The transit of empire : indigenous critiques of colonialism

Book

The transit of empire : indigenous critiques of colonialism / Jodi A. Byrd.

Summary:

"In 1761 and again in 1768, European scientists raced around the world to observe the transit of Venus, a rare astronomical event in which the planet Venus passes in front of the sun. In The Transit of Empire, Jodi A. Byrd explores how indigeneity functions as transit, a trajectory of movement that serves as precedent within U.S. imperial history. Byrd argues that contemporary U.S. empire expands itself through a transferable "Indianness" that facilitates acquisitions of lands, territories, and resources. Examining an array of literary texts, historical moments, and pending legislations--from the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma's vote in 2007 to expel Cherokee Freedmen to the Native Hawaiian Government Reorganization bill--Byrd demonstrates that inclusion into the multicultural cosmopole does not end colonialism as it is purported to do. Rather, that inclusion is the very site of the colonization that feeds U.S. empire.Byrd contends that the colonization of American Indian and indigenous nations is the necessary ground from which to reimagine a future where the losses of indigenous peoples are not only visible and, in turn, grieveable, but where indigenous peoples have agency to transform life on their own lands and on their own terms"--Provided by publisher.

Record details

ISBN: 0816676410
ISBN: 9780816676408 (hardback : acid-free paper)
ISBN: 0816676402 (hardback : acid-free paper)
ISBN: 9780816676415 (pbk.)
ISBN: 0816676410 (pbk.)
Physical Description: xxxix, 294 pages ; 23 cm.
Publisher: Minneapolis : University of Minnesota Press, c2011.

Content descriptions

Bibliography, etc. Note:: Includes bibliographical references (p. 235-270) and index.
Formatted Contents Note:: Preface: Full fathom five -- Introduction: Indigenous critical theory and the diminishing returns of civilization -- 1. Is and was: poststructural Indians without ancestry -- 2. "This Island's Mine": the parallax logics of Caliban's Cacophony -- 3. The masks of conquest: Wilson Harris's Jonestown and the thresholds of grievability -- 4. "Been to the Nation, Lord, but I Couldn't Stay There": Cherokee Freedmen, internal colonialism, and the racialization of citizenship -- 5. Satisfied with stones: native Hawaiian government reorganization and the discourses of resistance -- 6. Killing states: removals, other Americans, and the "Pale Promise of Democracy" -- Conclusion: Zombie imperialism.