Negotiators of Change: Historical Perspectives on Native American Women

Negotiators of Changeis one of the most original and innovative volumes to explore the terrain of Native American women's history. The essays included span the period between the seventeenth century and the present, focusing on the significance of gender in Native American and Euro-American interactions. The contributors present new historical sources, methods and interpretations that enhance our understanding of Indian women's reactions to the changes introduced by Euro-American contact and conquest. Negotiators of Changecovers the history of ten tribal groups including the Cherokee, Iroquois and Navajo as well as tribes with less known histories such as the Yakima, Ute, and Pima-Maricopa. The book contests the idea that European colonization let to a loss of Native American women's power, and instead presents a more complex picture of the zdaptation to, and subversion of the economic changes introduced by Europeans. The essays also discuss the changing meanings of motherhood, women'sroles, and differing gender ideologies within this context. Contributors: Helen M. Bannan, Kathleen Brown, Paivi Hoikkala, Harry A. Kersey, Jr., Clara Sue Kidwell, Lucy Murphy, Katherine M.B. Osburn, Theda Perdue, Nancy Shoemaker, Carol Sparks, Clifford E. Trafzer