Nation or Tribe?

Is it possible to promote a tribal awareness through the creation of a website?  I mean isn’t the internet a product of capitalism? Vizneor talks a lot about how the Native is often unheard through simulations of dominance, but it would seem that the two websites we were asked to look at this week were created for the purpose of overturning simulations of dominance.   

So the first website I looked at was the Osage Nation.  Upon first glance I thought it was rather modernized, influenced by colonial contact.  Yet, when one digs further and clinks on more links you get a better sense of what the website is for. It seems to me it is aimed at building a community through online networking and talking.  Talk about using the Master’s tool against him.   

There are plenty of links that help Navigate the many aspects of the Osage Nation.  If you click on the Culture link, it takes you to a page where there is a little blurb on the Osage Nation.  However, I am kind of taken aback by the use of Nation instead of Tribe.  Nation denotes independence, but doesn’t sovereignty represent tribe?  Can a tribe be independent but not sovereign?  When I think of Nation I think of Land titles and governing, but when I think of Tribe I think solely of a people. It is sort of ironic that the Osage people call themselves a nation and not a tribe. 

What’s interesting is that The Osage website has links to employment, the casinos, and above all a page dedicated to understanding the type of culture that surrounds both tribes.  Personally I got a better sense of tribal awareness from the Oneido website.  There are a lot more links that help building a community and it is more user friendly—inviting.  Not as tricky, maybe that’s what the Osage nation was trying to do. 

I found one more website that was completely different than the modernized Oneido and Osage nations. http://www.muckleshoot.nsn.us/default.aspx This link takes you to the Muckleshoot tribal page.  Whereas the other two websites were named after Nations, this website acknowledges the Muckleshoot is a tribe.  What a distinction, and the thing that states out the most is that I really don’t get any sense of what the Muckleshoot nation is or their culture.  Not too many links, but I was somewhat skeptical because the first picture on the homepage is a black and white picture of an Indian similar to Edward Curtis’s photographs.

What I wonder though about these websites is if they are put together by Natives or representatives of Natives?

Are these websites created for the purpose of subduing any inquires as to the real presence of tribal awareness? And which denotes tribal awareness the title of Tribe or the title of Nation?