Bounding American Indian Businesses

Every Native Nation is a “border nation”— physically, economically, politically, and legally. As such, the volatile topic of these Native Nation boundaries is historically and contemporarily enmeshed with contestation and conflict, not only in the larger political actions of these states but also as it is felt in the daily lives of American Indian peoples. Boundaries of territory and citizenry in particular have always been crucial to the subject of American Indian rights. The delineations of these boundaries, then, have complications and consequences for the exercise of EBCI economic sovereignty as well as for the small- business owners that choose to operate there. These boundary formations are critical to understanding the contextual distinctiveness of federally recognized American Indian entrepreneurs through land rights, formation of citizenship requirements, and issues of representation (especially in relation to citizenship). This chapter looks specifically at the issues of land scarcity, trust land for Native Nations and their citizens, the cultural capital of this land in a tourism context, and the environmental impacts of economic development. Land scarcity may also cause citizens to leave the Qualla Boundary, resulting in some instances in brain drain, networking loss, and economic drain. The importance of citizenship, along with its complications, are illustrated through the efforts of Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians artists and their strategies to market their work.

Economic Identities

Sorting out the diversity of small businesses and small- business practices begins with two seemingly simple but central questions: Who owns these businesses, and what markets do they serve? To delve into these questions, this chapter begins by examining the contextual distinctiveness of American Indians’ economic identities and their related experiences, especially in the context of capitalism. Addressing these constructions helps refine our theoretical understandings of what has been termed Indigenous entrepreneurship by following how the external shaping of Indigenous economic identity has hindered its representation as well as its expression. Family business ownership is highlighted here, followed by an examination of issues for tourism businesses, including buffering for privacy as well as complications of the “Buy Local” movement for tourism-based businesses.

Introduction

This introduction describes how encouraging a diversity of small businesses can help support a Native Nation’s long-term economic stability, but goes further to demonstrate this uniquely through the eyes of the small-business owners themselves along with an in-depth examination of their local, national, and international contexts. In doing so, it describes how this book also addresses the ways in which Native Nations, by supporting small business resilience, are responding in politically and socioeconomically meaningful ways to settler-colonial economic subjugations. This introduction further describes how the book unpacks the layers of small-business complications specific to Native Nations and American Indian business owners while speaking to larger theoretical questions regarding the impact of small businesses in a global indigenous context. Debates regarding economic sovereignty versus economic power, measures of autonomy, land status, economic identity, fluctuating relationships with settler-colonial society, and the growth of neoliberalism (along with its accompanying “structural adjustment” policies) meet with specific practices, such as the implementation of guaranteed annual incomes, cultural revitalization actions, environmental justice movements, and the potentially precarious choices of economic development—issues that are exacerbated during times of economic precarity, such as the Great Recession.

Pillars of Sovereignty

The practices of political sovereignty, such as nation building, and the achievement of a stable economy through practices of economic sovereignty are intimately intertwined— and the role of small-business diversity in creating this economic stability can be indispensable. Consequently, these relationships and the situational interdependence of government-owned corporations (e.g., gaming) and privately owned small businesses, especially in the case of the EBCI, are vital to supporting the practices of both political and economic sovereignty, especially when countering the effects of the US governments’ economic hegemony. Drawing on the economic anthropology literature helps to complicate notions of “per caps” (dividends) operating as universal basic income and guaranteed annual income on the national level while also expanding notions of entrepreneurial impacts, such as in the realm of cultural reclamation.

Government Support for Indianpreneurs

The EBCI government recognizes that small- business owners on the Qualla Boundary face very distinctive challenges, and its sovereign status allows it to aid in ways particular to Native Nations. These small- business entrepreneurs have access to a variety of valuable support mechanisms, ranging from intergenerational business advantages (as seen in family enterprises) to federal and Native Nation government interventions, which can enhance opportunities and mitigate challenges. It is in these relationships that we see how Native Nations deploy economic sovereignty in a small- business context. The EBCI government offers support specific to the needs of American Indian businesses located on trust land and for Eastern Band business owners. This includes financial support (e.g., loans – especially those that address the needs of trust land as collateral), the establishment of their own Tribal Employment Rights Commission (TERO) office, small business training (such as the Indianpreneurship course), and the managing of their Chamber of Commerce.

Tourism

To ignore the obvious proliferation of tourism-based small businesses on the Qualla Boundary is to ignore a principal element of the EBCI’s economy and its rich history of business owner ship. Furthermore, the importance of the tourism industry for Native Nations across the United States has been growing in recent years, as seen, for example, in the institution of the 2016 Native American Tourism and Improving Visitor Experience (NATIVE) Act. It is for this reason that I dedicate an entire chapter to this topic. Here, the differences between the town of Cherokee and the rest of the Qualla Boundary are clearest, as almost all of the tourism that takes place on the Qualla Boundary is concentrated in Cherokee proper. This chapter focuses on the concept of authenticity, what is “authentic” in tourist’s eyes, and how the EBCI have asserted their representation from the times of nostalgia tourism to the cultural and heritage tourism of today, a change that is financially supported by the casino. This tourism discussion includes topics such as the development of the Qualla Co-operative and branding, such as the “authentically Cherokee” brand.

Conclusion

Eastern Band citizens have shown that privately owned American Indian small businesses can have a positive and substantial impact on the development and economic stability of their entire Nation, especially for instances of one industry reliance. But for American Indians on reservations, the distinct challenges to small- business owner-ship must be addressed. Because my research testifies to the extensive positive value of small, private businesses to reservations, it is my hope that other Native Nations will include, as the EBCI has recently begun to, a focus on new policies that support local small businesses as a means of strengthening their economies. To accomplish this, Native Nation leaders can take a proactive stance in creating environments (an “entrepreneurial culture”) that are conducive to small- business ownership, address the pragmatics of training, infrastructure, and financing (especially with issues of debt) for American Indians, and stay attuned to potential local issues, such as representation. In order to do so, it is vital to understand economic sovereignty as an aggregate, living action— both in the ways that the small- business sector supports its practice and in how Native Nations use it in crafting the type of stable and sustainably diverse economy.