Doctoral Dissertation Research: Thicker than Blood: Re-membering Identity in U.S. v. Oregon, et al, Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, Plaintiff-Intervenor

9413118 Silverstein这个论文改进项目通过对一个条约权利案例的扩展研究来研究法律和文化之间的动态关系，该案例中，自1989年以来，华盛顿州东北部的科尔维尔联盟部落一直参与其中。在这个正在进行的案件中，科尔维尔部落试图通过建立自20世纪60年代以来太平洋西北地区出现的一系列具有里程碑意义的捕鱼权案件，来确保他们从哥伦比亚河系统采集鱼类的权利。与这些早期的案件相比，科尔维尔案的被告既不是当地的非印第安人，也不是州政府，而是印第安部落，他们的权利此前通过这起诉讼得到了保障。反过来，除了科尔维尔夫妇为主权权利而进行的特殊斗争具有重要意义外，他们的案例还代表了美国解释文化权利的最发达和最完善的法律方法，也代表了通过诉讼解决社会冲突而导致的文化关系变化——文化身份的“合法化”。本研究将以“语言使用”为重点，从这些相关但又不同的角度来探讨法律与文化之间的动态关系。本研究将分析(1)联邦法院解释本案核心焦点条约合同语言的公式，(2)法院产生和解释部落证人证词的方法，以及(3)部落证人谈论本案核心问题和事件以及法律本身的方式。将比较科尔维尔和联邦界定合法身份和叙述历史的方法。研究将在科尔维尔保留地进行大量的录音访谈将与科尔维尔的证人，其他相关的科尔维尔部落成员和科尔维尔的律师就本案中提出的中心问题和事件以及更普遍的法律进行访谈。审判笔录和本案中提交的证物也将被审查。

9413118 Silverstein This Dissertation Improvement project examines the dynamic relationship between the law and culture through an extended study of a treaty rights case in which the Colville Confederated Tribes of northeastern Washington State have been engaged since 1989. In this ongoing case the Colville Tribes are attempting to secure their right to gather fish from the Columbia River system by building on the series of landmark fishing rights cases that have come out of the pacific Northwest since the 1960s. In contrast to these earlier cases, the defendants in the Colville case are not local non-Indians nor state governments, but the Indian tribes whose rights were previously secured through this litigation. In turn, in addition to the significance of the Colville's particular struggle for sovereign rights, their case is representative of the most developed and refined legal methods of interpreting culturally-based rights in the U.S., and also of the kinds of changes in cultural relations that result from the resolution of social conflicts through litigation -- the "legalization" of cultural identities. This study will take "language use" as its focus in order to explore the dynamic between law and culture form these related, but distinct perspectives. This study will analyze (1) the formulae by which federal courts interpret the language of the treaty contracts that are central focus in this case, (2) the methods by which the court produces and interprets the testimony of tribal witnesses, and (3) the manner in which tribal witnesses speak about the issues and events central to this case and about the law itself. Colville and federal methods of defining legitimate identity and of narrating history will be compared. Research will be conducted on the Colville reservation where extensive recorded interviews will be conducted with Colville witnesses, other relevant Colville tribal members and Colville attorneys about the central issues and events raised in this case and about the law more generally. Trial transcripts and the exhibits presented in this case will also be reviewed.