A Companion to the Anthropology of American Indians

This Companion is comprised of 27 original contributions by leading scholars in the field and summarizes the state of anthropological knowledge of Indian peoples, as well as the history that got us to this point.

• Surveys the full range of American Indian anthropology: from ecological and political-economic questions to topics concerning religion, language, and expressive culture
  
• Each chapter provides definitive coverage of its topic, as well as situating ethnographic and ethnohistorical data into larger frameworks
  
• Explores anthropology’s contribution to knowledge, its historic and ongoing complicities with colonialism, and its political and ethical obligations toward the people 'studied'

Synopsis of Contents x

Notes on Contributors xviii

Introduction: What is the ‘‘Anthropology’’ of ‘‘American Indians’’? 1
Thomas Biolsi

Part I: Environments and Populations 5

1 Political and Historical Ecologies 7
Kenneth M. Ames

2 Historical Demography 24
Russell Thornton

Part II: Political, Social, and Economic Organization 49

3 Women and Men 51
Martha C. Knack

4 Politics 69
Loretta Fowler

5 Tribal or Native Law 95
Bruce Granville Miller

6 Culture and Reservation Economies 112
Kathleen Pickering

Part III: Knowledge and Expressive Culture 131

7 Knowledge Systems 133
Eugene S. Hunn

8 Oral Traditions 154
Rodney Frey

9 Religion 171
Raymond Bucko

10 Music 196
Luke Eric Lassiter

11 Art 212
Rebecca J. Dobkins

Part IV: Colonialism, Native Sovereignty, Law, and Policy 229

12 Political and Legal Status (‘‘Lower 48’’ States) 231
Thomas Biolsi

13 Political and Legal Status of Alaska Natives 248
Caroline L. Brown

14 Federal Indian Policy and Anthropology 268
George Pierre Castile

15 Contemporary Globalization and Tribal Sovereignty 284
Randel D. Hanson

16 Treaty Rights 304
Larry Nesper

17 Education 321
Alice Littlefield

Part V: Cultural Politics and the Colonial Situation 339

18 Representational Practices 341
Pauline Turner Strong

19 The Politics of Native Culture 360
Kirk Dombrowski

20 Cultural Appropriation 383
Tressa Berman

21 Community Healing and Cultural Citizenship 398
Renya K. Ramirez

22 Native Hawaiians 412
Cari Costanzo Kapur

Part VI: Anthropological Method and Postcolonial Practice 433

23 Ethnography 435
Peter Whiteley

24 Beyond ‘‘Applied’’ Anthropology 472
Les W. Field

25 Language 490
James Collins

26 Visual Anthropology 506
Harald E. L. Prins

27 Archaeology 526
Larry J. Zimmerman

Index 542

"Highly recommended."
Choice

"Biolsi has produced a rich and comprehensive overview of the field by drawing on senior figures and younger scholars, academics and public intellectuals, and Native and non-Native voices. This volume is required reading for anyone wishing to enter, revisit, or advance the practice of Native American anthropology."
Philip Deloria, University of Michigan

"This invaluable volume offers the perspectives of individuals whose intellectual, social, emotional, and pragmatic commitment to better understanding our world have earned the respect and attention of Native and non-Native audiences."
Tsianina Lomawaima, University of Arizona

"This is a sterling compilation, expertly edited, that interrogates the dynamic and often contentious relationship between indigenous peoples and anthropologists."
David Wilkins, University of Minnesota

Thomas Biolsi is Professor of Native American Studies at the University of California at Berkeley. Among his publications are Deadliest Enemies: Law and Race Relations on and Off Rosebud Reservation (2007/2001), Indians and Anthropologists: Vine Deloria, Jr., and the Critique of Anthropology (edited with Larry Zimmerman, 1997), and Organizing the Lakota: The Political Economy of the New Deal on Pine Ridge and Rosebud Reservations (1992). The status of American Indians has long been rooted in a view of Indians as members of indigenous polities with distinct cultures. Often, these cultures have been characterized by dominant colonial authorities as ‘savage’ or ‘primitive,’ and it is the discipline of anthropology that, willingly and wittingly, or not, helped to make the idea of ‘the primitive’ into a social reality. Consequently, the ‘tribal slot’ inhabited by American Indians - with both its benefits and its oppressions - is difficult to imagine without the discipline of anthropology.

A Companion to the Anthropology of American Indians contains 27 original contributions by leading scholars who work actively as researchers in American Indian communities, or on the topic of American Indians. The book summarizes the state of anthropological knowledge of Indian peoples, as well as the history that got us to this point.
Treated here is the full range of American Indian anthropology: from ecological and political-economic questions to topics concerning religion, language, and expressive culture. Each chapter provides definitive coverage of its topic while situating ethnographic and ethnohistorical data in a broader framework. This framework includes the linked histories of American Indians and anthropology, the role of continued native resistance in changing both the situation of Indian people and the content of anthropology, and the potential role of anthropology in an anti-colonial project that speaks to the pressing concerns of contemporary Indians.