"The Federal Acknowledgment Process (FAP) is one of the most important and contentious issues facing Natives today. A complicated system of criteria and procedures, the FAP is utilized by federal officials to determine whether a Native community qualifies for federal recognition by the United States government. In Forgotten Tribes, Mark Edwin Miller offers a balanced and detailed look at the origins, procedures, and assumptions governing the FAP. His work examines the FAP as viewed through the prism of four previously unrecognized tribal communities - the United Houma Nation of Louisiana, the Tiguas of Texas, the Pascua Yaquis of Arizona, and the Timbisha Shoshones of California - and their battles to gain indigenous rights under federal law." "Based on a wealth of interviews and original research, Forgotten Tribes features the first in-depth history and overview of the FAP and sheds light on this controversial Native identification policy involving state power over Native peoples and tribal sovereignty."--BOOK JACKET.