ABSTRACT
Indigenous peoples worldwide have claimed self-determination as a moral, legal, and political right. This chapter outlines the historical frames that have been used to describe Native citizenship since the formation of the United States and illustrates the differing views on Native rights that have arisen under each frame. It addresses the "fifth frame" of Indigenous citizenship. The chapter examines the contemporary norm of Indigenous self-determination to see whether US citizenship is in tension with the rights of Indigenous peoples to self-determination. The Cherokee Freedman case raises the paradox of Indigenous self-determination: Indigenous peoples hold equal rights within a participatory democracy because they are now US citizens, and they hold the right of self-determination because they have always existed as separate peoples. The principle of self-determination implies that the status of Indigenous peoples is inherent and not created by the modern nation-state.
