Beneath the Backbone of the World: Blackfoot People and the North American Borderlands, 1720–1877 by Ryan Hall

Abstract

Reviewed by: Beneath the Backbone of the World: Blackfoot People and the North American Borderlands, 1720–1877 by Ryan Hall L. James Dempsey (bio) Beneath the Backbone of the World: Blackfoot People and the North American Borderlands, 1720–1877 by Ryan Hall University of North Carolina Press, 2020 WHEN TAKING ON A HISTORY of one of the First Nations whose territory crossed the international boundary between the United States and Canada, one is confronted with how this First Nations tribe dealt with and reacted to the policies, actions, and most importantly the face-to-face interactions with members of non-Aboriginal populations. Ryan Hall takes on the task of detailing Blackfoot Confederacy's dealings with various fur trade companies, including the Hudson's Bay Company, the Northwest Company, and the American Fur Company. Hall's chronicle is an in-depth examination of a period when the Blackfoot Confederacy experienced immense change and evolution. Hall is mostly successful in his interpretation as he balances the different interactions the Blackfoot had with the Canadians and Americans; however, there is a stronger emphasis on the American side than the Canadian, which on occasion is overgeneralized. While the first chapter of the book covers Blackfoot culture and lifestyle, that content is not carried over into the rest of the book. Hall does not take into consideration the cultural life of the Confederacy, which may have been intentional on his part but would broaden the world's view of the Blackfoot and show that trade, while important, was not the center of their world nor always the main cause of the actions they took. A more extensive inclusion of the Blackfoot lifestyle would have clarified the issue of decision making. Hall asserts on a number of occasions that decisions were made on the Confederacy level, which does not take into consideration the tribal social structure. For example, political decisions were made at the band level, not the tribal or Confederacy level. An incident or action that took place in Montana may not have concerned the tribes on the Canadian side, and vice versa. As stated earlier, Hall traces the fur trade interactions of the Blackfoot Confederacy with the various fur trade companies. However, he implies that this trade was all important to the Blackfoot tribes, even concluding they were "dependent" on this trade. Hall never defines the term "dependent," [End Page 168] and much like fur trade historians of the pre-1970s, he bases many of his conclusions on statements made to traders at the posts by Blackfoot traders, rather than acknowledging the modern reinterpretation of these statements as "trade rhetoric." Trade rhetoric was a common form of bargaining in a barter system where one tries to gain the sympathy of the person they are dealing with in order to obtain a better deal. A closer look at Arthur Ray's work (in the bibliography) would reveal this contemporary assessment. It has to be noted, when writing about First Nations in today's climate, that tribal names have changed from what were used historically. This change has come about as First Nations restore the terms they used to refer to themselves, rather than use the terms that were more often than not placed upon them. Throughout the book the author makes use of different terms for the Blackfoot without any explanation why. Changes do make it difficult for authors to know which term to use, but this challenge should inspire them to provide a space to discuss and explain terms used in the book. Then the author should use terms consistently throughout the work. Using the Blackfoot as an example, historically they were known as the "Blackfeet" on the American side and the "Blackfoot" on the Canadian, but in reality the American Blackfeet were southern Piegans (a term they have been reintroducing) while the Blackfoot Confederacy on the Canadian side was made up of the northern Piegans, the Bloods, and the Blackfoot proper. Even here these tribes now refer to themselves by their Blackfoot language names. The book contains an extensive twenty-five-page bibliography. However, the footnote style is one that raises an issue about the sources. In many of the book's paragraphs...