Indian Cities: Histories of Indigenous Urbanization ed. by Kent Blansett, Cathleen D. Cahill, and Andrew Needham

Abstract

Reviewed by: Indian Cities: Histories of Indigenous Urbanization ed. by Kent Blansett, Cathleen D. Cahill, and Andrew Needham Gregory R. Campbell Indian Cities: Histories of Indigenous Urbanization. Edited by Kent Blansett, Cathleen D. Cahill, and Andrew Needham. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2022. vii + 317 pp. Illustrations, notes, index. $32.95 paper. In 2020, 9.7 million people identified as Native American and Alaskan Native (AI/AN), 2.9% of the total United States population. As of 2022 there are 574 federally recognized AI/AN tribes and 324 federally recognized American Indian reservations. Other tribal communities are state-recognized, and a multitude of Indigenous societies are ethno-politically viable but not federally or state-recognized as ethno-legal entities. The 2020 census also reveals that 87% live outside tribal statistical areas and only 13% live on reservations and trust lands. In fact, approximately 60% to 70% of American Indians and Alaskan Natives live in metropolitan areas. Residential demographics and geography directly contradict the popular public stereotype that most contemporary [End Page 62] Indigenous people are largely rural and living on reservations, a population largely divorced from an urban existence and experiences. The stereotype, as the editors point out, is grounded in the settler colonialism agenda. During the processes of nation-building, Indigenous urban accomplishments prior to the arrival of Europeans were often either grossly undervalued, mythologized, or replaced by European settlements. The impetus for the volume arose, after several working meetings by the participants, to not only build on the existing historical literature but also to offer new directions for Indigenous urbanization. The book is a collection of 12 original presentations composed by an impressive cross-section of academic disciplines, introduced by a synthetic essay. The two essays in Part I demonstrate the continuity of the Native urban sensibilities and traditions during the early era of colonialism, highlighting political economic interactions. A central element is the central roles regional Native societies had in the formation of European cities. Part II, composed of four essays, offers select insights into the development of various European urban areas through the appropriation of Indigenous lands and resources in the 19th century. As the chapters reveal, the employed strategies of dispossession ranged from outright violence and forced removal to legal mechanisms as well as erasure. Despite these colonial processes, Indigenous people remained active agents, playing a role in shaping urban landscapes. The four essays in Part III provide select discussions of 20th-century Indigenous urban experiences. Collectively, the chapters explore how Native American individuals, families, and communities living in urban arenas crafted lifeways, institutions, intertribal networks, and connections to their natal, non-urban communities to foster their Indigenous identities. Contrary to federal policies designed to submerge or meld Native people into the "mainstream" fabric of American life through urbanization, Indigenous people constructed and fostered a variety of strategies to sustain being Indigenous. The book concludes with a highlighted glimpse of ongoing interconnections between urban areas and rural reservations. The two chapters graphically expose the false assumption that reservation issues are largely divorced from urban realities in the 21st century. The final essays point out that the dichotomy between rural Indigenous natal homelands and events in urban areas is nonexistent. They are, historically and to the present, intimately connected and impactful. Despite the diversity in scholarly perspectives, approaches, and topics, an overlapping theme, that of ethnic resiliency, is elucidated in the articles that reflect the complexities about the Indigenous experience in living an urban existence. As active agents in their own histories, Indigenous people and communities, while confronting prevailing political structures, nationalistic policies, legal frameworks, as well as colonial agendas, created and sustained a sense of identity and place in urban spaces. As with any collection of readings, Indian Cities: Histories of Indigenous Urbanization is testimony to the burgeoning, wide-ranging scholarship about Native American experiences. At its broadest conception, the urban Indigenous heritage is a vital but sometimes overlooked component of Native American lifeways. Urban indigeneity, whether expressed by tangible or intangible means, provides a sense of belonging, continuity, and collectivity. As this volume aptly illustrates, Native American urban issues are a complex arena that deserves further scholarly attention. Overall, the contributions are a framework...