"We've always known who we are": Belonging in the Poarch Band of Creek Indians.

Abstract

This dissertation focuses on the history and identity of the Poarch Band of Creek Indians of Alabama. This work contributes to the larger body of scholarship that challenges the invisibility of Native Americans in the East and the South. The dissertation describes the economic conditions of the Poarch Creeks from the early twentieth century to the present. I trace the process Poarch went through in order to gain access to equal educational opportunities in the segregated South. I also discuss the integration of local white schools with Indian children. Two chapters of this dissertation are devoted to the way in which the Poarch Creek define kinship and tribal membership. I analyze the way in which blood quantum is used to identify members of the Poarch Band of Creek Indians. I also examine how the tribe’s legal definitions of tribal members differ from the broader Poarch community’s understanding of who belongs in the community and who is deserving of current tribal member benefits. Drawing on Janet Carsten’s (1997, 2000, 2004) idea of “shared substance” as the basis of kinship relations, I trace the idea of “shared discrimination” as one way in which tribal members have formed familial bonds even without being biologically related. I also examine the religious components of life in Poarch, including both Christianity and the traditional religious practice of stomp dancing. I describe the legal process of federal recognition and the Poarch Band of Creek’s petition for acknowledgement that was granted in 1983. I discuss the Wind Creek Casino and Hotel, a recently constructed Class II gaming facility on the Poarch Band of Creek Indian reservation, which supports the process of self-determination by the Poarch Band of Creek Indians. Finally, I discuss the ways in which tribal members are now able to express their pride in being a tribal member, as well as the ways that the tribe has contributed to the surrounding community.