Synopses & Reviews
An updated edition of a seminal work on the history of land ownership in the Southwest
In New Mexicoand#151;once a Spanish colony, then part of Mexicoand#151;Pueblo Indians and descendants of Spanish- and Mexican-era settlers still think of themselves as distinct peoples, each with a dynamic history. At the core of these persistent cultural identities is each groupand#8217;s historical relationship to the others and to the land, a connection that changed dramatically when the United States wrested control of the region from Mexico in 1848.
In Roots of Resistanceand#151;now offered in an updated paperback editionand#151;Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz provides a history of land ownership in northern New Mexico from 1680 to the present. She shows how indigenous and Mexican farming communities adapted and preserved their fundamental democratic social and economic institutions, despite losing control of their land to capitalist entrepreneurs and becoming part of a low-wage labor force.
In a new final chapter, Dunbar-Ortiz applies the lessons of this history to recent conflicts in New Mexico over ownership and use of land and control of minerals, timber, and water.
Synopsis
In New Mexicoandmdash;once a Spanish colony, then part of Mexicoandmdash;Pueblo Indians and descendants of Spanish- and Mexican-era settlers still think of themselves as distinct peoples, each with a dynamic history. At the core of these persistent cultural identities is each groupandrsquo;s historical relationship to the others and to the land, a connection that changed dramatically when the United States wrested control of the region from Mexico in 1848.
About the Author
Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, a writer, teacher, historian, and social activist, is Professor Emerita of Ethnic Studies and Womenandrsquo;s Studies at California State University, East Bay, and author or editor of numerous scholarly articles and books, as well as two other memoirs,
Red Dirt: Growing Up Okie and
Blood on the Border: A Memoir of the Contra War. Simon J. Ortiz, an Acoma Pueblo Indian, is a poet, lecturer, and writer whose collection of poems Going for the Rain won a Pushcart Prize.