Self-study
P1
Some Native American tribes have had difficulty establishing their land claims because the United States government did not recognize their status as tribes; therefore during the 1970s some Native Americans attempted to obtain such recognition through the medium of U.S. courts. ███
Intro topic ·
NA tribes tried to make claims to land through U.S. courts
Problem ·
Process of NA lawsuits showed conflict that can exist between cultures with different systems of discourse
P2
██ ███ █████████ ███ ██████ █████ ███████ ██████ ██ ███████ ███ █████ █████████████ █████ ██ ███████ █████████ ██ ███ ████ ██ ████████ ███████████████████████████ █ ██████ ███ ████ ███ ████ ████ ████████ ██ ███ ████████ ███
Example ·
Mashpee brought lawsuit to recover their land
Non-Mashpee purchased the land in violation of a statute requiring federal approval of sales of NA-land to non-NA people.
Status as "tribe" ·
Mashpee had to show they were tribe to get protection of statute
Tribe was defined as a group of Native Americans "governing themselves under one leadership and inhabiting a particular territory."
P3
███ ████ ███████ ████ ███ ███████ ████ ███ ██████████████ ███ ████ ████ ███ ██ ███████ ██████████ ███ ███████ █████ ███████ ██ ███████████████ ███ ████ ███████ ████ ██ ████ █████ ████ ███████ █████████████ ██ ████ █ ███████ ███ █████ ███████ ███████ █████████ ████ ██ ████ ███
Requirement of written documentation ·
Mashpee couldn't show that they met definition of tribe, because they didn't have written documentation
Mashpee were an oral culture, so didn't have deeds or writings and delineated the boundaries of Mashpee land.
Recent changes for better ·
Similar land claims have been more successful recently
Courts acknowledge that different discourses between cultures can lead to unfair legal results.
Passage Style
Problem-analysis
Single position
5.
The passage is primarily concerned ████
a
evaluating various approaches ██ ███████ █ ███████
Unsupported. The author doesn’t present or evaluate “various approaches” to solving the problem. The only reference to any solution is at the end of P3, where the author notes that courts are starting to recognize their earlier failure.
b
illuminating a general ███████ ██ ██████████ █ ████████ ███████
The passage illuminates the general problem of how different systems of discourse can pose problems for legal fairness. It does this by discussing the specific example of the Mashpee land claim suit.
c
reconciling the differences ██ ███ ███ ████████ █████ ████████ █ ███████
Unsupported. The author doesn’t reconcile anything; she merely shows that a problem arose from how two opposing sides approached a problem.
d
critiquing an earlier ████████ ██ █ ███████ ██ █████ ██ ███ ███████████
Unsupported. The author doesn’t critique any solutions. The only reference to any solution is at the end of P3, where the author notes that courts are starting to recognize their earlier failure.
e
reinterpreting an earlier ████████ ███ █████████ █ ███ ████████ ██ ███ ███████
Unsupported. The author doesn’t propose any solutions. She just notes at the end of P3 that courts are starting to do better.