The red man's burden : establishing cultural boundaries in the age of technology

The technology of the dominant society, the omnipresence of a cash economy, and a history of the brutal treatment of culturally distinct peoples are among the assimilative pressures faced by native peoples within the United States. Some indigenous cultures have managed to resist the forces of assimilation in ways that are both adaptive and culturally sustaining. The Pueblos of the Southwestern United States have managed to preserve their culture through the creation of cultural boundaries that are both adaptive and culturally sustaining. The processes which serve to strengthen and renew the symbols which represent these boundaries are those of "revitalization" and "resynchronization," both of which arise from Pueblo religious practices and from the Pueblos' strong sense of family.