Indian work : language and livelihood in Native American history / Daniel H. Usner, Jr.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Usner, Daniel H.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Indians of North America--Economic conditions.

Indians of North America.

Indians of North America--Employment.

Indians of North America--Public opinion.

White people--Relations with Indigenous peoples.

White people.

White people--Relations with Indians.

Public opinion--United States.

Public opinion.

United States.

United States--Race relations.

Race relations.

United States--Social policy.

Social policy.

United States--Economic policy.

Economic policy.

Physical Description:

202 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. : Harvard University Press, 2009.

Summary:

"To Have Been Struck For So Long Inside An Invented opposition between authenticity and annihilation is one of the most enduring and enigmatic legacies of colonialism. American Indian people still too often must confront either/or expectations about cultural tradition and economic innovation. Time-less culture, although admired and even imitated by non-Indians in various ways, purportedly hinders successful change among Indian societies. Entanglement in global economic processes, for better or worse, is also supposed to destroy cultural integrity. This unfortunate discourse conceals how dynamic and durable societies actually try to blend tradition with innovation while they accommodate and resist powerful forces. American Indian engagement with commerce through numerous and various means, over a long span of time, has consistently defied the narrow choices that observers insisted upon seeing." -from the book

Contents:

Introduction: The pursuit of livelihood and the production of language

Inventing the hunter state : Iroquois livelihood in Jeffersonian America

Narratives of decline and disappearance : the changing presence of American Indians in early Natchez

The discourse over poverty : Indian treaty rights and welfare policy

Perceptions of authenticity and passivity : Indian basket making in post-Civil War Louisiana

Primitivism and tourism : Indian livelihood in D.H. Lawrence's New Mexico.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [149]-187) and index.

ISBN:

9780674033498

0674033493

OCLC:

261176064