Dismembered: Native Disenrollment and the Battle for Human Rights

by David E. Wilkins, Shelly Hulse Wilkins

While the number of federally recognized Native nations in the United States are increasing, the population figures for existing tribal nations are declining. This depopulation is not being perpetrated by the federal government, but by Native governments that are banishing, denying, or disenrolling Native citizens at an unprecedented rate. Since the 1990s, tribal belonging has become more of a privilege than a sacred right. Political and legal dismemberment has become a national phenomenon with nearly eighty Native nations, in at least twenty states, terminating the rights of indigenous citizens.

The first comprehensive examination of the origins and significance of tribal disenrollment, Dismembered examines this disturbing trend, which often leaves the disenrolled tribal members with no recourse or appeal. At the center of the issue is how Native nations are defined today and who has the fundamental rights to belong. By looking at hundreds of tribal constitutions and talking with both disenrolled members and tribal officials, the authors demonstrate the damage this practice is having across Indian Country and ways to address the problem.

Genres: Nonfiction, Indigenous

224 pages, Paperback

Published June 6, 2017

Reviews

[Dan Ream · Rating 4 out of 5]

This serves as an excellent introduction to the historically recent inactive of Indian tribes dismembering or removing members from their tribes for a variety of reasons including political disagreements, economic incentives, and crimes committed. As a reader previously unfamiliar with Indian law, this book introduced me to the confusion of laws, regulations, and practices that have made balancing tribal control with federal or court intervention difficult. The best part is the concluding chapter in which the Wilkinses suggest steps forward to limit this practice and humanely deal with those ostracized by their former tribes.