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January 2015 Vol. 52 No. 5


University of Nebraska Press


The following review appeared in the January 2015 issue of CHOICE. The review is for your internal use only. Please review our Permission and Reprints Guidelines or email permissions@ala-choice.org.

Social & Behavioral Sciences
Sociology

52-2844
E98
2013-44686 CIP
Native diasporas: indigenous identities and settler colonialism in the Americas, ed. by Gregory D. Smithers and Brooke N. Newman. Nebraska, 2014. 509p index afp ISBN 9780803233638 pbk, $45.00.

Smithers and Newman offer a complex, wide-ranging treatment of indigenous identity, from 18th-century Carib identity formations to a mid-20th-century Creek-Scottish artist/performer to the hop field labor circuits in the Pacific Northwest.  Other chapters craft powerful theoretical re-frames for understanding Native identities and ongoing transformations.  Many of the 15 contributions give nuanced and analytical treatment to specific indigenous geographies across particular eras, tribal peoples, and experiences.  The book’s overall significance is its nicely broadened overview of the layered, multiple, and fluid identities crafted through or in response to colonial encounters.  The editors have also carefully selected texts that address precisely how these complexities have worked and what unique factors shape their construction—a collectively diverse treatment that makes this book a unique scholarly contribution.  It contributes to a wide range of literatures besides the more obvious ones of Native studies, history, and anthropology.  Add to that list transnational and diaspora studies, cultural studies, and political theory.  This collection will be especially valuable for institutions with relevant graduate programs, although it will prove a worthy addition as an undergraduate library resource as well.

--N. B. Barnd, Oregon State University

Summing Up: Highly recommended. Most levels/libraries.