1st Edition

Negotiators of Change Historical Perspectives on Native American Women

Edited By Nancy Shoemaker Copyright 1995
    242 Pages
    by Routledge

    242 Pages
    by Routledge

    Negotiators of Change covers the history of ten tribal groups including the Cherokee, Iroquois and Navajo -- as well as tribes with less known histories such as the Yakima, Ute, and Pima-Maricopa. The book contests the idea that European colonialization led to a loss of Native American women's power, and instead presents a more complex picture of the adaption to, and subversion of, the economic changes introduced by Europeans. The essays also discuss the changing meainings of motherhood, women's roles and differing gender ideologies within this context.

    1. The Anglo-Algonquian Gender Frontier Kathleen M. Brown; 2. Kateri Tekakwitha's Tortuous Path to Sainthood Nancy Shoemaker; 3. Autonomy and the Economic Roles of Indian Women of the Fox-Wisconsin Riverway Region, 1763-1832 Lucy Eldersveld Murphy; 4. Women, Men and American Indian Policy: The Cherokee Response to Civilization Theda Perdue; 5. Choctaw Women and Cultural Persistence in Misissippi Clara Sue Kidwell; 6. The Land Incarnate: Navajo Women and the Dialogue of Colonialism, 1821-1870 Carol Douglas Sparks; 7. Dear Friend and Ex-Husband: Marriage, Divorce, and Women's Property Rights on the Southern Ute Reservation, 1887-1930 Katherine M.B. Osburn; 8. Horses and Cattle, Buggies and Hacks: Purchases by Yakima Indian Women, 1909-1912 Clifford E. Trafzer; 9. Patchwork and Politics: The Evolving Roles of Florida Seminole Women in the Twntieth Century Harry A. Kersey, Jr. and Helen M. Bannan; 10. Mothers and Community Builders: Salt River Pima and Maricopa Women in Community Action Paivi H. Hoikkala.

    Biography

    Nancy Shoemaker has taught history at St. Lawrence University and Texas Christian University. During the spring of 1994, she was a Monticello College Foundation Fellow at the Newbury Library in Chicago, Illinois.

    "This combination of quality research and sophisticated understanding of cultural change makes Shoemaker's Negotiators of Change an important contribution to the too-long neglected field of Native American women's history." -- Journal of Social History
    "...Shoemaker provides an excellent introduction to native North American women's history." -- American Indian Culture and Research Journal
    "The valuable collection of articles on the history of women and gender in American Indian societies offers readers intriguing new evidence and fresh interpretataions. It is a welcome development in a much too neglected field." -- Peggy Pascoe, University of Utah
    ". . . Shoemaker's selections reveal striking parallels among disparate societies separated by time and space. . . . All of the articles are meticulously researched and include copious references. . . . It warrants the attention of those interested in Native American studies, women's history, and various regional histories. Each of the these ten articles is well written, with a clear thesis, and each chronicles, exceptionally well, the acculturation process over significant periods of time." -- Western Historical Quarterly separated by time and space
    "The valuable collection of articles on the history of women and gender in American Indian societies offers readers intriguing new evidence and fresh interpretataions. It is a welcome development in a much too neglected field." -- Peggy Pascoe, University of Oregon