Indigenous American Women:Decolonization, Empowerment, Activism

Description

Oklahoma Choctaw scholar Devon Abbott Mihesuah offers a frank and absorbing look at the complex, evolving identities of American indigenous women today, their ongoing struggles against a centuries-old legacy of colonial disempowerment, and how they are seen and portrayed by themselves and others. depicted by non-Natives, including scholars, and by themselves. She then illuminates the pervasive impact of colonialism and patriarchal thought on Native women’s traditional tribal roles and on their participation in academia. Mihesuah considers how relations between Indigenous women and men across North America continue to be altered by Christianity and Euro-American ideologies. Sexism and violence against Indigenous women has escalated, economic disparities and intratribal factionalism and culturalism threaten connections among women and with men, and many women suffer from psychological stress because their economic, religious, political and social positions are devalued. themselves tribally, nationally or academically. Additionally, she examines the overlooked role that Native women played in the Red Power movement as well as some key differences between Native women feminists and activists.