Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant: Descendants' Organizations and Cultural Heritage in Kiowa Society

最近关于遗产和历史意识的研究的一个核心发现是，对过去的解释和表现植根于当代。他们的意义被认为不在于过去，而在于他们被要求在现在进行的文化工作。以往的研究侧重于遗产和历史意识在大规模民族主义和分离主义运动中的作用。关于它们是如何部署在规模较小但仍具有文化差异的社交环境中的，人们知之甚少。这项研究将填补这一空白。研究生迈克尔·P·乔丹将在丹尼尔·C·斯旺博士的指导下，研究遗产和历史意识如何融入俄克拉荷马州基奥瓦部落的社会动态和内部政治。基奥瓦部落是一个得到联邦承认的美洲印第安人部落，总部设在俄克拉何马州卡内基。19世纪基奥瓦社会是分层的，社会等级一直影响着部落政治直到20世纪中叶。为了考察过去在今天的用途，研究人员将重点放在最近创建的正式后代组织上，这些组织由直系后代组织起来，以纪念他们的19世纪祖先。他将采用混合方法，结合对团体间和团体内互动的研究，分析表演活动的话语和实质性方面，以及非正式和正式访谈。对这一有趣案例的调查将提供一个窗口，让我们了解过去的意识是如何部署在现在的更大的现象。这项研究很重要，因为正在调查的现象在世界各地都有发现。这项研究将有助于关于当代社会群体如何以及为什么在全球化的情况下继续利用高度本地化的区别的理论。此外，评估后代组织利用与19世纪历史人物有关的知识产权的方式，将有助于社会科学理解知识产权制度中的跨文化差异。这项研究也将有助于研究生的教育。

A core finding of recent research on heritage and historical consciousness is that interpretations and representations of the past are rooted in the contemporary moment. Their significance is seen as lying not in the past, but rather in the cultural work that they are made to perform in the present. Previous studies have focused on the role of heritage and historical consciousness in large scale nationalist and separatist movements. Far less is known about how they are deployed in smaller but still culturally distinct social settings. This research will fill that gap. Graduate student Michael P. Jordan, supervised by Dr. Daniel C. Swan, will undertake research on the ways in which heritage and historical consciousness are brought into the social dynamics and internal politics of the Kiowa Tribe of Oklahoma, a federally recognized American Indian tribe with headquarters in Carnegie, Oklahoma. Nineteenth century Kiowa society was stratified and social rank continued to influence tribal politics into the mid-twentieth century. To examine the uses of the past today, the researcher will focus on recently created formal descendants' organizations, groups organized by lineal descendants to commemorate their nineteenth century ancestors. He will employ a mixed methods approach, combining the study of inter- and intra-group interaction, analysis of the discursive and material aspects of performance events, and informal and formal interviewing. This investigation of this interesting case will provide a window into the larger phenomenon of how consciousness of the past is deployed in the present. The research is important because the phenomenon under investigation is found world wide. The research will contribute to theory about how and why contemporary social groups continue to make use of highly localized distinctions despite globalization. In addition, assessment of the ways in which descendants' organizations utilize intellectual property associated with 19th century historical figures will contribute to social science understanding of cross-cultural variation in intellectual property systems. The research also will contribute to the education of a graduate student.