ABSTRACT
In reading most of the literature on Plains Indians, it is easy to form the impression that the people have been frozen in time. The heritage of nomadic horse and buffalo life, the dramatic story of dispossession, and the long struggles for Native rights all frame the image of the Indian in undeniably powerful ways. But contemporary Plains Indian people are not defined only by their heritage and history, but also in the ways they have continued to live as a distinctive part of American and Canadian society into the twenty-first century. This chapter focuses on the modern continuance of Plains Indian culture and examines a variety of issues having to do with acculturation, adjustment and resistance to the power of the nation state, and cultural identity maintenance.
