherent and cannot be given to one group by another. It ensures the right to self-government, facilitates cultural preservation, and enables a people's control of their own future. Legally, federally recognized tribal nations are considered semi-sovereign entities and as such have a unique relationship to the federal government. It affirms the political identity of Indian Nations; they are not simply a racial or ethnic minority.

• Monarchy

• Sovereignty

• Anarchy

• Hierarchy

An image that is used to represent or signify a larger concept or idea.

• allegory

• representation

• symbol

• metaphor