This project aims to plot the long-term expression of ethnic and self-identity by a North American Indian band, the Nikaneet of Maple Creek, Saskatchewan. It resumes research done between 1963-1971. Specifically, the problem addressed is one faced by Indians themselves: how to construct a morally defensible image of self in the circumstance that Indian ethnic identity has been publically devalued. At the time of earlier study, Nikaneet occupied an ethnic category at the bottom of the local stratification hierarchy. In the view of white people, they were moral outcasts, a judgement that was evidenced in conventional interaction between the two. Indians took a number of measures to rescue a sense of self-worth, one of which was concealment of much of their cultural heritage. An ethnic """"""""resurgence"""""""" is now taking place in Maple Creek, in which Indians openly exhibit signs of their cultural distinctiveness. An annual, two-day pow wow is prominent, attended by Indians from distant parts of the U.S. and Canada in a rented town hall. Nikaneet display their identity in less spectacular ways, and they have increased their participation in white institutions -- educational, economic, and governmental. In part, Nikaneet assertions are linked to political events at the national level, as activism by a distant Indian political elite has won tangible concessions, and provided a source of validation for local Indians for the authenticity of their claims. The primary task of this research is to document how these changes are dramatized in the day-to-day interaction of Indians and whites in this small community, situated in public places in the context of routine social occasions. Data will be gathered through interviews and from archival sources. The primary research method will be participant observation, in which the principal investigator will take up residence on the reserve for one calendar year.
