Women and Power in Native North America

by Laura F. Klein, Lillian A. Ackerman (Editor)

Since the colonization of indigenous peoples in North America, the roles of Native women within their societies have been concealed or, at best, misunderstood. By examining gender status, and particularly power, in ten culture areas, this volume, edited by Laura F. Klein and Lillian A. Ackerman, seeks to draw away the curtain of silence surrounding the lives of Native North American women. Power is understood to be manifested in a multiplicity of through cosmology, economic control, and formal hierarchy. In the Native societies examined, power is continually created and redefined through individual life stages and through the history of the society. The important issue is autonomy-whether, or to what extent, individuals are autonomous in living their lives. Each author demonstrates that women in a particular cultural area of aboriginal North America had (and have) more power than many previous observers have claimed. In this "Introduction," Laura F. Klein and Lillian A. Ackerman; "Gender in Inuit Society," Lee Guemple; "Mother as Rank and Gender in Tlingit Society," Laura F. Klein; ''Asymmetric Women and Men Among the Chipewyan," Henry S. Sharp; "Complementary but Gender Status in the Plateau," Lillian A. Ackerman; "First Among Equals? The Changing Status of Seneca Women," Joy Bilharz; "Blackfoot Persons," Alice B. Kehoe; "Evolving Gender Roles in Porno Society," Victoria D. Patterson; "The Dynamics of Southern Paiute Women's Roles," Martha C. Knack; "The Gender Status of Navajo Women," Mary Shepardson; "Continuity and Change in Gender Roles at San Juan Pueblo," Sue-Ellen Jacobs; "Women's Status Among the Muskogee and Cherokee," Richard A. Sattler; "Gender and Power in Native North Concluding Remarks," Daniel Maltz and JoAllyn Archambault.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Indigenous, Gender, Feminism, Native American, American History

304 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 1995

Reviews

[Madison Grace]

A very, very dry book. On one hand, I like that the authors are trying not to use a western lens to analyze indigenous cultures, and they are careful not to make definitive conclusions about cultures that we don’t have a lot of information about it. But on the other hand, in an effort to be open-minded, the authors make assumptions that are outside the realm of reality. Maybe this is because I’m a westerner, and basically all of my education on gender has been through a western lens, but I fail to see how the act of Chipewyan men trading their wives for sport is anything but dehumanizing, and this book tries to say otherwise. (To note, I don’t think western culture has historically treated women much better, so I’m not saying that indigenous people needed to be “taught” to be kinder to women by westerners. Colonialism is a net negative to indigenous women, obviously.) Ultimately, the problem is that we don’t have enough information on these cultures because they have been destroyed. Historically, these cultures have been vilified as “savage”, and so the approach in this book is to be more positive. But the answer to humanizing indigenous people is to treat them as humans, not to deify them, and I think this book lost the plot. And it was just so boring! I want to know more about this topic from a better source.

[hh · Rating 3 out of 5]

well written, thoughtful articles on a number of different paradigms for women's places in native american societies.

[Jbondandrews · Rating 3 out of 5]

I quite enjoyed Women and Power in Native North America even though it was a brief account and only focussed on certain tribes and was told mostly from an anthropologic stance.

[Sss Book]

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[Allison6876 · Rating 4 out of 5]

used for gender roles paper for AMIN 3301