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melissa_h's review
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
slow-paced
5.0
Incredible. Everyone needs to read this.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Classism, Colonisation, Alcoholism, Cultural appropriation, Hate crime, Confinement, Addiction, Genocide, Death, Drug abuse, and Drug use
jessicafulton's review
challenging
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
slow-paced
5.0
abchu's review
5.0
I first heard of this book from actress Devery Jacobs (FX's Reservation Dogs TV show) in The Hollywood Reporter's Comedy Actress Roundtable YouTube video. During one segment of the video, Jacobs politely and respectfully corrects Sheryl Lee Ralph about her use of the term Native American instead of Indigenous people. She mentioned this book while talking about indigenous tribes and how to ideally specifically refer to which tribe one is talking about. I was so impressed by the grace and response from both Jacobs and Ralph that I jotted down this book as part of my Want To Read list. Thankfully, my local library had a copy so I was able to borrow and read it.
I recommend this book to anyone whose curiosity is piqued by more information about indigenous tribes, people, history, and culture. I learned a lot from this book and had to unlearn some subconscious biases about Indigenous people and their culture thanks to the media's stereotypes and whitewashing of their history. It's incredible this book started off as a Kickstarter campaign, and at the time Matika Wilbur wrote this book, there were only 562 federally recognized tribes. As of now, there are 574 tribes.
Wilbur's photography showcases beautiful indigenous people representing their authentic selves. While looking at her photographs, you'll see so many differences in culture, fashion, and lifestyle. This book is excellent at demonstrating how not all indigenous tribes and people are a monolith; and each tribe has their own unique culture, language, and traditions which vary.
At times, this book did pain me to read. Reading about all of these indigenous stories and how they've had to fight for so many injustices. Whether it's from kids being forced to attend boarding schools and not being allowed to speak their mother tongue to fighting for their right to fish for sustainable living in Alaska to being sent to internment camps during World War II, their stories deserve to be heard by all. I admire every interviewee's perseverance in keeping their traditions, cultures, and languages alive. With each interview, I really felt like I was able to hear their unique voice and stories. The book covers tribes all over America even in states like Hawai'i and Alaska which is super cool to read.
Wilbur did an amazing job of bringing awareness and educating the reader on important issues such as the missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls cases and other statistics regarding drugs, alcoholism, and mental health. While reading about the Pocahontas Perlex (real name Matoaka), it saddened me to discover through the confirmation of oral histories Sacagawea was raped by Lewis and Clark multiple times during their expedition. But it was reading passages like this that made me realize how much of indigenous history is covered up by whitewashed American history to paint indigenous in more of a passive light and their white counterparts as more heroic.
Some of my favorite quotes from the book include:
"What I hope for my children is that they choose to do things Native. Meaning you can still be in the world, in the reality that we live in, where there's still business and there's commerce, et cetera, but that they operate from a Native space. I think that's what we're getting to, getting to know some of those realms, of making Native business to support the Native community. In the past, you had to walk in two worlds, and it was always the Native world that was in the back seat, because to be successful, it had to be in the Western world. And then you were allowed to be Native after. I want it to be the other way around. I want our kids to be Native first - philosophically, emotionally, functionally, linguistically. And then I want them to be able to walk in the Western world when they so choose" - Joshua Dead Iokua Ikaikaloa Mori (p. 207).
"The characteristics and attributes that people claim to be honoring with the R*dsk*ns are a warrior spirit and fierceness and shit, and I'm like, 'You don't know what Indians are'. Indians are humans like anybody else. What you're generalizing and honoring, supposedly, is actually a celebration of the US's propaganda against Indian people. Even if this isn't on the forefront of the conscious mind (and let's be real, I wouldn't describe the average R*dsk*ns fan as a conscious mind), the fact remains that these images and stereotypes propagate the dehumanization of Native people, regardless of intent. The best way to honor Natives today would be to listen to their voice, and say like, 'Alright, we changed the name, or we will change whatever.'" - Migizi Pensoneau (p. 279).
I cannot recommend this book if you're curious and open to diversifying your reading list and to learn more about Indigenous tribes.
I recommend this book to anyone whose curiosity is piqued by more information about indigenous tribes, people, history, and culture. I learned a lot from this book and had to unlearn some subconscious biases about Indigenous people and their culture thanks to the media's stereotypes and whitewashing of their history. It's incredible this book started off as a Kickstarter campaign, and at the time Matika Wilbur wrote this book, there were only 562 federally recognized tribes. As of now, there are 574 tribes.
Wilbur's photography showcases beautiful indigenous people representing their authentic selves. While looking at her photographs, you'll see so many differences in culture, fashion, and lifestyle. This book is excellent at demonstrating how not all indigenous tribes and people are a monolith; and each tribe has their own unique culture, language, and traditions which vary.
At times, this book did pain me to read. Reading about all of these indigenous stories and how they've had to fight for so many injustices. Whether it's from kids being forced to attend boarding schools and not being allowed to speak their mother tongue to fighting for their right to fish for sustainable living in Alaska to being sent to internment camps during World War II, their stories deserve to be heard by all. I admire every interviewee's perseverance in keeping their traditions, cultures, and languages alive. With each interview, I really felt like I was able to hear their unique voice and stories. The book covers tribes all over America even in states like Hawai'i and Alaska which is super cool to read.
Wilbur did an amazing job of bringing awareness and educating the reader on important issues such as the missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls cases and other statistics regarding drugs, alcoholism, and mental health. While reading about the Pocahontas Perlex (real name Matoaka), it saddened me to discover through the confirmation of oral histories Sacagawea was raped by Lewis and Clark multiple times during their expedition. But it was reading passages like this that made me realize how much of indigenous history is covered up by whitewashed American history to paint indigenous in more of a passive light and their white counterparts as more heroic.
Some of my favorite quotes from the book include:
"What I hope for my children is that they choose to do things Native. Meaning you can still be in the world, in the reality that we live in, where there's still business and there's commerce, et cetera, but that they operate from a Native space. I think that's what we're getting to, getting to know some of those realms, of making Native business to support the Native community. In the past, you had to walk in two worlds, and it was always the Native world that was in the back seat, because to be successful, it had to be in the Western world. And then you were allowed to be Native after. I want it to be the other way around. I want our kids to be Native first - philosophically, emotionally, functionally, linguistically. And then I want them to be able to walk in the Western world when they so choose" - Joshua Dead Iokua Ikaikaloa Mori (p. 207).
"The characteristics and attributes that people claim to be honoring with the R*dsk*ns are a warrior spirit and fierceness and shit, and I'm like, 'You don't know what Indians are'. Indians are humans like anybody else. What you're generalizing and honoring, supposedly, is actually a celebration of the US's propaganda against Indian people. Even if this isn't on the forefront of the conscious mind (and let's be real, I wouldn't describe the average R*dsk*ns fan as a conscious mind), the fact remains that these images and stereotypes propagate the dehumanization of Native people, regardless of intent. The best way to honor Natives today would be to listen to their voice, and say like, 'Alright, we changed the name, or we will change whatever.'" - Migizi Pensoneau (p. 279).
I cannot recommend this book if you're curious and open to diversifying your reading list and to learn more about Indigenous tribes.
woggers's review
4.0
What a beautiful and necessary work of art. Learned so much and loved the opportunity to learn from so mant