Native-Directed Social Change in Canada and the United States

Abstract

Before 1968, there was more diversity and more frequency of Native-directed social change in institutions, social movements, and religious movements in the United States than in Canada. When Canadian and U.S. nation-states exert direct administrative controls over Native communities and impose change, there are few options for self-directed change. Since 1968, Native nations in both countries enjoy greater possibilities for self-directed change, although the patterns are uneven and moving in somewhat different directions.