Kia ora all, I am currently reading the Rigoberta Menchu controversy and finding it a really great book. What it reveals to me, is a number of lessons: tesitmonio vs bibliography; copyright and ownership; Indigenous storying vs anthropology; addressing racism; and importantly, why it is so important that Indigenous peoples keep on writing their stories and telling the world what happened to them. This is an awesome read, Taima
About the book: A balanced appraisal of the bitter debate surrounding the autobiography of Guatemala's 1992 Nobel Peace Prize recipient.
Guatemalan indigenous rights activist Rigoberta Menchú first came to international prominence following the 1983 publication of her memoir, I, Rigoberta Menchú, which chronicled in compelling detail the violence and misery that she and her people suffered during her country's brutal civil war. The book focused world attention on Guatemala and led to her being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1992. In 1999, a new book by David Stoll challenged the veracity of key details in Menchú's account, generating a storm of controversy. Journalists and scholars squared off regarding whether Menchú had lied about her past and, if so, what that would mean about the larger truths revealed in the book.
In The Rigoberta Menchú Controversy, Arturo Arias has assembled a casebook that offers a balanced perspective on the debate. The first section of this volume collects the primary documents-newspaper articles, interviews, and official statements-in which the debate raged, many translated into English for the first time. In the second section, a distinguished group of international scholars assess the political, historical, and cultural contexts of the debate, and consider its implications for such issues as the "culture wars," historical truth, and the politics of memory. Also included is a new essay by David Stoll in which he responds to his critics.
Arturo Arias is director of Latin American Studies at the University of Redlands.
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Monday, April 4, 2011
New Book: Being Again of One Mind: Oneida Women and the Struggle for Decolonization
Kia ora, I received an email about a new book: Being Again of One Mind
Oneida Women and the Struggle for Decolonization by Lina Sunseri. Details about the book are below: Taima
Being Again of One Mind combines the narratives of Oneida women of various generations with a critical reading of feminist literature on nationalism to reveal that some Indigenous women view nationalism in the form of decolonization as a way to restore traditional gender balance and well-being to their own lives and communities.
By giving a voice to Oneida women’s thoughts on tradition and nation, this book challenges feminist ideas about the masculine bias of Western theories of nation and about the dangers of nationalist movements that idealize women’s so-called traditional role. Its unique blend of theory and narrative shows that the insights of mainstream feminism cannot be applied universally to all women or to societies with traditional forms of nation based on good relations between men and women. Contrary to theorists who present the concept of nation as a recent Western phenomenon, Lina Sunseri shows that the Six Nations had a long history of nation that preceded contact with Europeans and the transformation of gender roles that followed.
This alternative theory of gender and nation shows that Oneida women do not view nationalism and the embrace of tradition as threats but rather as a way for Indigenous women and men to be again of one mind.
Endorsements
"Sunseri provides a beautifully woven methodological framework that answers first to Oneida traditions and then to sociological or feminist ones. This is an important example for other scholars who wish to move beyond a critique of Western knowledge methodologies and into action."
-- From the Foreword by Patricia A. Monture, Professor of Sociology, University of Saskatchewan
About the Author
Lina Sunseri, whose Longhouse name is Yeliwi:saks (Gathering Stories/Knowledge), from the Oneida Nation of the Thames, Turtle Clan, is an assistant professor of sociology at Brescia University College, an affiliate of the University of Western Ontario. She is co-editor of Colonialism and Racism in Canada: Historical Traces and Racism, Colonialism, and Indigeneity in Canada.
Contents
Foreword by Patricia A. Monture
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1 Theorizing Nations and Nationalisms: From Modernist to Indigenous
Perspectives
2 A History of the Oneida Nation: From Creation Story to the
Present
3 Struggles of Independence: From a Colonial Existence toward
a Decolonized Nation
4 Women, Nation, and National Identity: Oneida Women Standing
Up and Speaking about Matters of the Nation
5 Dreaming of a Free, Peaceful, Balanced Decolonized Nation:
Being Again of One Mind
6 Concluding Remarks
Notes
References
Index
Oneida Women and the Struggle for Decolonization by Lina Sunseri. Details about the book are below: Taima
Being Again of One Mind combines the narratives of Oneida women of various generations with a critical reading of feminist literature on nationalism to reveal that some Indigenous women view nationalism in the form of decolonization as a way to restore traditional gender balance and well-being to their own lives and communities.
By giving a voice to Oneida women’s thoughts on tradition and nation, this book challenges feminist ideas about the masculine bias of Western theories of nation and about the dangers of nationalist movements that idealize women’s so-called traditional role. Its unique blend of theory and narrative shows that the insights of mainstream feminism cannot be applied universally to all women or to societies with traditional forms of nation based on good relations between men and women. Contrary to theorists who present the concept of nation as a recent Western phenomenon, Lina Sunseri shows that the Six Nations had a long history of nation that preceded contact with Europeans and the transformation of gender roles that followed.
This alternative theory of gender and nation shows that Oneida women do not view nationalism and the embrace of tradition as threats but rather as a way for Indigenous women and men to be again of one mind.
Endorsements
"Sunseri provides a beautifully woven methodological framework that answers first to Oneida traditions and then to sociological or feminist ones. This is an important example for other scholars who wish to move beyond a critique of Western knowledge methodologies and into action."
-- From the Foreword by Patricia A. Monture, Professor of Sociology, University of Saskatchewan
About the Author
Lina Sunseri, whose Longhouse name is Yeliwi:saks (Gathering Stories/Knowledge), from the Oneida Nation of the Thames, Turtle Clan, is an assistant professor of sociology at Brescia University College, an affiliate of the University of Western Ontario. She is co-editor of Colonialism and Racism in Canada: Historical Traces and Racism, Colonialism, and Indigeneity in Canada.
Contents
Foreword by Patricia A. Monture
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1 Theorizing Nations and Nationalisms: From Modernist to Indigenous
Perspectives
2 A History of the Oneida Nation: From Creation Story to the
Present
3 Struggles of Independence: From a Colonial Existence toward
a Decolonized Nation
4 Women, Nation, and National Identity: Oneida Women Standing
Up and Speaking about Matters of the Nation
5 Dreaming of a Free, Peaceful, Balanced Decolonized Nation:
Being Again of One Mind
6 Concluding Remarks
Notes
References
Index
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