Book
Sovereign selves : American Indian autobiography and the law / David J. Carlson.
This book is an exploration of the surprising impact of American legal systems from the Revolutionary War until the 1920s on Indian autobiographers' approaches to writing about their own lives. Historically, Native American autobiographers have written in the shadow of "Indian law," a nuanced form of natural law discourse with its own set of related institutions and forms (the reservation, the treaty etc.). In Sovereign Selves, David J. Carlson develops a rigorously historicized argument about the relationship between the specific colonial model of "Indian" identity that was developed and disseminated through U.S. legal institutions, and the acts of autobiographical self-definition by the "colonized" Indians expected to fit that model. Carlson argues that by drawing on the conventions of early colonial treaty making, nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Indian autobiographers sought to adapt and redefine the terms of Indian law as a way to assert specific property-based and civil rights. Focusing primarily on the autobiographical careers of two major writers (William Apess and Charles Eastman), Sovereign Selves traces the way that their sustained engagement with colonial legal institutions gradually enabled them to produce a new rhetoric of "Indianness
Record details
- ISBN: 0252072669 (paper : alk. paper)
- ISBN: 9780252072666 (paper : alk. paper)
- Physical Description: viii, 217 pages ; 22 cm.
- Publisher: Urbana : University of Illinois Press, 2006.
Content descriptions
- Bibliography, etc. Note:
- Includes bibliographical references (p. 199-209) and index.
- Formatted Contents Note:
- The discourse of Indian law -- Seneca politics and the rhetoric of engagement -- William Apess and the constraints of conversion -- William Apess and Indian liberalism -- Charles Eastman and the discourse of allotment -- Charles Eastman and the rights of character.
Search for related items by subject
- Subject:
- Indians of North America > Politics and government.
Indians of North America > Legal status, laws, etc. > Language.
Indians of North America > Biography.
Autobiographies > Indian authors.
Speeches, addresses, etc., Indian > North America.
American literature > Indian authors.
Apess, William, b. 1798.
Eastman, Charles Alexander, 1858-1939.
Available copies
- 1 of 1 copy available at Northwest Indian College.
Holds
- 0 current holds with 1 total copy.
Show Only Available Copies
| Location | Call Number / Copy Notes | Barcode | Shelving Location | Status | Due Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lummi Library | E 98 .T77 C37 2006 | 267839 | Stacks | Available | - |
Electronic resources
Version of Resource: http://www.loc.gov/catdir/toc/ecip0514/2005017120.html
- Table of contents