From The University of Arizona Press Comparative Indigeneities of the Américas Toward a Hemispheric Approach Edited by M. Bianet Castellanos, Lourdes Gutierrez Najera, Arturo J. Aldama 376 pp. / 6 x 9 / 2012 Buy This Book

Related Interest Anthropology Identity Studies Latin American Studies Literary Studies

The effects of colonization on the Indigenous peoples of the Américas over the past 500 years have varied greatly. So too have the forms of resistance, resilience, and sovereignty. In the face of these differences, the contributors to this volume contend that understanding the commonalities in these Indigenous experiences will strengthen resistance to colonial forces still at play. This volume marks a critical moment in bringing together transnational and interdisciplinary scholarship to articulate new ways of pursuing critical Indigenous studies.

Comparative Indigeneities of the Américas highlights intersecting themes such as indigenísmo, mestizaje, migration, displacement, autonomy, sovereignty, borders, spirituality, and healing that have historically shaped the experiences of Native peoples across the Américas. In doing so, it promotes a broader understanding of the relationships between Native communities in the United States and Canada and those in Latin America and the Caribbean and invites a hemispheric understanding of the relationships between Native and mestiza/o peoples.

Through path-breaking approaches to transnational, multidisciplinary scholarship and theory, the chapters in this volume advance understandings of indigeneity in the Américas and lay a strong foundation for further research. This book will appeal to scholars and students in the fields of anthropology, literary and cultural studies, history, Native American and Indigenous studies, women and gender studies, Chicana/o studies, and critical ethnic studies.

Ultimately, this deeply informative and empowering book demonstrates the various ways that Indigenous and mestiza/o peoples resist state and imperial attempts to erase, repress, circumscribe, and assimilate them.

M. Bianet Castellanos is assistant professor of American studies at the University of Minnesota.

Lourdes Gutiérrez Nájera is an assistant professor of Latin American, Latino, and Caribbean studies and anthropology at Dartmouth College.

Arturo J. Aldama is an associate professor and chair of the Department of Ethnic Studies at the University of Colorado, Boulder. He is the author of Disrupting Savagism: Intersecting Chicana/o, Mexican Immigrant, and Native American Struggles for Self-Representation.