Nurturers and keepers of culture: the influence of native american women on the development of collective action frames

Abstract

This research demonstrates that, in order to understand the interactions which comprise social movement development, researchers must examine the impact of institutions on self-development. I start by examining the self-development of Native American women within the institutions of education, law and economics. In these institutions, Native American women acquire an organizational repertoire that primarily involves nurturing people, keeping culture alive, and transmitting cultural knowledge to future generations. Adding to the recent focus on social movement culture, and drawing on an ethnographic study of two Native American social movement organizations, I examine how the self helps Native American women legitimate their influence on the construction of meaning in collective action framing. As caretakers of the people and the keepers and transmitters of culture, Native American women can make strategic contributions to movement frames, grounding them in cultural values, beliefs and practices, and thus influencing the direction that the movement takes.

Citation

Gongaware, T.B. (2002), "Nurturers and keepers of culture: the influence of native american women on the development of collective action frames", Coy, P.G. (Ed.) Consensus Decision Making, Northern Ireland and Indigenous Movements (Research in Social Movements, Conflicts and Change, Vol. 24), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 409-441. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0163-786X(03)80031-9