About the Book
In this innovative history, Paige Raibmon traces the roots of ideas about what makes Aboriginal peoples of North America "real Indians." Focusing on the northwest coast in the late nineteenth century and early twentieth, she describes how government officials, missionaries, anthropologists, reformers, settlers, and tourists developed definitions of Indian authenticity based on such binaries as Indian versus white, traditional versus modern, and uncivilized versus civilized. Aboriginal peoples were faced with a quandary: They could either assimilate or remain conspicuously Indian, as "Indian" was imagined by colonizers. Raibmon describes how Aboriginals responded to this conflict by creatively manipulating images of themselves--in ways such as selling handicrafts and performing "traditional" rites--for their own benefit. Drawing on research in newspapers, magazines, agency and missionary records, memoirs, and diaries, Raibmon combines cultural and labor history.
She looks at three historical episodes: the participation of a group of Aboriginals from Vancouver in the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago; the work of migrant Aboriginal laborers in the hop fields of Puget Sound; and the legal efforts of Tlingit artist Rudolph Walton to have his mixed-race step-children admitted to the white public school in Sitka, Alaska. Taken together, these episodes reveal the futility of outsiders' attempts to define authentic Aboriginal culture. Raibmon argues that Aboriginal culture is much more than the reproduction of rituals; it also lies in the means by which Aboriginals generate new and meaningful ways of identifying their place in a changing modern environment.
Table of Contents:
List 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
About the Author :
Paige Raibmon is Assistant Professor of History at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver.
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 "A serious book that raises provocative questions... Much more interesting than the easy Thanksgiving fables we once embraced as fact."--Barbara McMichael, The Bookmonger (also ran in The Olympian and the Kitsap Sun, of Bremerton WA) "Other scholars have broached several of the topics Raibmon's book engages... However, no one has ever before analyzed them so effectively in a single work and considered how these elements interacted with one another. Authentic Indians is a thought-provoking, original study well deserving attention from readers interested in understanding how colonialism served to shape images of Native peoples (many of which remain with us today) and the responses Northwest Coast peoples created to reject, ignore, or appropriate these depictions."--Susan Neylan, H-Canad , H-Net Reviews "The book's great strength is its close attention to nuance... The book is also noteworthy for its cross-border focus... Hopefully this highly original and authoritative study will encourage others to explore authenticity as a factor in native-newcomer relations elsewhere in the North American West."--Forrest D. Pass, Journal of the West "Paige Raibmon has written an engaging assessment of how colonialism, anthropology, and tourism converged to facilitate Aboriginal and white manipulations of 'authenticity' along the Northwest coast in the late nineteenth century." --Lissa Wadewitz, Canadian Journal of History "With Raibmon's work authenticity joins tradition, the imaginary, academic models, and the practice of selective visibility, among others, as recognized devices deployed in the imposition of the mainstream's views on Aboriginal peoples." --Bruce Granville Miller, American Historical Review "Raibmon probes this multifaceted scene with careful attention to detail that provides depth...What comes across clearly is her point that problems can have a life of their own, which in some cases can be long." --Olive Patricia Dickason, The International History Review "Authentic Indians intelligently contextualizes a hot-button issue: what, exactly, is an 'Indian'? ... The issue of authenticity has long been with us, and it will not be going away anytime soon. Paige Raibmon's book makes an important contribution to the discussion."--Brian W. Dippie, BC Studies "Other scholars have broached several of the topics Raibmon's book engages... However, no one has ever before analyzed them so effectively in a single work and considered how these elements interacted with one another. Authentic Indians is a thought-provoking, original study well deserving attention from readers interested in understanding how colonialism served to shape images of Native peoples (many of which remain with us today) and the responses Northwest Coast peoples created to reject, ignore, or appropriate these depictions."--Susan Neylan, H-Canada, H-net Reviews "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 "Authentic Indians ... is both based in academically sound research and is interesting to read. It should appeal not only to historians and other scholars with an interest in the Northwest Coast but also to members of the general public who have an interest in Native American history." Daniel L. Boxberger, Oregon Historical Quarterly 'A remarkable study... Raibmon uncovers surprising forms of indigenous agency, power, and determination. Indeed, her ability to simultaneously analyze the deployment of colonial discourses with their reception and utilization by Native groups offers a comparative model for other colonial encounters."-- Ned Blackhawk, American Quarterly
