Encyclopedia of American Indian Issues Today: [2 volumes]

by Russell M. Lawson (Editor)

Overview

This essential reference examines the history, culture, and modern tribal concerns of American Indians in North America.

Despite the fact that 565 federally recognized tribes exist on the continent of North America, non-Native Americans typically know very little about the modern world of American Indians. In a few instances, the uneasy coexistence of the two cultures has served to create controversy, such as fake Indians fraudulently leveraging ethnicity-based benefits, U.S. officials disposing of nuclear waste near reservations, and sports clubs basing mascots on cultural stereotypes. This unique survey scrutinizes the historical background as well as the contemporary issues of American Indian societies as both part of—and completely separate from—the world around them.

Encyclopedia of American Indian Issues Today features subjects commonly discussed, including reservations, poverty, sovereignty, the problem of solid waste on reservations, and the lives of urban Indians, among other contemporary issues. Organized into ten sections, the book also provides helpful sidebars and informative essays to address topics on casinos and gaming, sexual identity, education, and poverty.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9798216046196
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Publishing
Publication date:	04/02/2013
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	900
File size:	4 MB
Age Range:	7 - 17 Years

About the Author

Russell M. Lawson, PhD, is professor of history at Bacone College, Muskogee, OK.
Russell M. Lawson, Northeastern State University. He is author/editor of five encyclopedias, notably Research and Discovery: Landmarks and Pioneers in American Science (ME Sharpe, 2008) and Science in the Ancient World: An Encyclopedia (ABC Clio, 2004), and author of thirteen monographs, notably Apostle of the East: The Life and Journeys of Daniel Little (St. Polycarp Publishing House, 2018), Servants and Servitude in Colonial America (Praeger, 2018), The Sea Mark: Captain John Smith's Voyage to New England (University Press of New England, 2015), Frontier Naturalist: Jean Louis Berlandier and the Exploration of Northern Mexico and Texas (University of New Mexico Press, 2012), Ebenezer Hazard, Jeremy Belknap, and the American Revolution (Pickering&Chatto, 2011), The Land Between the Rivers: Thomas Nuttall's Ascent of the Arkansas, 1819 (University of Michigan Press, 2004), and Passaconaway's Realm: Captain John Evans and the Exploration of Mount Washington (University Press of New England, 2002).

Russell M. Lawson serves as adjunct professor at Northeastern State University, where he writes and teaches on scientists and explorers; the history of ideas; and the history of social, cultural, and political issues.


Russell M. Lawson, PhD, is professor of history at Bacone College, Muskogee, OK.

