Description
Book SynopsisAnalyzes cultural adaptation among aboriginal people in the Pacific Northwest, tracing the colonial origins and political implications of ideas about native "authenticity."
Trade Review“There are not enough superlatives in a thesaurus to convey my enthusiasm for this book. It is insightful, original, intelligent, thoroughly researched, beautifully written, and more. Paige Raibmon is the first scholar working in Native history to dissect and articulate the connections between assimilationist government policies, the rise of North American anthropology, and tourism, all of which—Raibmon argues with great success—served as agents of colonialism.”—Nancy Shoemaker, author of
A Strange Likeness: Becoming Red and White in Eighteenth-Century North America“There is nothing in the existing historical literature that accomplishes what this book does. It vividly depicts the interplay of ideas, strategies, and practical considerations during a period that has had significant and long-lasting impacts on everyone’s ideas about ‘Indianness.’ Admirably, Paige Raibmon insists that we consider non-Indians’ ideas in relationship to Indians’ ideas and strategies, something few existing works do.”—Alexandra Harmon, author of
Indians in the Making: Ethnic Relations and Indian Identities around Puget Sound“
Authentic Indians is a masterful work that carefully weaves together a complicated theoretical argument with a lively historical narrative. Raibmon paints a clear picture of cultural and economic power structures that ruled the indigenous peoples of the Northwest Coast. And, through an innovative reading of a diverse array of primary sources, she finds native voices and tells a story that features indigenous peoples as meaningful historical actors.” -- Colleen O’Neill * Labor *
Table of ContentsList of Illustrations xi
Acknowledgments xiii
Introduction: Authenticity and Colonial Cosmology 1
1. Local Politics and Colonial Relations: The Kwakwaka'wakw at Home on the Northwest Coast 15
2. "The March of the Aborigine to Civilization": Live Exhibits and the World's Columbian Exhibition, 1893 34
3. Theaters of Contact: The Kwakwaka'wakh at the Fair 50
4. Picking, Posing, and Performing: Puget Sound Hop Fields and Income for Aboriginal Workers 74
5. Harvest Gatherings: Aboriginal Agendas, Economy, and Culture 98
6. Indian Watchers: Colonial Imagination and Colonial Reality 116
7. The Inside Passage to Authenticity: Sitka Tourism and the Tlingit 135
8. "The Trend is Upward": Mission and Cottage Life 157
9. Civilization on Trial: The Davis Case 175
Conclusion: Authenticity's Call 198
List of Abbreviations 209
Notes 211
Bibliography 261
Index 295
