A brief overview of Native American contemporary cultural issues is necessary to contextualize the varying perspectives behind the array of websites I encountered; however, an in-depth review of Native American cultural history and the evolution of inter-tribal relations is beyond the scope of this study. Contemporary supratribal powwows and movements such as pan-Indianism create opportunities for inter-tribal gathering, establishing a broader notion of community. However it is difficult to measure the explicit effect the Internet has had on the continuity of offline culture, due to each tribe’s unique cultural complexities and the relative newness of these interactions. Moreover, it is impossible to assume that members from different tribes relate to or use the Internet similarly. Therefore creating a standard to judge information technology’s explicit affect on inter-tribe relations is difficult at this point in time. Internet technology may lead to changes in ethnic cultural characteristics and social meaning, however, at the same time it may help to confirm and sustain these same distinctions.

Cultural identity plays a key role in sustaining ethnic groups by instilling “the individual sense of a common past and of a shared destiny” across members (Champagne, 1999, p. 15). Native American tribes hold key commonalities regarding their status as indigenous peoples as well as the many effects of hegemonic colonialism, such as racism, prejudice, loss of land, culture, and population. This broader definition of “Indian”—exhibiting a common past as well as an array of tribal symbols and cultural mores—construct what is referred to as pan-Indian cultural identity. The emergence of pan-Indianism creates a broader space for interaction and organization, allowing members to subscribe to, identify with, and shift between their tribal specific and the pan-Indian community.

Indigenous groups such as Native Americans are continually rooted in the process of change and negotiation through time. The challenge for these Native groups is to reclaim and preserve identity, culture, and community as much as possible, while “maintaining cultural expression in contemporary life that will strengthen and extend the creativity of Native wisdom and culture” (Champagne, p. 9). Many Native Americans currently live within urban communities, experiencing life away from the reservation, while maintaining life-long ties to their tribal communities (Champagne, 1999). Inter-tribal powwows continue to make key contributions to preserving and defining Native identity, providing a unified space for group members of differing tribal backgrounds to gather and interact. In powwow events, participants’ interactions and common experiences aid to create and sustain “a common ground of memory, experience, identity and commitment out of disparate experiences and identities” (Mattern, p. 130). Native American tribes exhibit an extensive assortment of differences in tradition, custom, geographical location, and interests. Supratribal organizations, such as the American Indian Movement, host powwows characterized by the social organization of numerous Native groups, where community affirming practices including singing, dancing, honoring, and rituals of inclusion are common. At the supratribal level, powwows create a communicative space where members of various tribes can interact and define a broader pan-Indian identity and communal structure.

Asserting and sustaining this supratribal identity fosters social cohesion, reinforcing the notion of “what it means to be tribal Indian and an American Indian” (Mattern, 1999, p. 135). These notions of tribal and pan-Indian identity are not static, but rather continually shifting and dynamic. The Internet provides a communicative arena for these dynamic interactions to take place, allowing members to fluidly switch between websites catering to tribal specific groups and broader pan-Indian online communities. A clear distinction emerges between this instance online and participants’ offline identity negotiation within intertribal powwows. As off-reservation generations continue to emerge, communicative technologies such as the Internet may increasingly be used to unite members of specific tribal communities as well as to shape and extend intertribal pan-Indianism. The Internet harbors the potential to build upon pan-Indian events like powwows, extending beyond limiting factors such as geographical location and tribal displacement.

Over the past centuries, Native American communities have encountered the “incorporation of foreign religious views, political culture, economic culture, and values” (Champagne, p. 8). These impositions have created a complex platform of change, forcing Native groups to adapt to colonial domination by selectively integrating outsider ideas, technologies, religions, politics, and legal concepts, while preserving tribal sovereignty, identity, and community. According to the US Bureau of Indian Affairs there are 562 federally recognized Native American tribes, which are acknowledged as sovereign entities within the United States (Bureau of Indian Affairs, 2006). These tribes are self-governing, typically comprised of executive, legislative, and judicial branches, as well as traditional tribal governing forces.
Native American websites began to emerge in 1994 and among other uses, “Indians have embraced the Internet and the opportunity to tell the world who we are on our own terms in a big way” (Mitten, 2003). Of the 562 federally recognized tribes, 132—roughly 25 per cent—have websites (Anderson, 2003). As Anderson points out in her article “American Indian Tribal Web Sites: A Review And Comparison,” “one difficulty in reviewing tribal Web sites lies in determining the authenticity of a site” (Anderson, 2003). There are an array of sites claiming to be Native American, existing solely to exploit American Indian culture and religion for profit. Domain name suffixes, such as .com, .org, or .net, are not always reliable indicators of authenticity or purpose. Some websites, such as British Columbia’s First Nation, adopt .org suffixes to indicate their non-profit status. Although these sites may persuade increased credibility to their content, other authentic groups may use the commercial (.com) suffix to partially endorse tourism, casinos, or cultural products for sale. The Hopi Tribe website employs the “native sovereign nation” (.nsn) suffix, which was created to designate a formal domain name for American Indian tribal governments. This designation, established by the government in April of 2002, allows Native American tribal websites to switch from the previous governmental (.gov) suffix, however not all tribes have yet to make the transition (Dizard, 2002). The availability of multiple domain suffixes and the various factors behind a group’s choice, leave it up to the researcher to gauge authenticity. Exhibition of tribal government contact information and the absence of descriptions involving sacred religious rites are marked as two quick indicators of genuineness (Anderson, 2003). The key criterion for determining authenticity remains that the site and its pages are “created or sponsored by Indian people or organizations” (Mitten, 2003).

During the early days of the World Wide Web, before the advent of search engines, a number of Native American websites simply functioned to store and promote links to other websites. These links typically pointed to other Native sites containing information on cultural, historical, and contemporary issues, as well as information regarding other Native groups. Hyperlinks are represented by short strings of textual information, providing insight into the substance revealed when the link is accessed. Positioning hyperlinks within key structural points on a website may suggest similar characteristics are shared across corresponding websites. Congregator websites have since disappeared—being absorbed by larger websites or abandoned due to their immense size—however the use and structuring of hyperlinks to direct participants towards new domains remains an important feature of websites. The complex structure of connective links found within supratribal websites comprises vast amounts of links to specific Native American and Indigenous groups. These websites generally display a wide range of information about cultural, social, and governmental issues affecting Native groups nationally or globally as well as advertise large intertribal gatherings.

The goal of utilizing Native American websites in this case study is to better understand how concepts of community and identity representation influence the development and organization of these groups through the communicative medium of the Internet. I look for common themes and techniques to assert group identity as well as construct and sustain community structures. I seek to understand how offline culture is reproduced online and how it manifests within website content—discourse, images, and hyperlinks—and structure. I aim to explore if the Internet allows Native groups to assert a new dimension of socio-physical boundaries and engage any new practices or if the same boundaries are affirmed within an alternate contextual setting. I pay close attention to how Native American websites are literally built within the Internet, connective bonds between multiple sites, and the choices behind sites’ collective tribal specificity or supratribal generality.