Indigenous Intellectuals
Sovereignty, Citizenship, and the American Imagination, 1880–1930

Examines the literary output of four influential American Indian intellectuals who challenged conceptions of identity at the turn of the twentieth century.

Kiara M. Vigil (Author)

9781107656550, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 21 December 2017

377 pages, 11 b/w illus.
22.9 x 15.3 x 2.3 cm, 0.58 kg

'… successful in showing how these Native individuals accessed and participated in broader intellectual and activist networks … Indigenous Intellectuals makes a valuable contribution to modern American Indian and United States history.' Nicolas G. Rosenthal, Reviews in American History

In the United States of America today, debates among, between, and within Indian nations continue to focus on how to determine and define the boundaries of Indian ethnic identity and tribal citizenship. From the 1880s and into the 1930s, many Native people participated in similar debates as they confronted white cultural expectations regarding what it meant to be an Indian in modern American society. Using close readings of texts, images, and public performances, this book examines the literary output of four influential American Indian intellectuals who challenged long-held conceptions of Indian identity at the turn of the twentieth century. Kiara M. Vigil traces how the narrative discourses created by these figures spurred wider discussions about citizenship, race, and modernity in the United States. Vigil demonstrates how these figures deployed aspects of Native American cultural practice to authenticate their status both as indigenous peoples and as citizens of the United States.

Introduction: a red man's rebuke
1. A global mission: the higher education of Charles Eastman
2. Tracing Carlos Montezuma's politics: progressive reform and epistolary culture networks
3. Red Bird: Gertrude Bonnin's representational politics
4. Staging US Indian history with Reel Indians: Luther Standing Bear, performativity, and cultural politics
Conclusion: the 1930s, Indian reorganization, and beyond
Afterword.

Subject Areas: History of ideas [JFCX], Cultural studies [JFC], History of the Americas [HBJK], General & world history [HBG]