Missions Resources - Bibliography
Killing the White Man's Indian: Reinventing Native Americans at the End of the Twentieth Century
Authors: Fergus Bordewich
ISBN: 0385420366
Publisher: Doubleday
Type of cover: Hard Cover
Summary:
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This is a really interesting book, by a journalist named Fergus Bordewich. Took me a few days of hard work; kind of dense reading. But it was good because it gave a broad overview of some major trends among most of the Native American tribes in the last 10-20 years as well as gave historical context for much of what is going on politically, economically, culturally, spiritually and in terms of education.
I was impressed with the work of Tribal Colleges in cultural preservation, identity development and preparing students for success at work whether on the reservation or off. They also prepare students to succeed at majority-culture 4 year colleges and universities. There are solid chapters on the Cherokees, the Lakota Sioux and Pine Ridge as well as many of the smaller regional tribes in the lower 48 states of the USA.
The book debunked a lot of Western myths about Native Americans, by using history (both voices of white and Native historians) and current facts. Very fascinating.
At first I was a bit skeptical because the author is clearly a white anti-postmodernist, but I think he did a good job clear-sightedly reporting what is going on. He talks about Native Americans as "Indians" because, he says, that's what most Native Americans call themselves, that's what the census calls them, and most of the government agencies (BIA, etc.), and even the radical AIM as well.
Anyway, Killing the White Man's Indian is available at Borders, Barnes and Noble and Amazon, and it cost $14.
Next, I'm going to tackle _Native and Christian_, which is even more academic, but more focused to what I'd like to learn in terms of Native Christian spirituality, evangelism and mission from a variety of Christian traditions and in comparison to the traditional (I think animist?) religions of tribes. I got mine at Borders, and it was $20 for a paperback.
- Paula Harris
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