Mohawk Interruptus is a bold challenge to dominant thinking in the fields of Native studies and anthropology. Combining political theory with ethnographic research among the Mohawks of Kahnawà:ke, a reserve community in what is now southwestern Quebec, Audra Simpson examines their struggles to articulate and maintain political sovereignty through centuries of settler colonialism. The Kahnawà:ke Mohawks are part of the Haudenosaunee or Iroquois Confederacy. Like many Iroquois peoples, they insist on the integrity of Haudenosaunee governance and refuse American or Canadian citizenship. Audra Simpson thinks through this politics of refusal, which stands in stark contrast to the politics of cultural recognition. Tracing the implications of refusal, Simpson argues that one sovereign political order can exist nested within a sovereign state, albeit with enormous tension around issues of jurisdiction and legitimacy. Finally, Simpson critiques anthropologists and political scientists, whom, she argues, have too readily accepted the assumption that the colonial project is complete. Belying that notion, Mohawk Interruptus calls for and demonstrates more robust and evenhanded forms of inquiry into indigenous politics in the teeth of settler governance.
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Combining political theory with ethnographic research among the Mohawks of Kahnawake, a reserve community in what is now southwestern Quebec, this book examines their struggles to articulate and maintain political sovereignty through centuries of settler colonialism.
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Acknowledgments ix 1. Indigenous Interruptions: Mohawk Nationhood, Citizenship, and the State 1 2. A Brief History of Land, Meaning, and Membership in Iroquoia and Kahnawà:ka 37 3. Constructing Kahnawà:ka as an "Out-of-the-Way" Place: Ely S. Parker, Lewis Henry Morgan, and the Writing of the Iroquois Confederacy 67 4. Ethnographic Refusal: Anthropological Need 95 5. Borders, Cigarettes, and Sovereignty 115 6. The Gender of the Flint: Mohawk Nationhood and Citizenship in the Face of Empire 147 Conclusion. Interruptus 177 Appendix. A Note on Materials and Methodology 195 Notes 201 References 229 Index 251
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“In her brilliant study of Kahnawà:ke, a Mohawk reserve outside Montréal, anthropologist Simpson rejects this dominant image of indigenous nationhood on the brink and ‘starts with a grounded refusal, not a precipice.’ The author problematizes long-standing assumptions to position the actions of the Kahnawà:ke nation as that of refusal, a valid alternative to political recognition. Through in-depth ethnographic research, Simpson identifies what is important to the community, as evidenced by her discussion of important intellectual Louis Hall, whose analysis of Mohawk nationhood has deeply influenced Haudenosaunee people, yet has been largely ignored by scholars.  . . . Such incisive analysis promises that this study will be influential and widely read. . . . Essential. All levels/libraries.”
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"Mohawk Interruptus is Audra Simpson`s bold challenge to the academic apprehension of the Iroquois. She has succeeded brilliantly. This book is now the authoritative history of Kahnawà:ke and a powerful statement that recasts our people and redefines how research on Indigenous peoples should be done. This is a long-awaited book by the most intelligent, passionate and incisive of Iroquois intellectuals. It makes me proud to be from Kahnawà:ke and deeply impresses me as a scholar."
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Produktdetaljer

ISBN
9780822356554
Publisert
2014-05-09
Utgiver
Vendor
Duke University Press
Vekt
408 gr
Høyde
229 mm
Bredde
152 mm
Aldersnivå
P, 06
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Heftet

Forfatter

Biographical note

Audra Simpson is Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Columbia University. She is a coeditor, with Andrea Smith, of Theorizing Native Studies, also published by Duke University Press.