Synopses & Reviews
In Reconstructing the Native South, Melanie Benson Taylor examines the diverse body of Native American literature in the contemporary U.S. South—literature written by the descendants of tribes who evaded Removal and have maintained ties with their southeastern homelands. In so doing Taylor advances a provocative, even counterintuitive claim: that the U.S. South and its Native American survivors have far more in common than mere geographical proximity. Both cultures have long been haunted by separate histories of loss and nostalgia, Taylor contends, and the moments when those experiences converge in explicit and startling ways have yet to be investigated by scholars. These convergences often bear the scars of protracted colonial antagonism, appropriation, and segregation, and they share preoccupations with land, sovereignty, tradition, dispossession, subjugation, purity, and violence.
Taylor poses difficult questions in this work. In the aftermath of Removal and colonial devastation, what remains—for Native and non-Native southerners—to be recovered? Is it acceptable to identify an Indian “lost cause”? Is a deep sense of hybridity and intercultural affiliation the only coherent way forward, both for the New South and for its oldest inhabitants? And in these newly entangled, postcolonial environments, has global capitalism emerged as the new enemy for the twenty-first century? Reconstructing the Native South is a compellingly original work that contributes to conversations in Native American, southern, and transnational American studies.
Review
"In the newly emerging field of southeastern Indian literary studies, Reconstructing the Native South does a wonderful job of laying out important groundwork, contributing significant original insights, and raising some difficult questions to stimulate further exchange and debate. It is confidently, fluidly written, well-documented, well argued, and makes use of the most current texts and methodologies available, positioning itself in the cutting-edge intersections of New Southern Studies and American Indian Studies."—Ellen Arnold, East Carolina University
Review
"Many scholars in ethnic studies generally, and Native American Studies in particular, have been mired in some fairly old debates over nationalism and cosmopolitanism, sovereignty and globalization. Benson ever so gracefully takes the most recent and nuanced work on these issues, acknowledges the stakes therein, and shows us how we can explore productive new affiliations."—Siobhan Senier, University of New Hampshire
Review
“Taylor has offered the fields of southern studies and Native American studies an important contribution—one that interrogates a region's difficult past and calls for its potentially boundless, and better, future.” —Gina Marie Caison, H-Net Reviews
Review
“An invaluable contribution to Native and southern literary studies and American studies, this volume opens productive, provocative modes of interdisciplinary inquiry.”—S.K. Bernardin, Choice
Review
“Melanie Benson Taylor show[s] striking originality by linking fiction written by Native American authors with fiction written about them in her Reconstructing the Native South.”—American Literary Scholarship
Review
“[Reconstructing the Native South] is an important contribution to the growing field of scholarship on native southern literatures and makes a strong argument that the Native South is fertile ground for new strategies in the fight for indigenous sovereignty, both literary and otherwise.”—Jesse Peters, The Journal of Southern History
Review
“In Reconstructing the Native South, Taylor has compiled a tremendous monograph concerning the relationship between Native American and southern literature. . . .With extraordinary interpretations and insights concerning the relatability within the literary works from southern and Native American writers, Taylor has helped to open a burgeoning field. Taylor’s book is very insightful and recommended for those who are interested in Native American or postcolonial American literature.” —Jeff Washburn, American Indian Quarterly
Review
“This truly original study is the first book-length publication on Native southern studies that sets up parallels between the disciplines. . . .Taylor’s book will no doubt have a tremendous impact on not one discipline but two: southern and Native American studies. No course on Southern literature can afford to leave out the work of Native southern writers anymore; this paradigm-changing and invaluable book provides an excellent model for including and discussing such work.” —Annette Trefzer, Southern Literary Journal
Review
and#8220;Anyone with any interest in American Indian literature or indigenous literature of any kind will treasure this innovative book. Siobhan Senier and her learned contributors show us a New England and an America that have been here all along without most Americans suspecting it.and#8221;and#8212;Robert Dale Parker, author of
The Invention of Native American Literatureand#160;
Review
and#8220;Dawnland Voices is a collection of writing that is as bright as the morning sun. Itand#8217;s an amazingly comprehensive collection of the literary work of dozens of indigenous authors from an often overlooked part of Native America, the long-embattled Northeast. . . . The reading public needs to be awakened to the continued existence and the cultural heritage of our peoples, as well as the literary excellence of our many authors. No book that I know of does a better job of that than this brilliantly edited anthology.and#8221;and#8212;Joseph Bruchac, author of Our Stories Remember
Review
andquot;[Dawnland Voices is] a significant contribution to Native American and indigenous studies and to US literature.andquot;andmdash;S. K. Bernardin, CHOICE
Synopsis
Dawnland Voices calls attention to the little-known but extraordinarily rich literary traditions of New Englandand#8217;s Native Americans. This pathbreaking anthology includes both classic and contemporary literary works from ten New England indigenous nations: the Abenaki, Maliseet, Miand#8217;kmaq, Mohegan, Narragansett, Nipmuc, Passamaquoddy, Penobscot,and#160;Schaghticoke, and Wampanoag.
and#160;Through literary collaboration and recovery, Siobhan Senier and Native tribal historians and scholars have crafted a unique volume covering a variety of genres and historical periods. From the earliest petroglyphs and petitions to contemporary stories and hip-hop poetry, this volume highlights the diversity and strength of New England Native literary traditions. Dawnland Voices introduces readers to the compelling and unique literary heritage in New England, banishing the misconception that and#8220;realand#8221; Indians and their traditions vanished from that region centuries ago.
and#160;
About the Author
Siobhan Senier is an associate professor of English and theand#160;James H. and Claire Short Hayes Professor in the Humanities at the University of New Hampshire. She is the author of
Voices of American Indian Assimilation and Resistance: Helen Hunt Jackson, Sarah Winnemucca, and Victoria Howard and editor of the website
Writing of Indigenous New England.
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Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction. Reconstructing the South: Region, Tribe, and Sovereignty in the Age of Global Capitalism
Chapter 1. Reconstructing Loss: Native Americans, Nostalgia, and Tribalography in Southern Literature
Chapter 2. Red, Black, and Southern: Alliances and Erasures in the Biracial South
Chapter 3. Reckoning the Future: Capitalism, Culture, and the Production of Community
Chapter 4. Excavating the World: Unearthing the Past and Finding the Future on Southern Soil
Conclusion. The South in the Indian and the Indian in the South
Notes
Bibliography