Governance Under State Recognition
"Recognition refers to how other governments view a nation, not how a nation views itself or how it acts. Neither federal nor state governments grant sovereignty to Indigenous peoples."
–Danielle Hiraldo
Recognition—also referred to as “acknowledgement”—is the formalization of a government-to-government relationship between a settler-colonial government and a Native nation government. In the United States, there are two different recognition classifications: federal and state. Each designation offers tribes a political relationship with an external government as one avenue of many to assert governing authority. State recognition might be defined as a political relationship with the state in which the tribe shares geography. Alexa Koenig and Jonathan Stein (2008) argue, “Much like federal recognition, it [state recognition] operates as a means for states to acknowledge the longstanding existence of tribes within their borders and to establish a government-to-government relationship to coordinate and communicate with tribes” (86).
![Tribal Recognition in the United States](/sites/default/files/styles/az_large/public/2022-11/Danielle-State-Rec-Infographic-update.jpg?itok=Z8Oki5jF)
Publications & Projects
![Project Muse](/sites/default/files/styles/az_card_image/public/2022-11/Project%20Muse.png?itok=TVJ68GxZ)
![“If You Are Not at the Table, You Are on the Menu”: Lumbee Government Strategies under State Recognition](/sites/default/files/styles/az_card_image/public/2022-08/%E2%80%9CIf%20You%20Are%20Not%20at%20the%20Table%2C%20You%20Are%20on%20the%20Menu%E2%80%9D-%20Lumbee%20Government%20Strategies%20under%20State%20Recognition.png?itok=ScY13NAm)
![Managing Land, Governing for the Future: Finding the Path Forward for Membertou](/sites/default/files/styles/az_card_image/public/2022-09/Managing_land_governing_future_finding_path_forward_membertou.png?itok=ZQ5MivjN)
![The Rise of Indigenous Recognition- Implications for Comparative Politics](/sites/default/files/styles/az_card_image/public/2022-08/The%20Rise%20of%20Indigenous%20Recognition-%20Implications%20for%20Comparative%20Politics_0.png?itok=OacccV4q)