In the Puget Sound region of Washington state, indigenous peoples and their descendants have a long history of interaction with settlers and their descendants. Indians in the Making offers the first comprehensive account of these interactions, from contact with traders of the 1820s to the Indian fishing rights activism of the 1970s. In this thoroughly researched history, Alexandra Harmon also provides a theoretically sophisticated analysis that charts shifting notions of Indian identity, both in native and in nonnative communities.
During the period under consideration, each major shift in demographic, economic, and political conditions precipitated new deliberations about how to distinguish Indians from non-Indians and from each other. By chronicling such dialogues over 150 years, this groundbreaking study reveals that Indian identity has a complex history. Examining relations in various spheres of life—labor, public ceremony, marriage and kinship, politics and law—Harmon shows how Indians have continually redefined themselves. Her focus on the negotiations that have given rise to modern Indian identity makes a significant contribution to the discourse of contemporary multiculturalism and ethnic studies.
Indians in the Making Ethnic Relations and Indian Identities around Puget Sound
About the Book
Reviews
"A compelling survey history of Pacific Northwest Indians as well as a book that brings considerable theoretical sophistication to Native American history. Harmon tells an absorbing, clearly written, and moving story."—Peggy Pascoe, University of Oregon"This book fills a terribly important niche in the wider field of ethnic studies by attempting to define Indian identity in an interactive way."—George Sánchez, University of Southern California
Table of Contents
List of Maps
Acknowledgments
INTRODUCTION
1. FUR TRADERS AND NATIVES:
EMPOWERING ENCOUNTERS
2. SETTLERS AND INDIANS: INTERTWINED PEOPLES
3· TREATIES AND WAR:
EPHEMERAL LINES OF DEMARCATION
4. REFORMERS AND INDIANS:
RESERVATIONS ABOUT RESERVATIONS
5. INDIANS: DIALOGUES ABOUT DEFINITIONS
6. INDIANS AND THE UNITED STATES:
WARDSHIP OR FRIENDSHIP?
7. TRIBES: NEW AND OLD ORGANIZATIONS
8. TREATY FISHING RIGHTS: AN EMBLEM UNFURLED
AFTERWORD
Notes
Bibliography
Index
Awards
- 1999 Governor's Writers Award, Washington State Library and the Washington Commission for the Humanities