Research Expertise and Interest

Native Americans, American Indians, governmentality

Research Description

Thomas Biolsi is a professor in the Department of Ethnic Studies.  Most of his published work focuses on the history of federal law and policy, and on relations between American Indian and non-Indian people on Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota (see my books, Organizing the Lakota, Deadliest Enemies, and Power and Progress on the Prairie).  He is presently conducting archival research in collaboration with the Hoopa Valley Tribe (Humboldt County, CA) on the history of their Trinity River fishery and their struggle to protect salmon and steelhead trout from the impacts of Trinity River Division operated by the Bureau of Reclamation, which draws off Trinity water for use in other parts of California, to the detriment of fish habitat and fish populations and of tribal fishing.