Discusses leadership and political structure among the five Iroquois Nations--Cayuga, Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, and Seneca--in the northeastern United States during the eighteenth century. Uses myth, ritual, historical sources, American ethnology, and British social anthropology to describe and analyze political entities and to classify leaders.…

Describes political change among Plains tribes, particularly the Dakota. Shows how Indian political organization adapted to changing economic, social, and environmental conditions. Discusses the change from bands to tribes to chiefdoms to community political organizations able to offer resistance to the dominant white society while maintaining…

Introduces four papers presented at the 1985 Newberry Seminars on the History of American Indian Leadership. Emphasizes need for recognition of rich political traditions and distinctive modes of governance in breaking down barriers between Indian history and history of other American groups. Points out dynamic nature of native institutions. (LFL)

Demonstrates why terms like "tribe" cannot be transferred from ethnographic descriptions to political history. Critiques her work with Central African tribes, comparing African and American Indian societies to show that what looks like a tribal entity is usually a political polity with its own history of growth and decline. (LFL)