Examining Indigenous Rights to Culture in North America

Indian tribal groups in the United States and Canada are vigorously asserting cultural ownership of the content of cultures with which they identify, ownership rights that allow them to prevent others from appropriating that content, or to use it only with conditions. Additionally, they assert the right to their own cultural futures, to practice an evolving cultural form with sufficient natural and fiscal resources to be viable, and the right to be treated respectfully by the dominant society. These rights claims take various forms, and have encountered varying levels of success. Five types of rights assertions are reviewed here.