Arguing with Tradition: The Language of Law in Hopi Tribal Court

200 Pages·2008·1.49 MB·English

by  Justin B. Richland

Arguing with Tradition
THE CHICAGO SERIES IN LAW AND SOCIETY
EditedbyJohnM.ConleyandLynnMather
Arguing with Tradition
The Language of Law in Hopi Tribal Court
JUSTIN B. RICHLAND
TheUniversityofChicagoPress
ChicagoandLondon
JUSTINB.RICHLANDisassistantprofessorofcriminology,law,andsocietyatthe
UniversityofCalifornia–Irvine.HeisalsojusticeprotemporeoftheHopiAppellate
Courtandauthor,withSarahDeer,ofIntroductiontoTribalLegalStudies(AltaMira,
2004).
TheUniversityofChicagoPress,Chicago60637
TheUniversityofChicagoPress,Ltd.,London
(cid:2)C 2008byTheUniversityofChicago
Allrightsreserved.Published2008
PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica
17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 09 08 1 2 3 4 5
ISBN-13:978-0-226-71293-2 (cloth)
ISBN-13:978-0-226-71295-6 (paper)
ISBN-10:0-226-71293-1 (cloth)
ISBN-10:0-226-71295-8 (paper)
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Richland,JustinB.(JustinBlake),1970–
Arguingwithtradition:thelanguageoflawinHopiTribalcourt/Justin
B.Richland.
p.cm.—(TheChicagoseriesinlawandsociety)
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
ISBN-13:978-0-226-71293-2(cloth:alk.paper)
ISBN-10:0-226-71293-1(cloth:alk.paper)
ISBN-13:978-0-226-71295-6(pbk.:alk.paper)
ISBN-10:0-226-71295-8(pbk.:alk.paper) 1.HopiIndians—Legalstatus,laws,etc.
2.Hopilaw—-Arizona. 3.HopiTribeofArizona. 4.Indiancourts—-UnitedStates.
5.IndiansofNorthAmerica—Arizona. I.Title.
KF8228.H67R532008
346.7301(cid:3)3—dc22
2007043031
(cid:2)∞ Thepaperusedinthispublicationmeetstheminimumrequirementsofthe
AmericanNationalStandardforInformationSciences—PermanenceofPaperfor
PrintedLibraryMaterials,ANSIZ39.48-1992.
ForLindseyandSilas
AndinhonorofE.S.,withthehopethat
thisapproacheshisideaofwhatastudyof
hispeopleshouldbe.

Contents
ListofIllustrations ix
Acknowledgments xi
1 Introduction:ArguingwithTraditioninNativeAmerica 1
TheIroniesofIndigeneity 1
NativeAmericanTribalLawandTradition 3
“Anglo”LawinIndianCountry:CourtsofIndianOffenses 8
TribalCourtsToday:AttheEdgeofTribalSovereignty 12
TheDearthofEthnographiesofTribalCourts 17
TheApproachandAimsofThisStudy 22
AnOutlineofThisStudy 23
2 MakingaHopiNation:“Anglo”LawComestoHopiCountry 27
HopiTribalGovernance 32
HopiVillageOrganizationandGovernance 34
CourtComestoHopiCountry 37
TheHopiTribalCourtToday 41
DataandMethodologies:TalkingTraditioninHopiProperty
Disputes 52
3 “Whatareyougoingtodowiththevillage’sknowledge?”
LanguageIdeologiesandLegalPowerinHopiTribalCourt 59
LegalDiscourseAnalysisandLegalPower 61
LanguageIdeologies,Metadiscourse,andMetapragmatics 64
viii Contents
TalkingTradition,TalkingLawinHopiCourtroomInteractions 66
TheLanguageIdeologiesofAnglo-AmericanLawversusHopi
TraditionalAuthority 79
Conclusion 86
4 “HecouldnotspeakHopi....Thatpuzzle—puzzledme”:
ThePragmaticParadoxesofHopiTraditioninCourt 89
ParadoxinthePragmaticsofLanguageandLaw 92
DiscoursesofCulturalDifferenceinHopiCourt 97
IterationsofIndigeneityinaHopiCourtHearing 100
Conclusion 112
5 SufferingintoTruth:HopiLawasNarrativeInteraction 115
LegalNarrativityinandoutofCourt 116
AModelofHopiLawasNarrativeInteraction 120
TheSignificanceofSettings:JudicialOpeningsofHopiCourtroom
Narrative 122
TheContestedNarrativityofaHopiPropertyProceeding 128
Conclusion 142
6 Conclusion:ArgumentswithTradition 147
Tradition,Culture,andthePoliticsofAuthenticity 150
The“Politics”ofMulticulturalismandNativeCulture 154
ArguingwithTradition 157
Notes 163
References 169
Index 179
Illustrations
Figure1. MapofHopiCountry 29
Figure2. TheHopiReservation 30
Figure3. HopiCourtroom1,Exterior 42
Figure4. HopiCourtroom1,Interior 43
Figure5. HopiCourtroom2,Interior 43
Figure6. AdversarialLayoutofHopiCourtrooms 44
Figure7. HopiTribalCourtCaseloads,1998–2002 54
Figure8. AModelofPeirce’sTheoryofSigns 94
Figure9. TheMetapragmaticIterationsofHopiCulturalDifference 111
Figure10. TheNarrativeSequence:AProblem-SolvingGenre 120
Figure11. TheHopiHearingasNarrativeInteraction 121