Abstract
This dissertation examines the relationship between technology and cultural change on the Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation in South Dakota, home to 7000 Lakota Indians. Recently, a number of popular authors have suggested that technology, especially electronic or ’emerging’ media technologies such as television and the Internet, is a primary causative force for acculturation among indigenous people. This study challenges the role often assigned to technology in the process of acculturation, and shows the ways in which media technology may be promoting the opposite phenomenon, cultural revitalization, among indigenous groups. It also offers a vision for the role of applied anthropology among Native Americans in the future.
The Author
For information about Dr. Steven Mizrach, please visit his website.
