US GSA is a good resource for information on US-native relations

The US General Services Administration’s page on tribal consultation is intended to offer a convenient resource to familiarize oneself with federal policy regarding relations with native peoples. The GSA is essentially the logistics arm of the government; an independent federal agency concerned with managing cost, real estate, transportation, and other administrative needs of federal employees. Land management includes a historic preservation program meant to manage historical sites in the US, and thus relations with natives are important to the GSA since many native sites may fall under their purview. The GSA page clearly states their policy (warning for those on a slow device: this is a PDF), which “[commits] to a government-to-government relationship with federally-recognized tribal governments.”

This is an excellent and relevant source for anyone studying government relations with native peoples. A unique challenge faced by the United States is how to effectively manage relations with what are essentially many small enclaves within its borders, and diplomacy can be especially fragile given past interactions between the groups at play. The very agency tasked with managing various sites which may belong to the US but still hold significance for tribal groups is thus a good primary source of information for how this issue has evolved over time. Indeed, links are provided to the text of various policy statements over the past two decades or so, providing valuable insight into how this relationship has evolved over time.

Nothing here has really challenged my ideas about native communities, but it did give me more insight into some of the cultural struggles faced by natives. For example, I learned that the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act was only passed in 1990. NAGPRA mandated that cultural items including human remains and funerary objects discovered on federal land after November 16, 1990 be returned to the tribes from which they originated. I was a bit taken aback that this has only been official policy for a little less than 24 years. I think government websites like this are a great resource for anyone wanting to follow the history of any sort of policy, because laws and policy statements tend to be well-documented if you can find the relevant agency.