Culture and Cash: How Two New Mexico Pueblos Combined Culture and Development

Abstract

From 1980 to the present, most American Indian tribes exercising the Indian Self-Determination Act of 1975 have invested federal and other funds to develop their governing institutions and economies on the assumption that traditional systems of governance are obstacles to business investment and, therefore, to development. Contrary to this pattern, the Pueblo Indians of New Mexico retained theocratic and nonelected forms of governance recognized by Spanish rulers and remained in their ancestral domain. This article considers lessons learned by the Zia Pueblo and Pueblo de Cochiti from 1980 to 2005 in their efforts to make new development support, rather than compete with, customary values and institutions. It argues that these Pueblo Indian tribes demonstrate the importance of traditional governance institutions and tribal members who can strategically engage both indigenous knowledge and outside expertise to plan development that supports cultural integrity.