The Work of Sovereignty: Tribal Labor Relations and Self-Determination at the Navajo Nation

Tribal gaming is simultaneously at the center and the periphery of tribal labor relations and, for that matter, economic development in Indian Country as a whole. Tribal labor relations span the tension between gaming and nongaming concerning issues and questions that are central to any tribally run economic enterprise. The Work of Sovereignty explores political, economic, and cultural forces that structure and influence economic development from the perspective of workers. A fundamental question of this book is what it would mean to view indigenous self-determination from the vantage point of work and workers. The author’s considerations of this question cohere around his definition of tribal labor relations as the unique ways in which relationships between workers and management play out. While most research on tribal sovereignty and economic development focuses on the legal, governmental, and economic structures that delimit sovereignty, this book centers on the people who experience and enact it through their everyday labor. The Work of Sovereignty is not just about the legal jurisdictional debates over tribal gaming labor relations, but rather, how labor relations play out on the ground in Indian Country, how tribal employees view their relationships with their bosses and tribal enterprises, and how this view connects to their enactment of indigenous self-determination.