Table of Contents

Introduction
Russell M. Lawson
VOLUME 1
Section 1: People and Places
Borderlands: Change, Resistance, and Assimilation
Family: Traditional Kinship in the Modern World
Indian City Life
Indian Demographics: Definitions, Numbers, and Politics
Urban Indians: The Impact of Urbanization
Women: Changes in Identity and Power
Section 2: Economy and Work
Advertising and Indian Identity
American Indian Poverty in Urban Areas
American Indian Poverty on Reservations
Gaming and Casinos
Tourist Industry: Economic and Social Costs and Benefits
Tribal Economic Diversification
Unemployment
Section 3: Learning, Literacy, and Languages
Indian Colleges and Universities: Boarding Schools to Native American Studies
Indian Schools: History of Schooling Models
Literacy and Illiteracy
Native American Deaf
Public Education: Current Issues and Legislation
Red English: Language and American Indian English
Section 4: Health: Body and Mind, Private and Public
Domestic Abuse
Healthcare of American Indians
The Indian Child Welfare Act
Orphans
Psychological and Emotional Problems
Sexual Issues
Substance Abuse
Traditional Healing and Modern Medicine
Section 5: Ideas and Identity: Issues of Indian Identity, Spirituality, Traditional and Modern Thought
Cultural Preservation: Artifacts, Traditions, and Laws
Fake Indians: Modern Day Native American Identity
Historic Preservation: American Indian Inclusion and Contributions
Indian Mascots
Indian Ways of Knowing
Indians and Civilization: Shaping Society into the Future
Kennewick Man and the Controversy over Ownership of Indian Remains
Missionaries and the Translation of the Bible
Modernization of American Indian Culture
National Museum of the American Indian: Contributing to American Culture
Native Spirituality and Christianity
Repatriation
Scientists: Supporting the Development of American Indians in Science
Stereotypes
VOLUME 2
Section 6: Sovereignty and Dependence: Rights, Reservations, Recognition
American Indian Athletes: Individual Contributions in the Face of Challenges
American Indian Smoke Shops: Struggles for Economic Independence
Bureau of Indian Affairs: A Historical and Contemporary Mission
Federal Recognition
Federal Reservations
Indian Civil Rights
Indian Sovereignty
Indians and the U.S. Constitution
Race Relations
Racism
Reservations and College Athletics: Identifying and Nurturing Talent
State Recognition
Section 7: Law, Politics, and Conflict
American Indians and the Military
Genocide
Grassroots Politics: Historical and Contemporary Activism
Indian Tribal Courts and the U.S. Court System
Indian Trust Lands Managed by the Federal Government
Indians and Congress
Law Enforcement in Indian Country
Leadership: Formal and Informal Leadership within Tribes
Political Activism: Examining the Issues
Prisons and Indians
Red Power: The American Indian Movement
Tribal Government: Local Decision-Making and Law Enforcement
Section 8: American Indian Expression
American Indian Art: Maintaining Culture, Tradition, and Identity
American Indian Theater and Performance: Political, Cultural, and Artistic Empowerment
Film Media about Indians: Representations and Misrepresentations
Film Media by Indians: Native Voices
Fraudulent Indian Art
Music: Vibrant Elements of American Indian Culture
Print Media by Indians: Words and Ideas of American Indians
Section 9: Environment
American Indians and Solid Waste
Climate Change
Environmental Racism
Nuclear Waste
Pollution
Preserving Habitats
Tribal Land Use
Section 10: Canadian Indians and Other Aboriginal Peoples
Aboriginal Peoples and the Canadian Government
Biocolonialism: Genetic Science and Aboriginal Peoples
Contemporary Issues of Aboriginal People in Canada
Human Rights of Indigenous People Worldwide
Missionaries to Canada's First Nations
Worldwide Indigenous Activism
The Editor and Contributors
Index

Editorial Reviews

"This new encyclopedic set is a useful acquisition for all academic libraries, particularly those that support Native studies." - Choice

"A valuable and readable source for public, high school, and college libraries." - Booklist

"A plethora of information is found in the 85 essays that comprise this encyclopedia. . . . Students doing reports and readers seeking more facts and an enriched understanding of Native Americans in the 21st century will find this an effective reference." - Library Journal

From the Publisher

A plethora of information is found in the 85 essays that comprise this encyclopedia edited by Lawson (history, Bacone Coll., Muskogee, OK; Poverty in America: An Encyclopedia). Divided into ten sections, the essays explore many contemporary topics pertinent to Native Americans, including gaming, sports mascots, tourism on reservations, substance abuse, repatriation, civil rights, and environmental colonialism. The essays are also rich in historical explanation of past Native American and Euro-American relations, offering facts that will help readers understand the conditions and issues facing Native Americans today. Many contributors cite the latest statistics in their discussions of a host of topics including education, poverty on reservations and among Native Americans in urban areas, unemployment, literacy, domestic violence, and health care. In addition to these social issues, other essays address political and legal topics such as Indian sovereignty, the U.S. Constitution, tribal courts, and law enforcement on Indian lands. One section focuses on ideas and issues pertaining to Indian identity, spirituality, and traditional and modern thought. Other essays take up the issues of art and music, including discussions of how Native Americans have been misrepresented by the media, the phenomenon of "fake Indians," and how myth often trumps reality. A final section contains essays concerning aboriginal peoples in Canada and human rights for indigenous peoples worldwide. Supplemental information, much of it from primary sources, appears in 60 sidebars scattered throughout the work. References are listed at the conclusion of each essay, a highlight of the volumes. VERDICT Students doing reports and readers seeking more facts and an enriched understanding of Native Americans in the 21st century will find this an effective reference.—Patricia Ann Owens, formerly with Illinois Eastern Community Colls., Mt. Carmel

Library Journal