Peoplehood of the State Of Arizona: Four Chapters to Connect U.S. Census Data to Native Voter Suppression in Arizona

Abstract

The U.S. Census determines funding and representation for the United States.This dissertation explores connections between U.S. Census data, as well as the ceremonial cycles they affect, and Native voter suppression in Arizona through utilization of the Peoplehood Matrix (Holm, 2003). The Peoplehood Matrix is used to explain the commonalities and diversity of American Indian and Alaska Native communities in four areas: Sacred History, Land, Language, and Ceremonial Cycle. For this dissertation, the Peoplehood Matrix serves as a lens to explain colonial government systems, specifically the State of Arizona. This exploration takes place through four chapters, each of which focuses on one of the four areas constituting peoplehood. The first chapter uses the colonial Land system as the lens for examining how redistricting practices do more than gerrymandering as they contributed to the degradation of sovereign power for the Navajo Nation. The second chapter uses Sacred History as the lens for examining Census data to show how genocide and Indian Removal contributed to voter gentrification of the Colorado River Indian Tribes’ reservation. The third chapter uses Indian Removal Language as the lens for examining how current voting legislation, voted on by State Rulers of the Gila River Indian Community, contributes to the strategic removal of voters such as those living on the Gila River Indian Reservation. The fourth and final chapter uses the Colonial Ceremony Cycle as the lens to show how voter gentrification, colonial-mandering, and voting removal legislation, perpetuate and justify a cycle of Native voter suppression and reduced sovereign power for the Havasupai Tribe.