Introduction: a red man's rebuke; 1. A global mission: the higher education of Charles Eastman; 2. Tracing Carlos Montezuma's politics: progressive reform and epistolary culture networks; 3. Red Bird: Gertrude Bonnin's representational politics; 4. Staging US Indian history with Reel Indians: Luther Standing Bear, performativity, and cultural politics; Conclusion: the 1930s, Indian reorganization, and beyond; Afterword.
Examines the literary output of four influential American Indian intellectuals who challenged conceptions of identity at the turn of the twentieth century.
Kiara M. Vigil is Assistant Professor of American Studies at Amherst College, Massachusetts and specializes in teaching and research related to Native American studies. She is a past recipient of the Gaius Charles Bolin fellowship from Williams College, as well as fellowships from the Mellon Foundation, the Autry National Center, the Newberry Library, and the Rackham Graduate School at the University of Michigan.
'Kiara M. Vigil demonstrates that two plus two can equal much more
than four, as she deftly builds a collective cultural biography
that re-imagines in networked terms the American Indian
intellectuals of the early twentieth century. Beautifully written
and thoroughly researched, Indigenous Intellectuals places Indian
thought, performance, and politics at the heart of American
modernity.' Philip J. Deloria, University of Michigan, and author
of Indians in Unexpected Places
'Kiara M. Vigil's powerful collective cultural biography of four
major Indigenous intellectuals, Dr Charles A. Eastman, Dr Carlos
Montezuma, Gertrude Bonnin, and Luther Standing Bear, illuminates
the important political and cultural work they did in their
writings, public appearances, and performances. She shows how these
thinkers engaged with modernity to offer penetrating critiques of
American society and in defense of Indigenous political lives
around questions about citizenship, assimilation, and modernity.
Deeply researched and nuanced, Indigenous Intellectuals contributes
richly to our understanding of Indigenous intellectual life during
a moment of immense change in Indian country.' Jean O'Brien,
University of Minnesota
'An outstanding work of American literary and cultural history,
Indigenous Intellectuals draws upon a broad archive to bring new
sources and interpretations to light. Kiara M. Vigil's nuanced
readings reveal the complex individual and collective choices and
broad intellectual circuits traversed by a generation of Native
American writers and performers. A powerful and illuminating
contribution to American cultural studies.' Beth H. Piatote,
University of California, Berkeley
'Vigil's analysis of Indian networks … contributes substantially to
our understanding of Native American women authors' literary and
political legacies.' Penelope M. Kelsey, Legacy: A Journal of
American Women Writers
'… successful in showing how these Native individuals accessed and
participated in broader intellectual and activist networks …
Indigenous Intellectuals makes a valuable contribution to modern
American Indian and United States history.' Nicolas G. Rosenthal,
Reviews in American History
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