BOOK LIST

FOR

INDIGENOUS PEOPLES

An anthropologist examines the impact of Western economic development schemes on indigenous peoples, with case studies on Australia. Present ways in which Indigenous peoples are countering destructive Western policies, pointing out their inherent contradictions, and suggesting viable alternatives.

Vine Deloria, Red Earth, White Lies: Native Americans and the Myth of Scientific Fact (1995)

Scathing, and at times humorous, indictment of geologists, anthropologists, and biologists, and their theories about origins of Native Americans, evolution, and extinction. Presents compelling evidence that scientists are more concerned with validating eachother's theories than with telling the truth. Useful refutations of many myths found in textbooks, such as: Native Americans came across the Bering straight a little over 10,000 years ago; Native Americans were largely responsible for the extinction of large herbivors, such as mammoths; evolution of a species occurs in slow, imperceptible increments.

Robert Knox Dentan, et al, Malaysia and the Original People: A Case Study of the Impact of Development on Indigenous Peoples (1997)

Essays by anthropologists looking at the Orang Asli, the indigenous peoples of Malaysia, showing how economic development on the Western model is having profoundly destructive repercussions on Native cultures and the rainforest environment upon which they are dependent. Tarnishes recent press hoopla about "Asian Tigers" and their remarkable feats in developing economies along the Western model.

Donald A. Grinde, Jr., & Bruce E. Johansen, Exemplars of Liberty: Native America and the Evolution of Democracy (1991)

Looks at Native American political concepts, structures, and institutions, and how the American Framers of the Constitution were impressed with the Iroquois Confederation as a model for the democratic institutions that the United States would come to be known for. Looks at difficult questions, such as: Why did democracy develop in America, but not in other colonial-settler states such as Australia or Brazil?

M. Annette Jaimes (ed.), The State of Native America: Genocide, Colonization, and Resistance (1992)

Essays by Native American authors on land rights, cultural appropriation, stereotypes, the myth of Columbus, and international law.

Oren Lyons, et al, Exiled in the Land of the Free: Democracy, Indian Nations, and the U.S. Constitution (1992)

A series of essays, several by noted Native American tribal leaders and historians, that present a strong case in favor of Indian contributions to the development of democracy in America. Meticulously footnoted and reasonably argued, this work, like Bernal in the field of Classics, has put conventional white supremacist historians on the defensive. Brings to a broader audience issues seen in print for the first time, including a rare written articulation of the Iroquois approach to diplomacy, as symbolized by the "two row wampum."

Franke Wilmer, The Indigenous Voice in World Politics: From Time Immemorial (1993)

Argues that indigenous peoples have had a significant impact on the political discourse of the second half of the 20th century, especially in terms of articulating moral responses to the policies and cultures of an increasingly amoral Western civilization.