Loretta Fowler offers a new perspective on Native American politics
by examining how power on multiple levels infuses the everyday
lives and consciousness of the Cheyenne and Arapaho peoples of
Oklahoma.
Cheyennes and Arapahos today energetically pursue a variety of
commercial enterprises, including gaming and developing retail
businesses, and they operate a multitude of social programs. Such
revitalization and economic mobilization, however, have not
unambiguously produced greater tribal sovereignty. Tribal members
challenge and often work vigorously to undermine their tribal
government's efforts to strengthen the tribe as an independent
political, economic, and cultural entity; at the same time,
political consensus and tribal unity are continually recognized and
promoted in powwows and dances. Why is there conflict in one sphere
of Cheyenne-Arapaho politics and cooperation in the other?
The key to the dynamics of current community life, Fowler
contends, is found in the complicated relationship between the
colonizer and the colonized that emerges in Fourth World or
postcolonial settings. For over a century the lives of Cheyennes
and Arapahos have been affected simultaneously by forces of
resistance and domination. These circumstances are reflected in
their constructions of history. Cheyennes and Arapahos accommodate
an ideology that buttresses social forms of domination and helps
mold experiences and perceptions. They also selectively recognize
and resist such domination. Drawing upon a decade of fieldwork and
archival research, "Tribal Sovereignty and the Historical
Imagination" provides an insightful and provocative analysis of how
Cheyenne and Arapaho constructions of history influence tribal
politics today.
General
Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate?
Let us know about it.
Does this product have an incorrect or missing image?
Send us a new image.
Is this product missing categories?
Add more categories.
Review This Product
No reviews yet - be the first to create one!