The Praeger Handbook on Contemporary Issues in Native America [Two volumes]

Subjects:

• Multicultural Studies » Native American Studies
• Political Science » American Politics/Government

Reviews:

• Comprehensive and well-written books about contemporary Native issues are hard to find, and they tend to lose their contemporary relevancy very quickly in the bright light of rapid changes in Native affairs. Johansen's attempt to provide a solid book (actually, two books) in the face of such conditions is laudable. His essays range across a stunning variety of issues and details: economic revival, identity conflict, political and environmental justice, self-rule, revival of traditional food systems, federal fraud, and linguistic and cultural revitalization. The fact that the discussion does not stop at the arbitrary national borders of the US is a plus. It is also more than time that the discussion focuses on contemporary reality rather than histories of traditions. Johansen has written a guidebook to the contemporary revival process. By its very subject matter, the book, part of Nebraska's "Native America: Yesterday and Today" series, will demand updates as the revival process takes novel forms. This is a hopeful sign; all books about Native issues must adapt to the dynamics of the present and the future. Essential. All levels and libraries.
  —Choice February 2008
• There are precious few books written about this renewal of American Indian cultures. The author brings deep knowledge, cultural sensitivity, and commitment to this challenge. In addition, he has brought Indian voices to each page....Finally, there is a book that both acknowledges the complicated issues facing Indian cultures and provides vivid examples that provide strong evidence and hope for solutions and survival. It should be mandatory for school and academic libraries.
  —American Reference Books Annual 2008
• This well-written, extensively researched two-volume set is designed for the college/university level reader. Students will learn about the issues facing American Indians and gain new perspectives about the history of the Americas' first inhabitants. This two-volume guide provides detailed information about the resurgence of Native American issues throughout North America. The first volume deals with the legal, cultural, and environmental dimensions of this resurgence. The second volume focuses on the revival of Native American languages, ethnic identities, and economies....Each book has its own introduction and comprehensive index.
  —MultiCultural Review Winter 2007
• Johansen offers students, scholars, and interested general readers a collection of essays and stories exploring the contemporary Native American revival of Native American traditions. The first volume examines the revival of indigenous languages; efforts to recover from pervasive poverty and reassert economic independence; ethnic revival, and the problems related to determining identity strictly in a multiethnic world; and the controversy over "Indian" sports mascots and place-names. The second volume focuses on legal traditions, including banishment; the conviction of Leonard Peltier; cultural revival through educational organizations and community centers; the reclamation of traditional diets and age-old agricultural systems; struggles with environmental issues; and achieving sociocultural survival and criticism of the dominant culture through contemporary Native American political humor.
  —Reference & Research Book News August 2007

• Endorsement From Joanne Shenandoah,
  Oneida Nation: Bruce Johansen's The Praeger Handbook on Contemporary Issues in Native America is an excellent continuation of the author's innovate work on the history and contemporary concerns of this land's indigenous peoples. Johansen's observations are, as always, accurate, timely and entertaining. This well written, extensively researched two-volume set should be in the hands of anyone who has an interest in aboriginal affairs.
• Endorsement From Steve Talbot,
  Adjunct Professor of Anthropology, Oregon State University: Johansen's book, The Praeger Handbook on Contemporary Issues in Native America is a treasure trove of important, up-to-date information, its scope impressive, its journalistic style of writing crisp and easy to read. The biographical tribute to the late Vine Deloria, Jr., is the best I've seen.
• Endorsement From David T. McNab
  Associate Professor of Native Studies
  York University, Toronto, Ontario: Johansen has outdone himself. This Handbook, in two volumes, is a classic work of Contemporary Native American issues which will be used for decades by scholars and students of Native American issues on both sides of the international border. It will also become a work of history in its own right. Filled with respectful learning and incredible detail, Johansen wisely lets the Native American voices speak out on every page providing the reader with their views on the many issues with which they are confronted in the early 21st century.

Table of Contents:

• Volume 1: Linguistic, Ethnic, and Economic Revival
• Preface
• Introduction
• Dedication: On the Passing of Vine Deloria Jr.
• Chapter 1: Back from the (Nearly) Dead: Reviving Indigenous Languages Across North America
• Chapter 2: Where Has All the Money Gone?
• Chapter 3: Economic Revival: Up from the Bottom on the Reservation
• Chapter 4: High-Stakes Genealogy: When Is a Pequot Not a Pequot?
• Chapter 5: Names and Games: The Controversy Regarding Indian Sports Mascots and Place Names
• Volume 2: Legal, Cultural, and Environmental Revival
• Introduction
• Chapter 1: Cast Among the Living Dead: Banishment Is Back
• Chapter 2: Beyond a Reasonable Doubt: The Curious Conviction of Leonard Peltier
• Chapter 3: Grandfathers of Akwesasne Mohawk Revitalization: Ray Fadden and Ernest Benedict
• Chapter 4: Mestizo Nation: La Plaza de Seattle
• Chapter 5: Back to Bushmeat and Berries
• Chapter 6: The New Inuit
• Chapter 7: The High Price of Uranium in Navajo and Dene Country
• Chapter 8: Catharsis vis--vis Oppression: Contemporary Native American Political Humor
• Selected Bibliography
• Index

PDF Catalogs:
Academic Library Spring 2008.pdf	Greenwood Multicultural Spring 2008.pdf
Praeger Politics 2007.pdf