essay

An anthropological perspective on Zuni land use

Zuni and the courts : a struggle for sovereign land rightsLawrence, Kan.Published In 1995 • Pages: 103-120

By: Ferguson, T. J. Thomas John).

AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
This article discusses the litigation proceedings before the United States Claims Court between the Zuni and the United States government over lands taken by the government without payment and for damages to the reservation by the acts and omissions of the United States in its role of trustee. In the judicial proceedings two fundamental issues were raised: (1)the extent and organiztion of traditional Zuni land use and,(2)the relationship between human land use and environmental degradation. In the latter case erosion was one of the principle damages claimed by the Zuni although the U.S. Department of Justice asserted that erosion was a natural, clyclical process not related to human land use. This assertion therefore had to be examined using data from all of the research disciplines applied by Zuni experts, including anthropology. Details of this investigation comprise a large portion of this work. In addition to contributing information pertinent to the issues involved, anthropological data were useful in documenting damage to archaeological sites caused by road construction on the Zuni Indian Reservation (p. 113).
SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
Land use
Tillage
Environmental quality
Water supply
Post depositional processes in archaeological sites
Pastoral activities
cultureCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)
Zuni
HRAF PubDateThe date HRAF published the document
2009
RegionThe area the document pertains to
North America
Sub RegionThe more specific area the document pertains to, which is located within the Region
Southwest and Basin
Document TypeMay include journal articles, essays, collections of essays, monographs, or chapters/parts of monographs
essay
Evaluation
Creator TypesThe type of person writing the document, e.g. Ethnographer, Missionary, Archaeologist, Folklorist, Linguist, Indigenous Person, and so on.
Archaeologist
Ethnohistorian
Document Rating A ranking done by HRAF anthropologists based on the strength of the source material on a scale of 1 to 5, as follows: 1 - poor; 2 - fair; 3 - good, useful data, but not uniformly excellent; 4 - excellent secondary data; 5 - excellent primary data.
4: Excellent Secondary Data
5: Excellent Primary Data
AnalystThe HRAF anthropologist who subject indexed the document and prepared other materials for the eHRAF culture/tradition collection
John Beierle; 2007
Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
1970-1980
Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
1846-1990
Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
Zuni Reservation, New Mexico, United States
NotesAdditional notes
T. J. Ferguson
Includes bibliographical references
LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number
94044026
LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
Zuni Indians