Politics And Culture Of The Great Plains: An Introduction

In April 1996 the Center for Great Plains Studies at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln sponsored its twentieth interdisciplinary symposium, Politics and Culture of the Great Plains. From papers and presentations by scholars from the United States and Canada, dealing with Indian rights, women\u27s suffrage, education, the economy, elections, social movements, and historical and contemporary personalities, four are presented in this issue of Great Plains Quarterly. Treaty Seven and Guaranteed Representation: How Treaty Rights Can Evolve into Parliamentary Seats deals with relations between sovereign nations-the Blackfoot Confederacy of southern Alberta and the national government of Canada. Kiera Ladner argues that the Indians had a fundamentally different view than national authorities of Treaty Seven. Concerned about rapid westward expansion in the US in the 1870s, Canadian authorities encouraged their own westward expansion. Authorities viewed treaties as a way to secure title to the land and bring the Indians under control, but the tribes intended to protect their land and life style. What is the legal standing and meaning of treaty rights today? How can the tribes maintain peace and good order as they agreed to do in the treaty? Ladner suggests one way: guaranteed representation in Parliament. The indigenous peoples of North America were and continue to be sovereign nations. Agreements negotiated between them and national governments are still valid, and national governments are obligated to honor them, albeit in a contemporary context. Guaranteed parliamentary representation is an intriguing idea, though perhaps unlikely to be implemented. Ladner\u27s essay encourages us to consider this and other alternatives that will enable national governments to fulfill their obligations to North America\u27s first peoples. National boundaries rarely prevent people and ideas from moving in or out. Ideas, of course, are the most mobile. In Liberal Education on the Great Plains: American Experiments, Canadian Flirtations, 1930-1950, Kevin Brooks focuses on the spread of liberal education to American and Canadian universities of the Great Plains in the 1930s and 1940s. He distinguishes between the oratorical tradition, dedicated to inculcating traditional values and insuring social stability, and the philosophical tradition of seeking new knowledge in the hope of improving society. Universities in the Midwest and Prairies sought to make education useful, combining the philosophical liberal education tradition with vocational and professional training. In spite of the strong commitment of the universities in eastern Canada to the oratorical tradition and the recruitment of college educators from these institutions to oversee the development of prairie universities, it was the midwestern model, with its emphasis on the practical as well as the general, that took hold. Brooks argues lack of resources, distance, and the demand that education focus on the practical foreclosed other options. His study suggests that regional identities are sometimes as important as national ones in explaining the spread and adoption of ideas. The study also helps define the Great Plains as a distinct region, where environmental constraints ensure common responses to social problems, in this case sufficient to overcome the power of national identity and national boundaries